This has been a difficult start to the season for head coach Kevin O’Connell of the Minnesota Vikings. While the 3-0 start has the team in first place in the challenging NFC North and the defense may be the best in the NFL, the offense has barely crawled through the opening games of the season.
Some coaches would easily go along with those circumstances as long as the record is perfect, but not O’Connell. He was hired by the Vikings in 2022 because of his offensive know-how and his exceptional ability to work with quarterbacks. He had learned his trade as a backup quarterback to Tom Brady with the Patriots and while working as an assistant coach under Sean McVay of the Rams.
He demonstrated his skills during his first three seasons with the Vikings while working with Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold. Both were considered mediocre quarterbacks who had ordinary skills, but O’Connell brought out the best in both of them.
After injuries and missteps plagued former first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, the Vikings brought in Kyler Murray to turn the offense into one of the best units in the league. The Vikings were pairing the former Arizona Cardinals quarterback with a superstar in wideout Justin Jefferson and speedster Jordan Addison as well as a functional tight end in T.J. Hockenson.
Veteran running back Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason were supposed to provide a ground game that could take pressure off of Murray and provide key chunks of yardage when the Vikings needed to keep opposing defenses off balance.
Vikings offense has failed to do its job
That offense has been disastrous to this point. Murray’s Week 1 concussion and Jefferson’s Week 3 ankle injury explain part of the problem, but it still hurts O’Connell to see his team with the worst offense in the league — averaging just 238.3 yards per game.
O’Connell always tries to keep things positive, but he knows that his offense has to perform better whether Jefferson is able to play or not.
“It starts with me making sure our entire group knows that you have your game-day roster, and everybody’s got to be ready to contribute at a moment’s notice,” O’Connell said at his press availability. “And we’ll be prepared this weekend for whatever takes place with Justin. If we have him, if we don’t, it was a good learning lesson for everybody involved.”
The Vikings were held to 230 total yards and 9 first downs in the Week 3 win over the Buccaneers. Those figures are not representative of a good or excellent team, no matter what the standings say.
The Vikings have to come through with a better offensive effort in Week 4 against the Dolphins and start their climb up the offensive rankings chart in an effort to put a more complete team on the field.
The heat is on O’Connell, Murray and Addison to make things happen consistently against Miami.
