Throughout his tenure as Minnesota Vikings head coach, which is par for the course when someone is in that role, there have been questions about Kevin O'Connell's choices as an offensive play caller.
If something doesn't work, even if only for a game, then he should change. In other cases, like continuing to have a very injured Carson Wentz drop back over and over earlier this season, his play-calling borders on malpractice.
After the Week 10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the questions about O'Connell as a play caller are stickier. The game situation drove pass volume late in the game, but the Vikings also passed the ball on 11 of 15 plays during the second quarter--while leading for the entire quarter.
For the game against Baltimore, McCarthy had 42 pass attempts while Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason combined for 13 carries and averaged 5.5 yards per carry as a tandem.
Better balance was promised this season, with an overhaul of the interior offensive line and the trade to acquire Mason, but it has not happened, and injuries can only go so far to explain it.
Simply put, O'Connell's tendency to go pass-heavy in an effort to show what an offensive guru he is isn't working right now. Even simpler yet, McCarthy is not at a stage where he can operate the offense as O'Connell wants him to.
Suggestion made for Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell to give up play-calling
No one is anywhere near a point where O'Connell's job status will be called into question. But Judd Zulgad of SKOR North used his Substack platform to join the chorus of people wondering about the play calling, while offering a solution for O'Connell to implement.
"O’Connell, however, seems unwilling to adjust his play calling to what would best suit J.J. McCarthy. O’Connell would disagree with that opinion, and feel even stronger about this one: O’Connell should turn over play calling to an assistant.
The most likely candidate would be offensive coordinator Wes Phillips, but the smarter move would be to have quarterbacks coach Josh McCown assume the duties.
This isn’t to say O’Connell should never call plays again. But after watching McCarthy complete 20 of 42 passes for 248 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in the Vikings’ 27-19 loss to Baltimore on Sunday, it’s become clear O’Connell is more focused on having McCarthy adjust to what he wants as opposed to what McCarthy does well."
On Monday's episode of SKOR North's "Purple Daily" show, Zulgad took his written thoughts to audio form via a "hot take" after the loss to Baltimore.
"Josh McCown should take over play calling, based on the fact that [he has a] working relationship with [J.J.] McCarthy. His sole focus would be on play calling.
I refuse to believe a guy that mentored quarterbacks and played quarterback in the league for that long would get the play calling sheet and freeze up, and become terrible.
I think he deserves a chance, largely because I think Kevin O'Connell has shown that he is not the best man, right now.... to call plays for J.J. McCarthy."
McCown is only in his third season as an NFL coach, and his second as the Vikings' quarterbacks coach. But he played quarterback in the league for 16 seasons, for nine teams and in the residual number of offensive systems. Vikings fans surely remember when he played for the Arizona Cardinals during the 2003 season.
As Zulgad wrote, McCown has a bright future in coaching, and being a play caller is likely coming for him at some point.
If only for the short term, and it would surely only be short-term, O'Connell relinquishing the play calling to his quarterbacks coach lands as the perfect idea to get McCarthy on a better track.