Kevin O’Connell is the MN Vikings’ Biggest Problem

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NFL: Baltimore Ravens at Minnesota Vikings
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This season has been one of the most difficult of Kevin O’Connell’s near four-year tenure as Minnesota Vikings head coach. The only prior KOC season that even compares would probably be 2023.

That was the year Kirk Cousins tore his achilles tendon, forcing KOC and the Vikings to shuffle through five different less-than-favorable QB options on the way to a 7-10 non-playoff record. But for Minnesota’s head coach, this season feels different than that one, and not in a good way.

JJ McCarthy, Kevin O'Connell - Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings
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Back then, O’Connell took in backup quarterbacks with inferior talent and no expectations — like Nick Mullens, Josh Dobbs and Jaren Hall — and turned them into semi-serviceable interim starters.

To the football world, that season only increased KOC’s standing among the league’s top offensive minds. If anything, it cemented him as the newest up-and-coming QB whisperer to watch around the NFL.

JJ McCarthy is not a good quarterback right now

Fast forward to 2025, and the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach is in a much different place with this team than he was back then. Now, he is tasked with raising a 22-year-old first round draft pick that he hand-selected. Blame JJ McCarthy’s torn meniscus if you want, but the early results haven’t been pretty.

After the fifth start of his career Sunday afternoon, the young Vikings quarterback is now 74-of-140 (53%) for 842 yards, 6 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. That’s hardly the Super Bowl caliber QB Minnesota needed him to be when this season started.

So, on important questions the Vikings now face is where to point the finger for JJ McCarthy’s slow start. only once they figure out the cause of his struggles, can KOC and his staff fix the root problem.

But when O’Connell and all of his QB gurus get their heads together, I don’t think they’re going to like what they find. Because it seems more and more obvious with every week that goes by that McCarthy’s failures through the first handful of NFL games are a product of his environment, specifically his head coach.

Kevin O’Connell is the Minnesota Vikings’ offensive problem

If you watch back the all-22 tomorrow, you will see a bunch of receivers that Kevin O’Connell schemed open today. Sometimes McCarthy saw them, oftentimes he did not. Either way, the result is the same.

With the kid QB, as currently developed these pass plays (especially as O’Connell draws them up) are not successful. Period. The numbers don’t lie. On the contrary, the Minnesota Vikings have been unbelievably good on the ground lately.

They averaged 6.7 yards per carry in week 10 against the Ravens and 5.2 yards per carry today against the Bears. In those two games, McCarthy has completed 51% of his passes for 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.

Yet for whatever reason, the MN Vikings tasked their young quarterback with throwing the football 74 times total during those games. He handed the ball off just 40 times.

Related: Cris Carter Calls Out JJ McCarthy’s Latest Stinker

After the game, O’Connell talked yet again about how guys are open and something else about situational football, before he almost admitted that running the football nearly stole them a game against the Bears that they had no business of winning. It came in the 4th quarter, with Minnesota down 16-3.

Chicago punted to Myles Price, who returned the kick all the way to their 21-yard-line. Finally, KOC called Jordan Mason’s name two straight times. His new running back rewarded O’Connell with an 8-yard run on first down, followed by a 16-yard touchdown run on second down, to make the game 16-10.

One drive later, JJ McCarthy found his talent somewhere on the Minnesota sideline, completed 6-of-8 passes on his final drive, which was topped off by a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Addison that gave the Vikings a 17-16 lead with just 50 seconds left.

We all know what happened after that. But did KOC learn his lesson, in the last-second loss? He was asked that after the game, and per usual, it was difficult to tell, given the runaround answer he gave.

Fixing JJ McCarthy starts with more carries for MN Vikings running backs

Whether Kevin O’Connell wants to admit it or not, he is the Minnesota Vikings’ biggest problem right now. JJ McCarthy is not ready to take on the load his head coach is trying to put on his shoulders.

Because of that, he is in way over his head and it shows. So if KOC is going to continue to run his kid QB out onto the field, he MUST lighten JJ’s load. Maybe he has to go see a hypnotist or maybe a therapist.

Either way, the Vikings need to run the football more until McCarthy can catch up with all of the time he missed while injured. If not, his confidence may be too shattered by the end of the season to fix.

The final drive of Sunday’s game against Chicago, which briefly got Minnesota the lead late, was a good start to building McCarthy’s ego back up.

But if O’Connell can’t swallow his playcalling pride, and help out his quarterback a little bit the next seven games to close out the regular season, then any positive momentum from today’s fourth quarter will go right down the toilet.

Don’t want to change your best, Kevin? Then it’s time to play Max Brosmer, as one former Gopher called for during the game today. At least he can move beyond his first read and throw over the middle of the field.

From there, JJ can get work on the scout team and in practice, while backing up Brosmer in case of emergency. Come next July, McCarthy would get another opportunity at starter.

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