the scouting, combine brand new head. Coach of the Minnesota
Vikings, who will eventually be getting a giant Super Bowl ring
for his work? As offensive coordinator? The LA Rams. He's
Kevin O'Connell. Kevin. Welcome to the program. Great to
see you. Appreciate. Ya. Appreciate you having me on.
Well, congratulations on winning the Super Bowl and
congratulations on getting a chance to lead your own team to
a Super Bowl.
When did you decide that you believed you were ready?
Become a head coach in the NFL.
Well, I think it's an ongoing process. But when you get
exposed to some great players and coaches, you know
throughout the process of growing as a coach, you start
to really take
a lot from those
experiences and pretty soon you start to feel like I feel
really comfortable
and confident that I can
take a lot of these things and build the type of culture and
build the type of team
that you've always kind of hoped to do
with the experiences that you've had. And then you start
About the people you'll get to do it with and it's very, very
important that there's,
you know, that connection and that collaboration
amongst the whole organization
and getting to be around Quay see every day as our general
manager has only solidified, how I felt about him beforehand
and the type of shared Vision that we're going to have to
kind of build off of
has been exciting early on. It's been a
fast moving process for me since obviously winning the Superbowl
showing up a couple days later and Minnesota, but it's been
a good one. Excited about it. Excited to be here in
Indianapolis and
next step in the process.
And you actually were involved in a game in Minnesota late in
the regular season. Late December Rams won over
the Vikings in that Stadium. They have. It's just a few years
old. It's an awesome place.
Did you have any inkling when you were there?
You know, the way things go. You never know. You never know.
Maybe I'll be back as soon as next year and maybe I won't be
working for the Rams.
Yeah, I did not.
I just always
remember, you know, a couple times. I've been there on
the visitor. Sideline at US Bank Stadium. You remember that? Are
you remember the passion of the fans, you know you remember
what that game day experience is like
second to none in our league and
so you get the opportunity to interview for
the Minnesota Vikings job with a great ownership and a great
organizational structure. But the one thing, you know, is
every home game you that you get to host in this league, you
hope to have an advantage, you don't always have that
around the league, but when you do,
and we're going to have it each and every Sunday
u.s. Bank Stadium, it's one of those things where
that's a huge part of it for a coaching. Staff and a team
to know that that home-field Advantage is really going to be
there every week.
This is a franchise that for
too many years to remember has been caught in a range of
average to above-average every once in a while. They'll make
some noise in the postseason. But what do you think
the biggest challenge is to convert the franchise into a team?
That is a consistent high level Contender. Not just
a consistent, you know, maybe we'll get to the Wild Card
round. Maybe we'll get to the divisional round type of
a Wonder where they are now.
I think first and foremost she got to you got to build
the culture of what you want your organization to be.
And that's
you know, like a group that is incredibly connected team,
you know with their coaches and with their fellow players,
the support staff around the building
the idea of building a place where the players want to be
there. They want to be there getting better every single day
and Trust in the process of how we're building our systems and
how we're coaching those systems connecting with
the players
from the staff, all the way down to Man on the roster.
That's the starting point and then it's about evaluating
the roster. It's about applying
the principles of how you want to play offense, defense and
special teams to fit your roster to fit, your team each
and every year. And then go try to find a way to compete every
single Sunday. It's hard to win in this league,
but when you can go out
and trust that process of how you prepare, how you've built
your team and rely on that. When it matters the most, you
got a chance and then it's just about gaining momentum and
getting better as the seasons go on
and Playing your best when it matters in the end.
Because that's really what separates teams in our league
is the teams that play their best football in December
January and get an opportunity to play in February. It's
something to having just experienced it. You know,
I know what it feels like now,
I know what it's like to watch a team of send,
you know, get through some adversity throughout the season
and be at their best when when you need to be and
it's a hard thing to do. But if you got the process, right, you
got the right people around you and your building, feels that
that right culture on a daily basis.
Feel really strongly about your chances of
In the winter.
Kirk Cousins is under contract for 2022. He's been a lightning
rod for Vikings fans because he's delivered one playoff
appearance in Four Seasons with the team's you have experience
with him in Washington. What's the best way to describe him to
the Vikings fans out there
that are curious?
How this new coach, who's worked with Kirk Cousins is
going to interact with him and use him. What is your
description of what Kirk can do to help achieve the vision in
the culture that you're trying to develop?
Yeah, I think first and foremost.
I really do believe
having attempted to play quarterback in this league myself.
And and, and not ultimately
achieving that goal because of
the fact, I wasn't accurate enough as a quarterback.
I think the number one thing for me, now that when I look at
veteran, quarterbacks rookie quarterbacks, I evaluate them
throughout any process,
is they need to be naturally accurate. And Kirk is that coaches?
Kirk is one of the naturally, accurate passers in this
league. He does not need to think about throwing
the football being accurate where he wants to place the ball. He
naturally does it in the Rhythm and timing of any
offense. He's ever been in and that's really been one of his
traits that's allowed him to have a lot of success.
I think he's tough. I think he's durable.
I think he leads in his own way that he's really become
comfortable with throughout his career,
as he's gained more experience and
stepped into a lot of different Huddle's with a lot of, a lot
of teammates in multiple spots, but watching him here
with this group and when you really start to turn on
the tape and watch the level of quarterback at, which he's Aid.
It's about continuing to refine
and have him continue to grow within the system. We're going
to build for him and the rest of our offensive players both
upfront. The skill players. There's a really good group to
work with here,
you know, the sky's the limit as far as
how you want to play offense with the type of
talent we have on that side of the ball
and Kirk's going to be a huge part of it. He's our
quarterback and I feel really good about his fit in building
something and being a part of building something that we want
to be as an offense here in Minnesota.
Last one for you, and there's one guy on your offense. It is
very excited about the fact that you're the head coach of
the team. We visited with him, Super Bowl week and that's
receiver, Justin Jefferson. And I think he has visions
of becoming Cooper Cup
in your offense is,
is his vision of that role accurate.
Absolutely. I mean the one thing about Cooper Cup this
past season was he lined up in a lot of different spots? It's
hard for defense has to really know
where he was. He did a lot of different things. He had
an impact in a lot of phases of our offense Beyond just
catching a lot of balls and scoring a lot of touchdowns.
There was a huge role for Cooper because of
his willingness to be
completely.
You put completely solidified in every phase, both the run
and the pass.
I see that with Justin. I see an incredible, incredible skill
set. But I also see a player, we can move around, we can make
it hard for defense, has to know where he's going to be. He
doesn't have to line up in the same spot all the time.
He doesn't have to run the same type of routes all the time.
He's Dynamic with the ball. In his hands. He's willing in
the Run game. This guy is a special
special player. I loved him
a couple years ago when he was coming out of the draft. We
obviously weren't in a position to possibly get a chance to
coach him, but
you still go through the process and you see the traits.
You see the skill set. And he's really just grown from day one.
I think he's got an incredibly bright future. He's already
a superstar in this league in my mind and no, better way to
build your offense, you know, obviously through the lens of
the quarterback, first and foremost always,
but when you have a weapon like that,
in addition to, you know, Adam Irv,
Dalvin are great, guys up front on the offensive line.
Whoo. It's been fun to study.
Justin. Jefferson's going to have a huge role within our offense
and continue to ascend in this league. Cannot wait to start
coaching him when we Get a chance here coming up. This
spring, has been fun to watch your career, develop just 14
years after entering the NFL, as
a third-round pick in the Patriots, here. He is. Kevin
O'Connell, head football, coach, the Minnesota Vikings.
We wish you all the best going forward and I look forward to
talking to you down the road. Kevin.
Thanks for having me Mike. I appreciate it.