A little more than three weeks ago, the Minnesota Vikings were eliminated from competing in this season's playoffs. Some might've thought this would have resulted in the Vikings giving up on the rest of the 2025 campaign in order to get a higher pick in next year's 2026 NFL Draft.
But that hasn't been the mentality of the locker room in Minnesota under head coach Kevin O'Connell this season.
Instead, the Vikings have won all three of their games since finding out they were eliminated from playoff contention, and now, they're heading into Week 18 with a chance to finish the season with a winning record despite sitting at 4-8 just a few weeks ago.
After Minnesota's big Christmas Day win over the Detroit Lions on Thursday, O'Connell shared how his team has remained so competitive in December, and why their late-season wins are still valuable.
"We've had some phenomenal practices. We've had total conviction to prepare and go try to win a game, and the energy has been great. I think our leadership deserves a ton of credit.
I think what the players have built within that locker room, and ultimately what I think is
December wins, December divisional wins, you can really look inward and say 'we're
building something.'
And even though we're not going to have a chance to play in the postseason this year, I think there's a lot that can be pulled from this stretch of games that we can build upon."
Kevin O'Connell hoping the Minnesota Vikings can build on their December success for 2026
This is the second time in O'Connell's tenure with the Vikings that they have failed to reach the playoffs in the season right after a year in which they qualified for the postseason. In fact, Minnesota hasn't made back-to-back trips to the playoffs since the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
O'Connell should be given credit for keeping the Vikings competitive in the weeks after they were eliminated from postseason contention. No one would have blamed Minnesota at all if they ended the 2025 campaign with only five or six wins, but the team's head coach was never going to let that happen.
O'Connell clearly believes the Vikings can still generate value from late-season wins, even if the team can no longer compete for a spot in the playoffs, and especially if they come against NFC North opponents.
Minnesota and its head coach will get one more opportunity to perform in front of their fans this season, when they welcome the Green Bay Packers to U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 18 and attempt to send their top rival into the playoffs with a demoralizing loss.