Kevin O’Connell Coach of the Year Odds are Confusing…

By Ted Schwerzler |

Updated: Dec 2, 2024

Kevin O'Connell, Minnesota Vikings — Credit: Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Vikings picked up another win on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, improving to 10-2 on the 2024 season, and they are knocking on the door of clinching a playoff spot, a position they were not expected to be in, back in August.

Thanks to the incredible job head coach Kevin O’Connell has done molding this team and reinvigorating Sam Darnold, the Vikings have a >99% chance to make the NFL playoffs, with five games still remaining. Unfortunately… Vegas oddsmakers haven’t been paying attention, at least not in the NFL Coach of the Year Race, where KOC somehow ranks 2nd, behind Detroit’s Dan Campbell.

Kevin O’Connell somehow trailing in NFL Coach of the Year race

Sportsbook	Odds	Position
FanDuel	+380	2nd (Campbell +170)
Bovada	+375	2nd (Campbell +150)
DraftKings	+400	2nd (Campbell +120)

Campbell and his (11-1) Detroit Lions had their come-up year, in 2023, when they went 12-5 and won a playoff game. Hell, they missed their shot at the Super Bowl by three points. Then, they were picked to win the NFC North by a landslide. In other words, 2024 has gone pretty much as expected for the Lions.

Through the first 13 weeks of the 2024 season, Detroit looks like the best team in football. Their 11 wins are tied by only Kansas City, and they have throttled opponents on a weekly basis. That’s all great, but people expected this out of Campbell’s team, and anything less would have had fans questioning his abilities.

KOC is everything to the Minnesota Vikings’ success

The only surprise? That Kevin O’Connell’s 10-2 Minnesota Vikings are forcing the division champs to be pretty much perfect, or risk losing their division crown. The 2023 Minnesota Vikings finished 7-10, were third in the NFC North Division, and missed the playoffs. Then in the offseason, 6-year starting QB Kirk Cousins chased the money to Atlanta.

So, KOC and his general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah signed Sam Darnold to a 1-year, $10 million bridge deal, before drafting J.J. McCarthy with the No. 10 overall pick a month later. Then, that top pick went down for the season with a torn meniscus, after one preseason game.

Despite that, Kevin O’Connell has the Minnesota Vikings at 10-2, thanks to the incredible job he has done in turning Sam Darnold’s career around. But apparently, it hasn’t been enough to beat out Dan Campbell, whose team has managed to meet its preseason projections.

We do not care what the narratives are.

All we want is 60 minutes.

Once a week, for however long they'll let us play. pic.twitter.com/VgJD7bFcyA
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 1, 2024

It’s fine to be happy for Dan Campbell and the historically inept Detroit Lions finding success. From a common sense standpoint, however, it’s difficult to make sense of where KOC’s COY odds currently sit.

The 2024 Minnesota Vikings are 7-1 in one-score games this year, and the head coach continues to push his team through all sorts of adversity. Kevin O’Connell coached a 13-win team during his first season in Minnesota, but this is a substantially more impressive result.