Kevin O'Connell will be next Vikings coach

[J. Kapp 11]

Even when it is bad, it isn't that bad.

But it hasn't ever been good enough, either.

Wow. That tells me a lot.

I thought 2017 was a blast. Same with 2009. And 1998. And several other years in my lifetime of watching Vikings football.

But hey, we've never won a Super Bowl, so it's never been good. To each his own, I guess.

I want the Vikings to win a Super Bowl in the worst possible way. I'll cry like a schoolgirl when they do. But I'm not going to let anything stop me from enjoying the journey, especially when the season is fun, like was in those years I mentioned.

[StumpHunter]

Even when it is bad, it isn't that bad.

But it hasn't ever been good enough, either.

That is why we need to keep trying.

[Foreman44]

I

How many here remember Zimmer being signed as our new head coach.was there anyone impressed with our choice.


Correct me if I am wrong. Seems to me! Much of the sport talk, news was Zimmer is 58 hrs old. Why did it take so long for him to get a Head Coaching job.

Did other GMs see something in Zimmer, attitude, not getting along with his players. Something the Vikings Gm didn’t

If so Zimmer should never been hired to begin with.. R.S should have been fired

[VikingLord]

But hey, we've never won a Super Bowl, so it's never been good. To each his own, I guess.

I think you're mis-characterizing what I wrote.

[VikingLord]

But it hasn't ever been good enough, either.

That is why we need to keep trying.

Absolutely.

I guess my take on trying is that there is outright gambling and guessing and more considered attempts based on facts and data.

One way is pure hope. The other can still fail but at least you're playing odds that are in your favor somewhat.

Just like always, I'll go along for the ride. If pure hope is our destiny as a fanbase, then let's all hope this time ends up different.

[StanM]

That will all fall into place after the Super Bowl and hiring. Some have expressed concern about Kevin not calling plays but we need to wait and see who he lures in here to be the OC. When his staff starts to take shape we will have a much clearer view of where we’re headed.

I probably already have a reputation as the old guy who has seen every Vikings season but here I go again. I remember how excited my dad was when he found out VanBrocklin was going to be our head coach. He was a fan but he went ballistic the first time Tarkenton scrambled. QBs were statues in the late 50’s and here was this guy zig zagged 30 yards backwards before he threw the ball. Anyways, there was a lot of buzz about our new team and hires. My dad passed in 1965 and never saw how things turned out and ushered in the Bud Grant era. We didn’t have the internet in those days but the buzz at the dinner table was positive before things went south.

I think if age and four Super Bowl losses taught me anything it’s that I have no control over anything this team does. I can elect to follow them or not. I used to get beered up and scream at the TV in the 70’s until that Dallas game with the notorious push off. If we lost I was a miserable grouch the next day but that game snapped me out of letting them dictate my mood.

Sure these new hires could go either way and I was attracted by the shiny paint and chrome of the Harbaugh prospect. In retrospect after finding out more about Jim’s quirky way of doing things I think we did the right thing. This season I resigned myself to admitting I might not see that Super Bowl win before I die. In a perverse sort of way watching them take the risk and blow things up has been fun to watch. I guess if I can’t have my Super Bowl win this meltdown and reboot will keep me glued to Vikings news all off season. I watch football for entertainment and have to admit that I’m being entertained year around.

Y'know, reading this makes one thing clear. You'd be great to have a few beers with (assuming you drink beer ... no worries if you don't!). I go back to '69 (hence my avatar), and I feel much the same way. It's entertainment. Part of that entertainment for me is learning all I can about the Vikings and talking about it here.

But in person would be a lot more fun.

No worries about the beer. It has been my best friend and my kryptonite over the years and I have one or a few sometimes. I’m assuming that we have both seen every Super Bowl loss and saw the sun come up the next morning on the way to work. Even a win wouldn’t change much of anything in the big picture. A Super Bowl win most always results in losing free agents and some of the coaching staff. Staying on top is always harder and if we ever win one they’ll be arguing about that just like everything else. The real entertainment is watching the meltdowns and pages long posts of stats.

[HardcoreVikesFan]

Even when it is bad, it isn't that bad.

But it hasn't ever been good enough, either.

The phrase, "the football people running the show know more than we do." Sure. They do. That doesn't mean they know how to make GOOD decisions. Since the Wilfs have owned the Vikings, the team has only had six playoff appearances. The team has three wins in the playoffs. Nearly twenty years of ownership and the Wilfs have little success to show. It is pathetic. I am tired of this team being mediocre and not elite.

Going with O'Connell over Harbaugh means this team will commit to a rebuild. O'Connell isn't a guy you hire to turn around an under-achieving team. He is a long-term gamble. 2022 will yet again will leave us another 50+ seasons without a Super Bowl. This will be year three of the team missing the playoffs. The Wilfs are taking a major gamble on a guy who will have to learn on the job while being faced with a re-build.

Where does that leave us as fans? Playing the 'hope game.' Hoping that, this time, we got it right. Hoping that this 'dime-a-dozen' successful coordinator on a winning-team will pan-out for us. Hoping we found the guy who will lead us to the Super Bowl and win it. The risk is immensely high. There is no guarantee that Harbaugh would have been 'the guy.' However, he was less-risk adverse and was proven. I would have much rather put my hope into Harbaugh than O'Connell.

[VikingsVictorious]

But it hasn't ever been good enough, either.

The phrase, "the football people running the show know more than we do." Sure. They do. That doesn't mean they know how to make GOOD decisions. Since the Wilfs have owned the Vikings, the team has only had six playoff appearances. The team has three wins in the playoffs. Nearly twenty years of ownership and the Wilfs have little success to show. It is pathetic. I am tired of this team being mediocre and not elite.

Going with O'Connell over Harbaugh means this team will commit to a rebuild. O'Connell isn't a guy you hire to turn around an under-achieving team. He is a long-term gamble. 2022 will yet again will leave us another 50+ seasons without a Super Bowl. This will be year three of the team missing the playoffs. The Wilfs are taking a major gamble on a guy who will have to learn on the job while being faced with a re-build.

Where does that leave us as fans? Playing the 'hope game.' Hoping that, this time, we got it right. Hoping that this 'dime-a-dozen' successful coordinator on a winning-team will pan-out for us. Hoping we found the guy who will lead us to the Super Bowl and win it. The risk is immensely high. There is no guarantee that Harbaugh would have been 'the guy.' However, he was less-risk adverse and was proven. I would have much rather put my hope into Harbaugh than O'Connell.

Very aptly put.

[StumpHunter]

Going with O'Connell over Harbaugh means this team will commit to a rebuild. O'Connell isn't a guy you hire to turn around an under-achieving team. He is a long-term gamble. 2022 will yet again will leave us another 50+ seasons without a Super Bowl. This will be year three of the team missing the playoffs. The Wilfs are taking a major gamble on a guy who will have to learn on the job while being faced with a re-build.

Even with Bill Bellicheck this team was not going to compete for a SB next season, so getting worst in 2022 is worth it if it means getting much better in 2023.

[JJBreaksRecords]

But it hasn't ever been good enough, either.

The phrase, "the football people running the show know more than we do." Sure. They do. That doesn't mean they know how to make GOOD decisions. Since the Wilfs have owned the Vikings, the team has only had six playoff appearances. The team has three wins in the playoffs. Nearly twenty years of ownership and the Wilfs have little success to show. It is pathetic. I am tired of this team being mediocre and not elite.

Going with O'Connell over Harbaugh means this team will commit to a rebuild. O'Connell isn't a guy you hire to turn around an under-achieving team. He is a long-term gamble. 2022 will yet again will leave us another 50+ seasons without a Super Bowl. This will be year three of the team missing the playoffs. The Wilfs are taking a major gamble on a guy who will have to learn on the job while being faced with a re-build.

Where does that leave us as fans? Playing the 'hope game.' Hoping that, this time, we got it right. Hoping that this 'dime-a-dozen' successful coordinator on a winning-team will pan-out for us. Hoping we found the guy who will lead us to the Super Bowl and win it. The risk is immensely high. There is no guarantee that Harbaugh would have been 'the guy.' However, he was less-risk adverse and was proven. I would have much rather put my hope into Harbaugh than O'Connell.

I couldnt disagree more. Even with Harbaugh we would have to have hope. Anyone coming into a new situation is a gamble. So why be grumpy and pissed off. Hope for the best. Doesnt do any good just to grumble about everything. Maybe Mensah knows what he is doing.

[HardcoreVikesFan]

Even with Bill Bellicheck this team was not going to compete for a SB next season, so getting worst in 2022 is worth it if it means getting much better in 2023.

I couldnt disagree more. Even with Harbaugh we would have to have hope. Anyone coming into a new situation is a gamble. So why be grumpy and pissed off. Hope for the best. Doesnt do any good just to grumble about everything. Maybe Mensah knows what he is doing.

My stance on this isn't going to change. Harbaugh was the right candidate for the job. In my view, the Vikings made both a terrible business and football decision going with O'Connell.

I am entrenched on my stance because it involves my father. My dad is almost 70 years old. As much as I hope and want him to live until he is 100, there is not great statistical data that states he will make it to 100. Hell, I could die before my Dad dies - that is life. I WANT and NEED to experience this bumbling-cursed team winning a Super Bowl before my Dad leaves this earth. Let's make it easy numbers and say my Dad does happen to have 30 years left on earth. In the last thirty years, the Vikings have had four shots at making it to the Super Bowl. They have found a way to screw it up every single time. Missing an easy FG/dropping an easy INT in 1998, getting completely embarrassed in 2001 by the Giants, committing turnover after turnover and being so braindead they left 12 men on the field in 2009, and finally, getting blasted by the Eagles with the supposed vaunted-Zimmer defense. What makes me think the next thirty years are going to be different? This team hasn't even been in the Super Bowl in almost FIFTY YEARS. No way in hell my dad has fifty years left to live. I might not even have fifty years left to live. The Vikings are what connect as father and son. I would give almost anything to experience watching this team finally win one so I can experience that with my dad.

I will reiterate in case my point was lost in my post: Harbaugh would have given me MORE HOPE that this team could reach the Super Bowl than O'Connell. I refuse to believe this team-spin PR that Harbaugh was arrogant and "didn't align with the view the team has for the future of the Vikings." That the hire was, "all about collaboration and leadership." Give me a break. If the Wilfs truly are committed to winning, they would have hired Harbaugh on the spot. What is more likely is that the Wilfs bowed down to the powers of Rob B, John Stapleton, and Andrew Miller who wanted a 'yes-sir,' candidate in O'Connel.

We are now risking everything by pairing a first-time GM with a first-time head coach. Talk about a bonafide recipe for disaster. How often has that pairing worked in NFL history? It has never worked-out in this team's history. It did not work with Tice (Rob B was football ops), it didn't work with Childress (Fran Foley), and it didn't work with Frazier (technically this one may not count as he was an interim choice and then made head coach). I had no problem with the Kewsi hiring. However, why we doubling down by adding inexperienced head coach to lead this team? Let alone a guy who has never even called offensive plays? What, suddenly, he is going to the be the aura in the sky over Valhalla for game management and play selection? He is going to be the guy as a first-time hire we have been missing for years? With Harbaugh, you would have been bringing in a proven leader of men who has had success. He would have been much better suited to execute the role of coaching the talent Kewsi would be bringing to the roster.

Even if 2022 was going to be 'wash-year' with Harbaugh, Harbaugh easily gives this team more wins and keeps them competitive than O'Connell will. With O'Connell being a first-time head coach, this team easily could (and probably will) finish last in the division and have one of the worst records in the NFL in 2022. 2022 will be yet ANOTHER year where life passes my dad and I by without seeing this team win anything significant. There is no guarantee this team will be competitive in 2023 either. I am expecting two bottom dwelling years with the very small chance the team gets back to relevancy in 2024. Given the history of this team and the NFL, there is a better chance this team remains incompetent. Then we are back to square one looking for potentially a new GM and definitely a new head coach in 2025.

So yeah, I am going to be upset and grumpy. I feel this team has cost myself the joy of celebrating a potential Super Bowl with my dad. I do not believe we hired the right candidate. I am tired of this team being mediocre. As a fan, I have every right to demand excellence from this team. I am beyond jaded at this point.

Rant over.

[CharVike]

The phrase, "the football people running the show know more than we do." Sure. They do. That doesn't mean they know how to make GOOD decisions. Since the Wilfs have owned the Vikings, the team has only had six playoff appearances. The team has three wins in the playoffs. Nearly twenty years of ownership and the Wilfs have little success to show. It is pathetic. I am tired of this team being mediocre and not elite.

Going with O'Connell over Harbaugh means this team will commit to a rebuild. O'Connell isn't a guy you hire to turn around an under-achieving team. He is a long-term gamble. 2022 will yet again will leave us another 50+ seasons without a Super Bowl. This will be year three of the team missing the playoffs. The Wilfs are taking a major gamble on a guy who will have to learn on the job while being faced with a re-build.

Where does that leave us as fans? Playing the 'hope game.' Hoping that, this time, we got it right. Hoping that this 'dime-a-dozen' successful coordinator on a winning-team will pan-out for us. Hoping we found the guy who will lead us to the Super Bowl and win it. The risk is immensely high. There is no guarantee that Harbaugh would have been 'the guy.' However, he was less-risk adverse and was proven. I would have much rather put my hope into Harbaugh than O'Connell.

I couldnt disagree more. Even with Harbaugh we would have to have hope. Anyone coming into a new situation is a gamble. So why be grumpy and pissed off. Hope for the best. Doesnt do any good just to grumble about everything. Maybe Mensah knows what he is doing.

The Wilf's publicly stated we will not be rebuilding. Harbaugh had success with the 49ers until his last season they were 8-8 and sinking fast. If he did come here it would have been basically the Zim philosophy all over again. He never built a decent offense. He didn't care about the offense. He used a gimmick QB after Smith was hurt and fooled teams for two years. It was pound the rock and play defense. I've seen enough of that BS to last me the rest of my life. Yes it's a hope game for the entire organization. I hope he picked the right GM. Because if he can't draft good we are done. I also hope that he gets a CAP guy who doesn't give one player almost a 1/4 of the CAP. Brez should be one of the 1st guys shown the door. If not that takes away some hope from the GM. Unless Brez reports to a Wilf then he's safe.

[Pep2Moss]

Harbaugh has a short shelf life IMO and this team may not be too good next year. I don't think it would have worked.

[psjordan]

I'm sorry folks, but I can't help laughing reading these threads. Mostly because I cannot get the scene from Family Vacation out of my head, where Ellen asks Clark "what do YOU think Clark?"

If you guys asked me what I thought, I'd just point you to the clip (warning NSFW or small kids). Just substitute "moose" for "Vikings fan":

https://youtu.be/n5Pv6QTvzos

[J. Kapp 11]

Even with Bill Bellicheck this team was not going to compete for a SB next season, so getting worst in 2022 is worth it if it means getting much better in 2023.

I couldnt disagree more. Even with Harbaugh we would have to have hope. Anyone coming into a new situation is a gamble. So why be grumpy and pissed off. Hope for the best. Doesnt do any good just to grumble about everything. Maybe Mensah knows what he is doing.

My stance on this isn't going to change. Harbaugh was the right candidate for the job. In my view, the Vikings made both a terrible business and football decision going with O'Connell.

I am entrenched on my stance because it involves my father. My dad is almost 70 years old. As much as I hope and want him to live until he is 100, there is not great statistical data that states he will make it to 100. Hell, I could die before my Dad dies - that is life. I WANT and NEED to experience this bumbling-cursed team winning a Super Bowl before my Dad leaves this earth. Let's make it easy numbers and say my Dad does happen to have 30 years left on earth. In the last thirty years, the Vikings have had four shots at making it to the Super Bowl. They have found a way to screw it up every single time. Missing an easy FG/dropping an easy INT in 1998, getting completely embarrassed in 2001 by the Giants, committing turnover after turnover and being so braindead they left 12 men on the field in 2009, and finally, getting blasted by the Eagles with the supposed vaunted-Zimmer defense. What makes me think the next thirty years are going to be different? This team hasn't even been in the Super Bowl in almost FIFTY YEARS. No way in hell my dad has fifty years left to live. I might not even have fifty years left to live. The Vikings are what connect as father and son. I would give almost anything to experience watching this team finally win one so I can experience that with my dad.

I will reiterate in case my point was lost in my post: Harbaugh would have given me MORE HOPE that this team could reach the Super Bowl than O'Connell. I refuse to believe this team-spin PR that Harbaugh was arrogant and "didn't align with the view the team has for the future of the Vikings." That the hire was, "all about collaboration and leadership." Give me a break. If the Wilfs truly are committed to winning, they would have hired Harbaugh on the spot. What is more likely is that the Wilfs bowed down to the powers of Rob B, John Stapleton, and Andrew Miller who wanted a 'yes-sir,' candidate in O'Connel.

We are now risking everything by pairing a first-time GM with a first-time head coach. Talk about a bonafide recipe for disaster. How often has that pairing worked in NFL history? It has never worked-out in this team's history. It did not work with Tice (Rob B was football ops), it didn't work with Childress (Fran Foley), and it didn't work with Frazier (technically this one may not count as he was an interim choice and then made head coach). I had no problem with the Kewsi hiring. However, why we doubling down by adding inexperienced head coach to lead this team? Let alone a guy who has never even called offensive plays? What, suddenly, he is going to the be the aura in the sky over Valhalla for game management and play selection? He is going to be the guy as a first-time hire we have been missing for years? With Harbaugh, you would have been bringing in a proven leader of men who has had success. He would have been much better suited to execute the role of coaching the talent Kewsi would be bringing to the roster.

Even if 2022 was going to be 'wash-year' with Harbaugh, Harbaugh easily gives this team more wins and keeps them competitive than O'Connell will. With O'Connell being a first-time head coach, this team easily could (and probably will) finish last in the division and have one of the worst records in the NFL in 2022. 2022 will be yet ANOTHER year where life passes my dad and I by without seeing this team win anything significant. There is no guarantee this team will be competitive in 2023 either. I am expecting two bottom dwelling years with the very small chance the team gets back to relevancy in 2024. Given the history of this team and the NFL, there is a better chance this team remains incompetent. Then we are back to square one looking for potentially a new GM and definitely a new head coach in 2025.

So yeah, I am going to be upset and grumpy. I feel this team has cost myself the joy of celebrating a potential Super Bowl with my dad. I do not believe we hired the right candidate. I am tired of this team being mediocre. As a fan, I have every right to demand excellence from this team. I am beyond jaded at this point.

Rant over.

I feel for you and your dad. I’m almost 62. I’ve been at this Vikings fan thing since 1969.

However, I’ve got bad news for you. The Minnesota Vikings were no more likely to be competitive in 2022 with Harbaugh than they will be with O’Connell. And given the kick-the-can-down-the-road salary cap hell that Rick put us in, it’s going to be tough to be competitive in ‘23.

The bottom line with Harbaugh was that it simply wasn’t a good fit. Harbaugh himself has said that. There’s nothing anybody can do about that.

I’d encourage you to put the Vikings aside for awhile, take a deep breath, and come back to it when we know more. O’Connell can’t even talk about it yet. Give it time. Let him say what he’s gonna say. And if you don’t like what you hear, then stress all you want about it. Cheers man!