The Minnesota Vikings are one of three undefeated teams remaining in the NFL after Week 4. But even with a 4-0 record, fans aren’t sold that they are Super Bowl contenders.
The Vikings have a defense and a special teams unit to be excited about, but things still don’t feel right with an offense that is currently 18th with 86 points scored and last with 4.4 yards per play. It was enough for boos to rain down at U.S. Bank Stadium as the Vikings took a knee to secure a 15-10 win over the Miami Dolphins and for fans to wonder about the future of this team.
But when you look at the Vikings' issues, they might run deeper than the offense. And after driving the team’s offseason decisions, the real problem may be Kevin O’Connell’s main-character energy, which has been thrown into the spotlight.
Kevin O’Connell has become the main character of the 2026 Minnesota Vikings
Every team has a face of the franchise, and that title will belong to Justin Jefferson as long as he stays in Minnesota. But each year, a main character's storyline will shape the team's fate.
One year ago, it was J.J. McCarthy. The 10th overall pick in the 2024 draft, McCarthy got his chance to start at quarterback in Minnesota. But it failed spectacularly as he got injured, couldn’t perform on the field, and clashed with the coaching staff behind the scenes. It’s why the “Nine” meme became so popular and why Vikings fans couldn’t escape it until he was traded to the New York Giants last week. But when McCarthy left, the spotlight immediately shifted to O’Connell.
O’Connell jumped into the main character role as soon as former general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was fired in January. While he maintained that he has a good relationship with Adofo-Mensah, the optics didn’t look great: the decision came while he was at the Senior Bowl, and an extensive report a few days later included his paternity leave at the start of the 2023 season.
It’s not fair to speculate on sources, but it’s hard not to wonder if O’Connell had a role in that report after Dianna Russini, who was one of the authors of the report and worked for The Athletic at the time, revealed she was texting with O’Connell during a traffic stop roughly two weeks before Adofo-Mensah was canned.
Rob Brzezinski was named interim GM in the wake of that firing, but O’Connell put his fingerprints all over the Vikings offseason from there. He chose Kyler Murray in part because he thought he wouldn’t be a “one year band-aid” according to SI’s Albert Breer and later staged a quarterback competition that McCarthy had virtually no chance of winning.
O’Connell helped lead the team’s general manager search, sitting in on meetings that led to the hiring of Nolan Teasley, and Mark Wilf was quick to mention that O’Connell had a significant voice in the team’s decisions when Teasley was hired in June.
Through all of this, O’Connell adjusted his running game to include more physicality under offensive line coach Keith Carter and more pistol and shotgun concepts from the mind of assistant head coach Frank Smith. But those decisions haven’t entirely panned out and the blame goes toward O’Connell.
O’Connell’s offense is the one thing that is holding the Vikings back
Many fans have buried their head in the sand to focus on the positives with this year’s team, and for good reason. The Vikings already control their own destiny in the NFC North, and their defense ranks No. 1 in points allowed per game (12.75), sacks (16.0), third-down defense (22.6%), red zone defense (18.2% touchdown rate), and expected points added going into Week 5.
In addition, their special teams have turned a corner under Matt Daniels. Will Reichard is a perfect 12-for-12 on field goals this season and hasn’t missed a field goal in nearly a full calendar year. Myles Price has also broken out as a punt returner, averaging a league-high 20.1 yards per return and bringing back the Vikings’ first return for a touchdown since 2016.
To waste these things with an anemic offense is one thing. But to waste it with a head coach who is known as an offensive guru is where fans get frustrated. This is amplified by the fact that O’Connell has told everyone from Pat McAfee to Dan Patrick how he’s built up this offense, and it feels like the same buffering wheel is spinning over Murray’s head that McCarthy had one year ago.
With that, Vikings fans are partially booing the offense, but they’re likely just as frustrated with O’Connell, who seems to have an at-least-we’re-winning attitude rather than showing an urgency to fix the problem.
Some late-game changes in the win over the Dolphins show that things could improve. Getting Jefferson back, who has caught three passes from Murray despite playing just 18 snaps together, could be another boost. But whatever happens from here, it’s on O’Connell, who has become the focal point of this year’s team.
Add us as a preferred source on Google