The Minnesota Vikings are fresh off a 9-8 season. It may have ended with a high note and a five-game winning streak, but there’s a reason why the Vikings lost eight games.
Minnesota had stretches of very bad football, and at one point in 2025, it wasn’t an overstatement to say the team was among the worst in the entire league. Several factors contributed to that slump, including injuries, poor effort from the players, and ineffective coaching.
There has already been speculation about which players will be shown the door this offseason, but several Vikings coaches have also earned their walking papers. So, which members of the coaching staff should Minnesota move on from this year?
4 coaches the Minnesota Vikings should part ways with during the 2026 offseason
Chris Kuper - Offensive Line
The Vikings' offensive line in 2025 was supposed to be the best they’ve had in years. Minnesota went out and spent a lot of money on a new center in Ryan Kelly and then backed up the Brinks truck for right guard Will Fries.
The Vikings also used their 2025 first-round pick on mauling guard Donovan Jackson out of Ohio State, and were getting left tackle Christian Darrisaw back from injury.
“The Saint Paul Wall” was formed, and fans began drooling thinking about all the time young J.J. McCarthy would have in the pocket, and the ginormous holes that they would open up for the dual-threat rushing attack of Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason.
Things didn’t go quite as planned. Minnesota struggled to consistently run the football, and McCarthy, Carson Wentz, and Max Brosmer were consistently under pressure. In fact, the Vikings' offensive line ranked 32nd in pressure rate allowed for the second straight season, according to Next Gen Stats.
Sure, injuries were a huge part of the struggles, but something else was clearly off, and that can only be attributed to the coaching.
Maybe it’s a technique thing, maybe it’s a system thing where Chris Kuper was trying to force a round peg into a square hole, but his unit was one of the biggest disappointments of the Vikings' 2025 season.
Fries was the biggest disappointment. He was a stud with the Indianapolis Colts, which earned him a big contract, and then he showed up in Minnesota and was very underwhelming.
The opposite has also happened, as Ed Ingram was terrible when he was with the Vikings, but he was traded to the Houston Texans last year, and he suddenly became one of the best run-blocking guards in the NFL.
The same goes for Ezra Cleveland, who Minnesota traded away midway through the 2024 season to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and has found success with a new coach in a new system, which eventually earned him a hefty contract extension.
Kuper needs to be held accountable for the failure of his unit, and that failure should result in him being relieved of his duties.
Matt Daniels - Special Teams Coordinator
Matt Daniels is a very charismatic guy. When he gets in front of the microphone to address the media, he’s engaging, likable, funny, honest, and genuinely seems to know what he’s talking about. It’s a shame his side of the ball had jarring errors week in and week out in 2025.
It seemed like every single time Myles Price had a decent return for the Vikings this season, it was called back due to a holding penalty on the return team. It was so bad that it seemed like a mistake when there wasn’t a flag thrown on a Minnesota return.
There were also mindless errors by special teams “aces” who would run out of bounds, cruising down the very obvious large white stripe that signifies you are not on the playing field, and then still attempted to make the tackle.
We also were treated to offsides, kicking the ball out of bounds, and fair catch interference by the Vikings on special teams in 2025. It was a comedy of errors.
It wasn’t just penalties; there were mishandled punts that sealed Minnesota's fate in a couple of games. The biggest atrocity of them all was in Week 11 when the Vikings allowed the Chicago Bears to get a 56-yard kick return, which all but put them in guaranteed field goal range to kick the game-winner after Minnesota had just taken the lead with about 18 ticks left on the clock.
Daniels did take responsibility for that Week 11 mistake, saying it was inexcusable. He was right, and he needs to be held accountable, and that means making a change, no matter how lovable the guy is.
Josh McCown - Quarterbacks
There was a lot of excitement for what Josh McCown was going to do for and with McCarthy heading into the 2025 season.
McCown had done wonders with Sam Darnold the year before, and many figured that working with a more physically gifted quarterback specimen and one who was eager to learn would be a slam dunk for success. Sadly, time showed us that wasn't the case.
The quarterback coach's job is to primarily work on technique and footwork. Mechanics are key, and that is what they are supposed to get right in the offseason and preseason with their pupils.
Seeing McCarthy’s mechanics this year and it becoming such a huge talking point during the season, is enough to make one wonder if McCown even talked to him before training camp started.
Whether it was the wild leg kick, the baseball pitcher-like throwing motion, or the overall lack of touch, McCarthy’s shortcomings were evident, and that all goes back to the quarterback coach.
One other issue not in McCown’s favor is the success Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young has had since McCown was fired by the team in 2023.
Under McCown’s tutelage, Young was looking like a bust, showing a combination of bad mechanics and poor decision-making. After he was fired, Young has taken major strides in his two seasons with a different quarterbacks coach in Carolina.
It could be a coincidence, or it could just be more fuel to the fire that McCown should be let go, and someone else should come in to mold what many still hope can be the Vikings' quarterback of the future.
Kevin O’Connell - Offensive Play Caller
This won’t happen because the man who is in charge of the team is still going to have his head coaching job, but man, does it need to.
Kevin O’Connell has an excellent offensive football mind. He knows how to scheme receivers open and has turned former busts like Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones into stars. However, his own belief in his system and in his abilities too often gets in his way.
O’Connell’s biggest problem as a play-caller is his inability to adjust during the game. If the offensive line was getting decimated upfront, as was often the case in 2025, he wouldn’t change. He would repeatedly call for long-developing plays that would get his quarterback killed.
Poor Carson Wentz was fed to the dogs during this run, and instead of maybe running a slant, a screen, or some other quick-hitter, it would be the same old five-step drop that would result in a sack.
He would often point out in press conferences how there were receivers open on some of those calls, but that doesn’t help when the quarterback is running for his life or lying on his back.
O'Connell’s second biggest issue is his inability to stick with the running game. This did improve later in the season when he was trying to get McCarthy right or was stuck with Brosmer starting. But even when the run game was rolling, he couldn’t resist throwing the football.
How many times was it 3rd and 1, and we’d see the Vikings try to throw deep instead of pounding the ball with Mason for one measly yard? It happened a lot.
O’Connell did get better as the season wore on, and his play-calling became more balanced. It was a big reason why Minnesota finished with five straight wins.
Hopefully, that’ll carry over into 2026, but if it doesn’t, he needs to look in the mirror, take a deep breath, and give play-calling duties to someone else.