QB whisperer? Psychic? Vikings players say Kevin O’Connell deserves the title of NFL Coach of the Year

NFL head coaches like the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell have to balance the lofty Super Bowl dreams of their franchises with the day-by-day, minute-by-minute minutiae required to achieve those dreams.

And up until 6 p.m. on Tuesday night, O’Connell was still deciphering how to set up Wednesday’s practice schedule for the team.

With one fewer day to prep for the Seattle Seahawks coming off Monday night’s win over the Bears, coaches were overloaded with film work.

Was O’Connell going to ask coaches to stay at the facility until 2 a.m.? Or could he push back practice on Wednesday, keeping players at the facility longer? He didn’t unilaterally decide. He called an impromptu FaceTime with eight team captains.

“At least six of us made it,” defensive tackle Harrison Phillips told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “Somebody might’ve been at a dance recital with the kids. I was outside playing with the dog, hopped on. Somebody else was driving. Somebody was at home. Just going over what the schedule would look like. Would you be able to message your position groups to make sure that we’re able to get everything accomplished and pivot the schedule?”

“He’s running a business,” Phillips added. “He’s employing every person you see in this building. He knows when our intern athletic trainer has to report back to school, and he’s worried about making sure she can stay a few extra weeks if we make the playoffs.”

That type of communication and care are underlying reasons for the Vikings being one of the surprises of the NFL with a 12-2 record and a shot at O’Connell’s second NFC North title in three seasons.

O’Connell has become the betting favorite to win AP NFL Coach of the Year, moving ahead of the Lions’ Dan Campbell and the Broncos’ Sean Payton, among others.

“His approach rubs off on players and makes your players want to play for you and play for each other,” fullback and team captain C.J. Ham said.

Coach of the year chatter happens with an ascension like that of quarterback Sam Darnold, who came to Minnesota with more turnovers (70) than passing touchdowns (63) in six seasons for the Jets, Panthers and 49ers before signing a one-year, $10 million deal in March.

Exceeding the public’s expectations is a quick path to an award like coach of the year, said offensive coordinator Wes Phillips.

“There’s a lot of coaches probably capable and deserving of those types of awards,” Phillips said. “Whether they’ve won a lot or won more than people expected. That’s kind of how it goes every year. I’ve got a lot of respect for a lot of the coaches, but he’d have my vote.”

O’Connell’s 32-16 record through 48 regular-season games is the best mark in Vikings franchise history, just ahead of Dennis Green’s 30-18. O’Connell finished sixth in AP NFL Coach of the Year voting in 2022, getting only 1 of 50 first-place votes when Giants head coach Brian Daboll won the award and that year’s wild-card playoff game against the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Right tackle Brian O’Neill, another team captain, said this year’s team wants to state an even better case for O’Connell.

“Look at all the different ways we’ve been able to win football games,” O’Neill said. “Hopefully we’ll have an even better argument for him in a month or two.”

Running back Aaron Jones called O’Connell a “psychic.”

“He has a knack for being able to draw plays, seeing things before it happens,” Jones said. “He’s part psychic if you ask me, because he’s been telling me things are going to happen since the day he picked up the phone and said he’d drive down and pick me up in Green Bay. Everything he’s said has been true to this point, and like I said I’m just happy to be playing for him.”

What has O’Connell envisioned that’s come true?

“Just how the season’s going to play out,” Jones said. “How nobody is going to believe in us and then everybody’s going to jump on. From how I’m going to be used in the offense to me just getting the ball in space, the weapons around here, the people in this building, just so many things he told me before I got here, and it’s been nothing but true.”

O’Connell has also been called a quarterback whisperer.

Darnold has a career-high 3,530 passing yards and 29 touchdowns with three games left in the regular season. And he’s been getting better. The once turnover-prone passer has tossed just one interception in the last five games spanning 165 throws.

Darnold pointed to the way O’Connell has built team chemistry through offseason events like a barbecue cooking competition this summer, in which each position group had to present an entree to a group of judges that included O’Connell. The tight ends, and Johnny Mundt’s rib-eye, won over the quarterbacks and Nick Mullens’ chicken wings.

“That really does help you on the field,” Darnold said.

The Vikings clinched a second playoff berth under O’Connell the night before Monday’s win over the Bears. On Monday morning, the boss didn’t make much of it.

“I acknowledged it in front of the team,” O’Connell said. “Congratulated them and then once I was done with that opening sentence, we moved on to what it was going to take to beat the Bears. I think what’s made this team really special from day one is just they handle their business with what’s right in front of them, and whether we clinched or not this team’s just worried about the next game. We’re gonna continue to do that.”

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