Lengthy after Los Angeles Rams practices within the late summer season of 2021, Kevin O’Connell lingered on the sphere in a huddle with head coach Sean McVay, receiver Cooper Kupp and quarterback Matthew Stafford. Sweat poured off of every man and dripped into the grass because the gamers scuffed at it with their cleats. They gestured and debated with each other, the coaches writing notes on salt-slicked play playing cards.
McVay’s offense led the NFL when he turned the youngest head coach in league historical past in 2017, however it had stalled over the earlier two seasons. He and O’Connell have been rebuilding it collectively.
O’Connell, a former star quarterback at San Diego State after which an NFL journeyman, translated Stafford’s 12 NFL seasons of soccer information and married components of what labored with McVay’s playbook. The top coach was drawn to O’Connell’s creativity and understanding of quarterbacks when he employed him as offensive coordinator in 2020, and after buying and selling for Stafford in 2021 they charted new schematic territory.
Day by day that summer season was about adjusting tiny particulars with Stafford and Kupp. O’Connell needed to organize them for any potential drawback a protection would possibly current. “You attempt to give them the solutions to the check earlier than they should take it,” he advised The Athletic this summer season. “There’s no such factor as an ideal recreation plan with out the flexibility to adapt on the fly.”
In Tremendous Bowl LVI, all of them lived that.
McVay, battling an sickness within the days main as much as the sport, grew hoarse at instances, so O’Connell quietly ready in case he might need to truly name the sport. He was additionally deep within the interview course of with the Minnesota Vikings for his or her head teaching place. Star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was purported to be the central factor of the passing recreation towards the Cincinnati Bengals however went down earlier than halftime with a knee harm. No. 3 receiver Van Jefferson was enjoying damage, and operating again Cam Akers had simply returned from an Achilles restore. The bottom recreation wasn’t working. Stafford’s solid of ability gamers had modified dramatically from the primary quarter, and so too had the Rams’ recreation plan.
It was, some gamers and executives recalled, as if McVay, O’Connell, Kupp and Stafford had resorted to drawing up performs on the sideline within the second half.
Late within the fourth quarter, the Rams’ destiny hinged on a participant who had infrequently seen the sphere. Down 4 factors, the offense confronted fourth-and-1 from their very own 30-yard line. Voices flooded right into a wide-eyed McVay’s headset as he ready the decision.
Stafford and Kupp have been about to run a play that had failed after they tried it collectively in observe over the 2 weeks of preparation for the sport, a play they workshopped all the way in which as much as the bus journey to the stadium. It was a sweep handoff to Kupp that began with a stutter-step movement from the left aspect of the formation. Kupp was supposed to chop the sweep brief after he bought the ball with the intention to scoot behind an important block on the best edge, then get upfield via that gap.
The block now could be assigned to second-year tight finish Brycen Hopkins, a former fourth-round decide who was solely within the recreation as a result of the starters and backups have been injured. There was no time to doubt whether or not he might do it.
It labored. The handoff, the block, the unbelievable conversion turned one of many defining performs of the Rams’ championship.
O’Connell realizes now, as a third-year head coach whose 4-0 Vikings are the discuss of the league, how related the final two quarters of the Tremendous Bowl have been to the recent, grueling days of coaching camp. Then, he would generally daydream about at some point putting in his personal offense as a head coach. He thought concerning the language he would use, how he would collaborate along with his personal assistants and gamers, how he would create solutions to their questions.
Hours after profitable the Tremendous Bowl, O’Connell accepted Minnesota’s head teaching job. Later that week, he stepped off a parade bus sticky with beer and confetti and into his future. He brimmed with positivity, a sunbeam pouring into Vikings workplaces nonetheless cloaked in winter.
O’Connell had a imaginative and prescient. He had a plan. He had a playbook and a sound educating course of.
But he couldn’t have predicted how usually he’d be reminded of soccer’s inherent chaos — and the way essential his knack for adaptation could be — over the subsequent two seasons.
O’Connell’s younger kids are actually into Legos. He and his spouse, Leah, have a large tub of their residence containing tons of of the little multi-colored bricks from dozens of separate units.
The bathtub has no guidelines, nor order — the manuals for every set have been thrown out way back. The youngsters seize items — a few blocks from a disassembled “Vehicles” character, just a few extra from a “Star Wars” ship — and construct no matter is of their creativeness.
It drives O’Connell somewhat nuts. Constructing one thing actual requires a plan, and a part of him needs to know what the entire items do, or the other ways they may fasten to one another, earlier than he begins to construct. However the different a part of him loves that his children are having a blast creating like this, so he fortunately sits on the ground and fastens a racecar tire to a TIE Fighter.
He admits his two most dominant qualities — obsession with course of and element, and empathy — compete with each other, however in an NFL quarterback room one is required simply as a lot as the opposite, usually on the similar time. It’s why O’Connell’s educating methodology has resonated with gamers.
As a play-caller, Kevin O’Connell focuses on offering solutions for his gamers. (Stephen Maturen / Getty Pictures)
With quarterbacks, he implements a layered strategy that first explains why a play or broader idea will manifest in a sure approach. This protection has a rule that claims they’ll react to this formation with this kind of protection, so we are going to change our formation spacing to pressure them out of their rule and create our benefit as an alternative of, we’re lining up this fashion.
O’Connell installs a core alphabet for his system. Then he builds out the playbook and week-to-week recreation plans by tying a phrase gamers acknowledge in an idea or play to a different phrase which brings them right into a household of performs and finally grows into a complete system. The participant can simply soar between performs inside a household and into the broader system as a result of the phrases he acknowledges escort him there. The purpose is to keep away from rote memorization; every little thing hyperlinks to one thing else. O’Connell calls it “dot-connecting.”
“Perhaps it’s an idea that you just take from an current idea, and also you say, ‘Right here’s how we’re gonna change it, right here’s how we’re gonna title it,” O’Connell defined. “It’s in a household of names which have sameness and likeness — huge cats, sports activities vehicles — no matter it’s, you title it, we’ve bought a class for it. And if we don’t, we’ll have one quickly sufficient.”
O’Connell asks his gamers for detailed suggestions in the course of the set up of his offense and subsequent practices. If a receiver feels extra comfy adjusting his route off a 3rd inside step as an alternative of a fourth, or if the quarterback needs to swap out one route for an additional whereas attacking the identical area on the sphere, O’Connell modifications his play.
“I’m not the one on the market operating the play,” O’Connell stated. “If it doesn’t infringe upon the play-caller’s intent or the design of the play, ‘It’s yours, guys.’ I believe that there’s energy in that, nowadays … after they really feel like they’re a voice on the desk, not simply somebody being talked to.”
“The way in which he connects, the way in which he talks with us, the way in which he understands us as gamers, I really feel prefer it’s a very good attribute as a coach,” stated Vikings All-Professional receiver Justin Jefferson.
Plus, when gamers really feel like they’ve a say within the particulars of the performs they run, O’Connell is comfy asking them to belief him when he adjusts the plan in real-time. He does this usually and for good purpose. Defenses provide you with bespoke plans — at instances outdoors their typical system — to attempt to decelerate Jefferson. There generally isn’t any precedent for the way a particular opponent will attempt to mitigate him till they present their technique in a recreation’s first few sequence.
When that occurs, O’Connell and his workers workshop their very own offensive counters on the sidelines and within the locker room at halftime. They provide you with a listing of “what-if’s”: If a protection does X, how will the Vikings reply?
“I believe the very best coaches see it stay. They will make these in-game changes, they don’t have to attend till after the very fact to do this,” stated McVay, who watches cut-ups of Minnesota’s recreation movie each week. “I’ve seen Kevin try this in his tenure there.”
O’Connell’s adaptability past game-planning has been examined. Whereas his 2022 crew received 13 video games — 11 by one rating — they have been finally undone by a protection that ranked close to the underside of the league and misplaced within the wild-card spherical. To repair it, O’Connell employed former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, recognized for his difficult, aggressive, pressure-diverse scheme. A former quarterback employed a contemporary quarterback’s greatest worry.
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How Brian Flores and the Vikings constructed such a ‘wild’ and ‘totally different’ NFL protection
The Vikings misplaced their first three video games in 2023, however simply as veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins and the offense started to seek out their rhythm and put collectively a string of wins, chaos struck once more.
Cousins tore his Achilles towards the Inexperienced Bay Packers in Week 8. Minnesota traded for journeyman Josh Dobbs, however after starter Jaren Corridor suffered a concussion the next week, O’Connell was basically compelled to put in a playbook for Dobbs on the fly. The Vikings received that recreation and the subsequent, however Dobbs’ manufacturing didn’t final. Minnesota rotated quarterbacks via the final a number of video games of the season, and O’Connell stretched himself skinny managing the totally different gamers and recreation plans whereas protecting the constructing inspired concerning the future.
“It speaks to the entire of constructing a tradition, programs, schemes, how he works with folks, how he creates an surroundings for guys to develop collectively,” recreation administration coordinator and cross recreation specialist Ryan Cordell stated. “Final 12 months, we’re battling accidents, and he didn’t change. He was the identical man.”
The Vikings parted with Cousins in free company final summer season with the plan to draft and develop their subsequent quarterback. In addition they signed free agent Sam Darnold, the third decide within the 2018 draft who pinballed from dysfunctional to dysfunction till he repaired his unhealthy habits and nursed his bruised confidence final season in San Francisco.
O’Connell leveled with Darnold and Vikings followers after Minnesota chosen Michigan star J.J. McCarthy with the tenth decide in April’s draft. Whereas McCarthy could be the long run, O’Connell would nonetheless do no matter he might to assist Darnold compete for the beginning position in 2024 on a one-year deal, to reset the narrative and provides him instruments to assist fulfill the potential many believed he’d by no means attain. All the higher if that gave McCarthy — who, at simply 21 was the identical age as Darnold when the New York Jets drafted him — extra time to develop as an NFL participant.
O’Connell structured many of the first-team summer season reps round Darnold to assist him modify to his new system whereas regularly rising McCarthy’s workload and getting ready him to play within the preseason. O’Connell was mulish that he wouldn’t put McCarthy able he wasn’t prepared for — at instances bristling at questions concerning the rookie’s timeline.
A 3rd-round decide of the Patriots in 2008, O’Connell’s NFL enjoying profession fizzled out earlier than it ever actually started. (Jim Rogash / Getty Pictures)
That adamance (and the way O’Connell expressed it) stemmed from his personal tumultuous expertise as an NFL backup. He understood how shortly a quarterback’s vibe can bitter. O’Connell was an athletically gifted and good prospect when he was drafted by the Patriots within the 2008 third spherical to again up Tom Brady. However New England lower O’Connell in 2009 and he bounced round a number of groups for the subsequent three years, with a labrum surgical procedure thrown in for good measure in 2010.
He used to view his enjoying profession with some remorse, however that perspective has shifted, particularly as he bought into teaching. He studied behind a future Corridor of Famer in Brady and alongside blossoming younger stars resembling Stafford and shared place rooms with amiable teammates like Matt Cassel and Mark Sanchez. O’Connell understood what a younger quarterback can be taught when a place room is constructed thoughtfully. His expertise finally helped inform him as a instructor and a supervisor of individuals.
That was additionally a part of why the Vikings introduced in Darnold — to point out McCarthy what professional preparation and examine habits appear to be, to offer him a collaborator and to ensure a uniquely remoted place didn’t really feel that approach.
“I believe again on totally different interactions and having the ability to be round some nice gamers, coaches and people all through my NFL journey. I take into consideration how I can form our crew, and my messaging to our crew and our quarterbacks, to actually do two issues: problem them however finally allow them to know that I’ve their backs and that every little thing I’m attempting to perform is for them along with them reaching success,” O’Connell stated.
On July 6, Vikings rookie cornerback Khyree Jackson was killed in a automotive accident in Maryland. “It has been a major time in our group, shedding a participant,” O’Connell stated. “You might be personally working via your strategy of coping with one thing like that — whereas additionally realizing that my position is to be there… for anybody that may want assist, and love, and steering.”
Gamers have been away from the power in the course of the transient break within the NFL’s calendar. O’Connell bought on the telephone with anyone who wanted to speak, checking on gamers and coaches and grieving privately.
“He has a coronary heart for folks,” stated McVay. “He actually pays shut consideration to what folks want, (and) he’s that for them.”
The Vikings contributed $20,000 to funeral bills and paid out Jackson’s signing bonus to his property. O’Connell spoke on the funeral in Jackson’s hometown, and the crew additionally had a non-public memorial service with Jackson’s household in Minnesota. They maintain Jackson’s locker open, and gamers put on decals of his initials on their helmets. O’Connell wears a pin above his coronary heart that claims “KJ.”
O’Connell advised the crew what he had realized via two years as a head coach and many years as an assistant and participant earlier than that: Life is a mixture of success, adversity and chaos. They’d all mourn as soccer’s unforgiving clock ticked on.
The season approached. In August, after the Vikings’ first preseason recreation, McCarthy tore his meniscus. His rookie season was over earlier than it started, and for a second, the harm soured Minnesota followers’ hopes for 2024.
However O’Connell believed in Darnold.
O’Connell’s perception in Sam Darnold (proper) has manifested in Minnesota’s 4-0 begin to the season. (Stephen Maturen / Getty Pictures)
The Vikings are 4-0 with wins towards postseason favorites just like the San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans and Packers. Darnold is enjoying higher than ever. He has thrown for 932 yards and a league-leading 11 touchdowns with three interceptions whereas finishing 68.9 % of his passes. He additionally ranks third within the NFL in completion share above expectation (5.7), a measurement that takes into consideration the situational context of a passing play.
O’Connell’s fingerprints are throughout Darnold’s renewed confidence and resurgent play, which has featured assist from a gentle run recreation, expert receivers and Flores’ No. 1-ranked protection. However O’Connell doesn’t smother the younger quarterback. As a substitute, he offers Darnold with a number of solutions on each play, giving him a guide and an understanding of how the items would possibly match collectively.
Towards the Giants in Week 1, a 22-yard cross to tight finish Josh Oliver was designed to offer Darnold two choices relying on how the protection lined Jefferson. If New York’s protection caught to its system’s guidelines for the idea and personnel the Minnesota offense confirmed, a security and additional linebacker would circulation towards Jefferson’s route, leaving Oliver open up the best hash if he bought behind only one different linebacker. If the protection “broke” its personal guidelines for that look, Jefferson could be extensive open.
“With the right quantity of construction, teaching and readability which you can give these gamers, you may make this very tough or you may make the complicated easy,” stated O’Connell. “You’re always looking for that steadiness, and the steadiness is in the way you’re teaching it. I by no means need to be a Monday morning ‘clicker coach’ the place I’m holding the clicker … saying, ‘It is best to have accomplished this, this and this.’ If I’m saying these issues, I most likely didn’t coach it very nicely.”
Maybe Darnold’s true “arrival” this season got here on a third-and-9 cross in a Week 2 win towards the 49ers after Jefferson left the sport with a quad harm. Darnold threaded a cross to receiver Jalen Nailor between three defenders, letting the ball go on the excellent second the place a fraction early or late would have virtually actually led to a turnover.
In that recreation, Darnold threw for 268 yards and two touchdowns plus an interception and ran for 32 yards. His 97-yard landing cross to Jefferson was so electrical that O’Connell sprinted down the sideline to have a good time, headset wire streaming behind him like a banner.
“The quantity of labor that goes into that place, in your quarterback journey, when everyone decides that you just can’t play … ” O’Connell stated after the sport. “We at all times believed in him. Superior to observe him go try this factor. I’m actually happy with Sam Darnold.”
O’Connell fought to manage his voice, however it cracked with emotion as he considered a younger quarterback who bought one other likelihood and what he was constructing with him.
(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; images: Adam Bettcher, Nick Cammett, Stephen Maturen/Getty Pictures)
