Vikings usher in a new era as Kevin O'Connell takes the reins as head coach

Kevin O'Connell told stories in his introductory news conference of the moment when everything clicked between him and new Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. He endorsed players, from Kirk Cousins to Dalvin Cook and Harrison Smith, whose futures in Minnesota might seem uncertain.

He repeated now-familiar themes about culture, saying one of his main goals is to have "players feeling as connected as they've ever been to a coaching staff before."

Through it all Thursday, the Vikings' 36-year-old new head coach seemed to be building a thesis: The team's current roster has enough talent to win right now. All it needs is to be managed properly.

For as much as the Vikings have talked about change since firing coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman on Jan. 10, the first public appearance for their new regime seemed to be more about viewing players through fresh eyes than about starting a major overhaul.

O'Connell gave public voice to what sources have described as a fondness for Cousins, saying he's "anticipating Kirk being a part of what we do" in the final year of the quarterback's contract and adding, "I'm excited to coach him. We've already started thinking about how we're going to build those systems for him and our other quarterbacks."

He called Smith "the perfect player for the defensive structure we want to play," praised both Eric Kendricks (who is under contract for 2022) and Anthony Barr (who is not), and said "we've got a really, really good running back here" in Cook, while talking about a balanced offense in a manner his predecessor might have loved.

O'Connell's first Vikings team, to be sure, will have some differences from the 2021 club that finished a game out of the playoffs for the second straight season. The coach indicated he plans to put the Vikings in a 3-4 base defense for the first time since the 1980s, though his goal of shifting between three- and four-man fronts on the same drive and the reality of how much time teams spend in nickel packages (81%, O'Connell said Thursday) might make the shift a distinction without much of a difference.

He said he planned to call his own offensive plays, meaning O'Connell will be the first Vikings head coach since Brad Childress to do so, and indicated the Vikings would mix in more of the up-tempo offensive concepts he had used under Sean McVay in Los Angeles.

O'Connell did not brand himself a "fixer" in his opening news conference, and after inheriting a team that won 57% of its games in eight years under Zimmer, the new coach might not have needed to do so. His message that the Vikings aren't far away from contention is also a more hopeful theme for an opening news conference than its alternative, and though cap-clearing moves are a necessity in the final month before free agency, it likely doesn't behoove O'Connell to tip his hand and decrease players' trade value.

But on Thursday, at least, he seemed to be arguing for granular adjustments over significant changes, saying he didn't think the team is far away from contending.

"That's one of the things you look for when you get these opportunities is where is this current team at, and then obviously what type of plan can we put in place to go accomplish the goals that we want to accomplish," O'Connell said.

"I think there's a lot of reasons on both sides of the ball that make me really excited about the systems and the processes that we're going to implement. ... I think there's great leadership on this team already, but be put in a position hopefully to take this thing over, have that player-led ownership of a team, let those guys go lead the rest of that locker room and then I see us really growing this thing day by day together."

It was during the second hour of O'Connell's in-person interview in Los Angeles with the Vikings on Jan. 31, he said, that he really clicked with Adofo-Mensah, as the two bonded over their visions for the team.

"It was like I was talking with one of my close football friends who I've spent hours and hours upon hours with," Adofo-Mensah said. "It was just so natural. Everybody else that was in that interview said it right after, that the connection, the energy was incredible there, and upon reflection, I think in that moment I probably knew myself."

The Vikings would interview Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris that night, and return home for in-person interviews with Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, before making O'Connell their choice Feb. 2 as Harbaugh left the building.

"My brother [principal owner Zygi Wilf], myself, we had wonderful experiences conversing with [Harbaugh] and a lot of respect for him," Vikings co-owner Mark Wilf said. "We just cast a wide net. Ultimately we wanted to have a coach that would be the best fit, give us the best chance to win, and we feel very pleased with Kevin as our head coach."

The next month will reveal more about how confident the Vikings really are in their current core, as they work to clear at least $16 million of cap space before the league year begins on March 16.

They also must finalize their coaching staff, as they reportedly plan to interview Rams running backs coach Thomas Brown about their offensive coordinator job on Friday. The Vikings remain without a special teams coordinator, a linebackers coach and a defensive backs coach, and will have to make decisions about their strength training and medical departments in the near future.

As O'Connell spent his first day in Minnesota on Thursday following the Rams' Super Bowl parade on Wednesday, though, he projected confidence he could win by marrying much of what worked in Los Angeles with what the Vikings already have.

"Ultimately it was about finding the right organization," he said. "I do think you win with your people: players, coaches, ownership, staff. The leadership structure here, everything is in place for me to feel great about not only my readiness but my ability to go implement a culture and a plan that I want to do."