Kevin O’Connell spent the entire off season trying to improve the run game, signed CJ Ham and Josh Oliver, and this is the output of all of his efforts. Pathetic. 10/10 culture setter and leader. 2/10 actual offensive minded football coach. The throw or up and pray Jefferson catches it offense only works when Jefferson is playing. Pathetic display of offense on the big stage.

Is O’Connell a good coach for always keeping the Vikings in a close game. Or is he a bad coach for never putting teams away. Tune in next Monday night when the Vikings perform just as good, or bad as the Bears do, and either almost win or almost lose in what will almost definitely be some sort of embarrassing fashion.

Solid OC, thanks for this. Any chance we could get this by quarter? I would be interested in which teams come out with a good game plan that slowly decreases as the game goes on. Or even who is only good with their backs against the wall down by a couple scores.

I completely forgot the Saquan Barkely contract was a thing until right now. Bijan and Gibbs are staring down the barrel of less than 10 mil a year for their careers the way things are going.

Don’t forget the following paragraph in the article.

This is perhaps the most bad-faith, generous method of collecting the data for the Vikings – it essentially does not account for the fact that T.J. Hockenson and Jordan Addison have seen their yards-per-game number skyrocket in response to Jefferson’s absence. Meanwhile, the Houston Texans are close behind with an almost entirely healthy receiving group all competing for targets at the same time.

Vikings have like 80% odds of making the playoffs and they’ll do that, but thats about it. No matter how good Flores and O’Connell are they aren’t doing much with a completely one-dimensional offense and a young and shallow defense without much blue ship talent.

But nobody actually cares about a team’s 3rd down conversion rate.

This is where ya lost me bud. It’s a pretty important stat.

Everyone who watched the Vikings last year knew they weren’t as good as their 13-3 record and that absolutely no one should be afraid to see them in the playoffs. Bills are on the other side of that spectrum this year. Advanced analytics often paint a clearer picture than just wins and losses and the Bills are definitely better than their record. And, when they make the playoffs they should be a hard out even on the road.

How much is Cousins worth coming off his Achilles injury? He was playing at a top-5ish level prior to the injury. But, guys like Rivers, Ryan, and Carr(kinda) have shown it’s not a given FA QB’s in their late 30’s are the answer.

Not getting stuffed three times in a row in the redzone because you are RB#2 is going to help your Y/A. Plenty of “backup” RB’s have had better efficiency stats in part because of the quality of attempts.

The disrespect to the Jaren THE Hall monitor is too much. 80% completion rating, 10 yards a pass, no ints, no sacks, no fumbles.

Still can’t believe the Bears traded a pick in the 30’s for a 9 game rental. Sweat is mils more talented than Claypool, but if he follows Jaylon Johnson out the door this off-season Poles should be on the hot seat. How are Bears fans feeling about Poles running this next draft?

Also,

The Vikings could have gone after a more similar QB with experience in O’Connell’s system—Colt McCoy, for instance—but instead went for a guy who will add another layer to an offense that has produced just league-average results so far this season. If Dobbs can boost a run game that ranks 22nd in EPA per play, it will help offset what they’re losing in the pass game without Cousins at the very least.

I have always wondered what KIND of QB O’Connell(And Jefferson) wants to run the offense. The offense likely won’t be as good without Cousins, but it should be different and could be a new type of fun to watch.

It’s not Zimmer’s fault he lost the locker room. Most of the team leaders refused to get vaccinated and Zimmer saw that as not trying as hard as you can to win and called them out on it. And rightfully so. Sure he wasn’t all roses and unicorns, but the idea he all of sudden turned into some evil prick when COVID hit is ridiculous.