Souhan: Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell a legitimate contender for coach of the year

Once again, the NFL, if not the entire sports world, revolves around our little slice of flyover country.

The current front-runners for NFL coach of the year should be a Viking, a would-be Viking and a former Viking.

Current Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell is 8-2 this season, while relying on a quarterback who not long ago was a punchline and while getting almost no help through the NFL draft.

O’Connell’s career regular-season record, following a check-the-box 23-13 victory at Tennessee on Sunday, is 28-16 for a winning percentage of .636.

That’s the best in Vikings history, and O’Connell has achieved it without having coached a championship-caliber quarterback.

After 10 games this season, O’Connell already has more victories this year than he did last year, when he had quarterback Kirk Cousins and pass rusher Danielle Hunter.

He and his staff have coached Journeyman Sam Darnold (Sammy might as well file name-change paperwork at this point) better than anyone else ever has, meaning they have gotten him to Week 12 as not only a starter but a winner.

The Vikings’ staff quickly incorporated a slew of veteran free agents and is winning without much help from the last three drafts. O’Connell benching guard Ed Ingram while first-round pick Dallas Turner produced a second straight null-set statistical line are the latest hits to the Vikings’ terrible recent draft history.

I think, at the moment, O’Connell deserves to be the NFL coach of the year.

Or maybe it’s the guy he beat out for the job. Had the Vikings’ brain trust not been so scarred by Mike Zimmer’s egotism and grumpiness, they might have hired Jim Harbaugh instead of O’Connell.

Harbaugh had the better résumé by far. He’s a great coach and has proved his greatness in college and in the pros. Because the Vikings wanted to — everybody now —“change their culture,” they hired the candidate who made everyone feel good during the interview process.

The Vikings and Los Angeles Chargers both wound up with winners. The Chargers went 5-12 last season despite having one of the most talented quarterbacks in the game in Justin Herbert. Harbaugh is 7-3 this year, and his staff has transformed the Chargers defense and improved their running game.

Harbaugh’s career NFL winning percentage: .696.

The former Viking in the coach-of-the-year conversation is Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, Minnesota’s defensive coordinator in 2006. Tomlin has juggled two quarterbacks whom most teams didn’t want — Justin Fields and Russell Wilson — and is 8-2. This season, he has beaten Atlanta, Denver, the Chargers, Washington and Baltimore with a well-coached defense and a good enough offense.

If O’Connell, Harbaugh and Tomlin have anything in common, it’s the ability to get the most out of their quarterbacks.

O’Connell and his staff have worked miracles with Darnold. Harbaugh has elevated the play of Herbert, who previously always seemed more talented than productive.

Tomlin is one victory away from an 18th straight non-losing season because he masterfully managed Fields and Wilson without letting the clichéd notion of a ”quarterback controversy” negatively affect his team.

Wilson was a disaster in Denver. He has a chance to lead Pittsburgh to a No. 1 seed.

On Monday, O’Connell conducted one of his typically chatty news conferences at TCO Performance Center. I asked him whether a certain coaching or motivational point helped Darnold rebound from two awful games to perform well against Tennessee.

His answer, as usual, was quite long and involved. Its essence was this: O’Connell didn’t try to coach mistakes out of him as much as he tried to emphasize that Darnold should lean on his strongest attributes — the ability to throw accurately and move like an athlete.

Against a strong defensive front, Darnold completed 20 of 32 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns. Had Jalen Nailor held on to a long pass that should have been a touchdown, Darnold’s numbers would have been spectacular.

Harbaugh is known for praising his quarterbacks to increase their confidence. Who knew the crusty old running game guru and the enthusiastic young passing guru had so much in common?