Perhaps Minnesota will have its pick of the veteran quarterback litter this offseason. ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler reported as much this week.
“My sense right now, from asking around, is all the top quarterbacks that will be, or could be, available … this is the place they want to go,” Fowler said on “NFL Live.” “It is Minnesota.”
Perhaps that means the likes of Kyler Murray, Aaron Rodgers, Malik Willis or Jimmy Garoppolo find their way to Minnesota this offseason to compete with J.J. McCarthy for the starting QB gig. That will feel like a cure all for a team sabotaged by its play under center last season.
But even those options aren’t guaranteed success. There’s a reason they’re available, after all. And even if they are indeed competent – which would be a big upgrade – they still wouldn’t elevate the offense to the team’s phase of strength.
It’s time for Kevin O’Connell to operate under that assumption.
Seattle won the Super Bowl with a good offense, dominant defense and excellent special teams. It leaned heavily on the latter two phases in its win over New England last Sunday.
That’s not to take anything away from quarterback Sam Darnold, who had to be – and was – nearly perfect in the NFC championship game to edge the high-octane Los Angeles Rams.
But such a performance wasn’t required against the Patriots, nor in either Seattle’s NFC divisional round or Week 18 wins over the San Francisco 49ers.
So, on those days, the Seahawks leaned on the run game. They were conservative with the pass, especially on third and long situations. They placed an emphasis on ball control and won “boring.”
The performances were reminiscent of what Minnesota delivered during its five-game winning streak to close an otherwise disappointing regular season. The offense stopped giving the ball away every other play, which allowed a stellar defensive unit to dictate the game’s terms.
Seahawks-like.
In his season-ending press conference, the since-fired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah lamented the changes in the quarterback room last offseason that left Minnesota with a less dynamic passing game that clipped the wings of O’Connell’s typically prolific aerial attack.
But the truth is, Minnesota still had enough to win if its coach were willing to adapt his style. Regardless of how excited O’Connell is by whoever the Vikings bring in to compete with McCarthy in training camp, it’s important he reflects this offseason and maybe even reviews the Mike MacDonald School of Winning with a Great Defense.
There, they teach lessons such as the value of scoring three points, field position and placing a heavy emphasis on special teams. Punts are considered solid results. The formula for victory isn’t defined by the number of big passing plays, but rather by finding the highest-probability path to scoring more points than your opponent.
Watching Seattle run on third and longs against San Francisco and New England was a jarring juxtaposition to all of Minnesota’s overly-aggressive decisions that too frequently led to disaster in the fall, ranging from Carson Wentz launching an interception on second and 25 from deep in his own territory against Philadelphia to O’Connell forgoing the game-tying field goal and instead electing for a fourth-down try against the Seahawks with a rookie quarterback in Seattle.
You know how that one ended.
If the script were flipped, the Seahawks would’ve taken the points – as they did five times in last Sunday’s Super Bowl. Not that that’s the right play in all instances – there’s a time and place for aggression. But your circumstances should determine your decisions.
That’s true all season, and never more so than in the playoffs, where O’Connell is yet to win a game.
MacDonald understood the power of his dominant defense. It’s why the Seahawks attempted just 12 fourth-down tries all season across 20 total games, far and away the fewest in the league.
Yes, that’s an easier decision to reach when that defense is your brainchild, as is the case with Macdonald.
Can an offensive coach like O’Connell restrain himself enough to take a similar approach that best suits his team moving forward?
The Vikings will have a new general manager for the 2026 NFL season. They may even have a new starting quarterback. But if the head coach continues to try to ram square pegs into round holes, the end result won’t change.
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