The Minnesota Vikings had a sensational regular season by going 14-3 in the regular season, and although they got rolled in Week 18 by the Detroit Lions with the NFC North title on the line, they still seemed to have a puncher’s chance of doing something special in the playoffs.
But those chances quickly evaporated on Monday night when they fell behind early to the Los Angeles Rams and lost 27-9 in the wild-card round.
Plenty seem to be blaming quarterback Sam Darnold for the loss, but John Middlekauff of the “3 and Out” podcast said Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell is to blame for this defeat.
.@johnmiddlekauff blames Minnesota Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell for an EMBARRASSING NFL Wild Card loss to the Los Angeles Rams pic.twitter.com/1Ce00fn4pv
— 3&OUT with John Middlekauff (@3andout_pod) January 14, 2025
O’Connell, who was once the Rams’ offensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021 and won a Super Bowl championship with them in that capacity, has done an outstanding job overall with Minnesota this season.
Outside of Dan Quinn, the head coach of the Washington Commanders, he could be the favorite to win this season’s Coach of the Year award.
But as Middlekauff pointed out, O’Connell hasn’t done well in the playoff thus far as a head coach.
Two years ago, he got Minnesota to win 13 games in the regular season, then allowed his team to get picked apart by a New York Giants squad that was seemingly inferior on paper in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
Monday’s game was frustration city for the Vikings, as Darnold went 25 of 40 and threw one interception, lost a fumble and was sacked a whopping nine times.
They fell behind 10-0 by the end of the first quarter, and when they trailed 24-3 going into halftime, it was clear they had no hope of winning.
O’Connell and the Vikings simply couldn’t figure out Rams head coach Sean McVay’s aggressive blitz packages, and they will now start an uncertain offseason.
