Kevin O'Connell's successful first season brings cheers — and tears from a key Vikings veteran

Just 14 games into Kevin O'Connell's head coaching career, he is playing with house money, and interest is accruing.

He has led the Vikings to their first division title since 2017.

He has helped Kirk Cousins, the previously disappointing franchise quarterback, become the leader of a winning team.

He has distinguished himself, with few exceptions, in pressurized situations and close games.

In the past six weeks, he has won two of the most thrilling games in franchise history: an overtime thriller at Buffalo, and the greatest comeback in NFL history, on Saturday against the Colts.

Whatever happens next, O'Connell's debut ranks as an overwhelming success.

He has won while creating an atmosphere in which his best players thrive, and while enabling Cousins to become the quarterback who has erased the need for another quarterback.

Most rational observers expected the Vikings, the NFC's second-best team at 11-3, to win nine or 10 games this season. Some oddsmakers set their over-under victory total at 9.5.

The Vikings won eight games in 2021, and added only one star-caliber player, pass rusher Za'Darius Smith. They received little help from their draft. While Smith has been a vital part of many of their victories, they are generally winning because of players who were part of the 2021 failure.

That speaks to coaching.

This team's success also justifies a practice often derided for its predictableness: Changing the personality of your head coach every time you make a hire.

Mike Zimmer was a good head coach. He has the third-highest winning percentage of any coach in Vikings history who has coached at least a full season, ranking him behind only Bud Grant and Denny Green.

By the end of last season, Zimmer's relationship with many of his key players — most notably Cousins — was frayed, if not destroyed. The Wilfs and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah did well to choose a talented and upbeat offensive coach to replace their gruff defensive coach.

They could have played it safe and hired Jim Harbaugh, who was an excellent coach with the 49ers. Harbaugh excelled this year at Michigan and may well have excelled this year with the Vikings.

All we can be certain of is that O'Connell is winning in a way that hints at sustainability.

After virtually every victory this season, veteran Vikings players have either said or implied that they are winning in part because of the new, inclusive atmosphere in the building and organization. Adam Thielen has bluntly stated many times that he loves playing for this group of leaders.

Last winter, star linebacker Eric Kendricks criticized the "fear-based'' culture that Zimmer created.

Saturday night, long after the Vikings had streamed into their locker room following the greatest comeback in NFL history, Kendricks spoke with tears streaming down his face.

"We work so hard,'' he said. "We have all these goals and aspirations, but we have to live in the moment and soak this up.

"I've played a lot in this league. I know that there are a lot of games that don't end like that. I'm just happy that we battled back and I get to share this moment with my team.

"At this point in my career, I'm just trying to live it, live in the moment, and smell the flowers. That's why I'm so emotional. This is exactly what I want to be doing. It was my dream to play in the NFL, and you dream of moments like this.''

In his 14th game as a head coach, O'Connell presided over a comeback that may never be matched.

"It highlighted, in a short amount of time, our team's ability to come together and find a way when things got very difficult,'' O'Connell said Monday. "And they were as difficult as they've been all season. We had to look inward in a short amount of time and decide what we were really going to be about for the remainder of that day.''

Whatever happens the remainder of the schedule, this season is a success, even if O'Connell and his players can't afford to think that way.