3 scapegoats from the Vikings loss to the Broncos in Week 11

3. Kevin O'Connell - Head Coach

Vikings fans have been singing Kevin O'Connell's praises for the past few weeks after the team's five-game winning streak, but as soon as the team suffered a loss, fans were quick to turn on the young head coach.

O'Connell wasn't perfect, but he's doing a standup job week in and week out, and Week 11 was no different, though it was a bit of a letdown.

He was tasked with taking his rag-tag offense on the road this past Sunday night and putting them up against arguably the hottest defense in the NFL. That same defense had recently shut down the likes of Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, and O'Connell was working with Josh Dobbs.

Minnesota was still able to put up 20 points, with three turnovers costing the team a shot at putting up even more, with one of those turnovers coming when Minnesota was certainly in range to attempt a potential game-clinching field goal.

O'Connell's continuous use of running back Alexander Mattison is the biggest issue, and hopefully, that trend will fade as the emergence of Ty Chandler continues.

O'Connell has been a big reason that this team has gotten to 6-5 after losing key players to significant injuries, so this one close loss, though hard to swallow, is no reason to get up in arms about the promising head coach.