EAGAN, Minn. — The 2024 Vikings exceeded external expectations on the way to going 14-3 for the second most wins in a season in franchise history, but the ultimate goal remains unreached.
Instead of continuing the organization's quest to claim its first Super Bowl victory by preparing for this weekend's Divisional Round, the Vikings have spent the week reflecting on keys to the successes and reasons why the team fell against the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card Round.
L.A. joined Detroit as the only two teams to defeat the Vikings this season, and ironically the events of Week 18 and the Wild Card Round provided déjà vu from Weeks 7-8.
Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell and General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah joined the Vikings in early 2022 and helped mold a team that finished 8-9 into a 13-4 squad that won the NFC North.
Injuries stacked up in 2023, when Minnesota dropped its final four games to finish 7-10.
The 2024 squad leaned on an active free agency to alter its roster and opened the season with five consecutive victories before suffering two losses within five days (at home against Detroit and at Los Angeles on short rest).
The response that followed reshaped the conversation and expectations. The Vikings won nine consecutive games to force a winner-takes-the-NFC North contest at Detroit in Week 18. The game set a record for the most combined wins by two teams in a regular-season game.
But instead of securing the victory and the spoils of a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the NFC Playoffs, the Vikings fell to the No. 5 seed. The loss created a rematch with the Rams, who dropped from the No. 3 to the No. 4 spot after opting to rest multiple starters in Week 18.
The Vikings are 34-17 through three seasons under O'Connell and Adofo-Mensah, who were both hired in early 2022.
They both still have visions for what has been achieved through short-term and mid-range planning, as well as what remains to be accomplished over a longer period.
There are questions to answer, decisions to make, a roster that will require some replenishment and chemistry to develop. The blueprint exists, and they believe the foundation has been poured. Now they want to keep building at this site.
Both participated in end of season press conferences on Thursday, and each was asked to provide an update on their contract statuses.
O'Connell was asked Thursday if he wants to sign a contract extension this year, the final one on his initial contract.
"I do. I do," O'Connell said before elaborating that he's had "great dialogue" with the Vikings Owners Mark and Zygi Wilf in reflecting on his third season in which Minnesota went 14-3 but fell in the Wild Card Round of the NFC Playoffs.
O'Connell said he prefers to keep the content of those discussions and any ideal timeline internal.
He then was asked if there's any form of "tension" in the negotiations.
"What I would say is I love being the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, and with that becomes the fact that I love our Ownership," O'Connell said. "I have a great relationship with our Ownership and feel so fortunate, not only with just the way they support us and believe in us, but also the impact they have on our players, on our locker room and, ultimately, where we all want to go together. I feel very, very great about that.
Adofo-Mensah similarly was asked about his contract status and said he also prefers to keep conversations with Ownership private. The parties met, as they customarily would, at the end of the season.
"They expressed to me their appreciation for Kevin and I's leadership, and they're really supportive of us," Adofo-Mensah said. "[It's] my third year, I always think back to the unbelievable opportunity that they gave me. I've always dreamt of being a general manager in an organization that's trying to do the thing they haven't done before, and I still have visions — I wake up in the morning and think of what that could be like. And so I'm always going to go back to that, the gratitude that I have for them and that I want to be the general manager going forward."
Adofo-Mensah said he doesn't start his days thinking about his own contract negotiations.
"I think I was at a Minnesota football game earlier this year, and somebody said, 'Good luck with the contract.' And it like kind of woke me up, because that's just not how I live my life," Adofo-Mensah said. "I don't think I'm entitled to anything. If I sign that contract tomorrow, I'd be running like I was scared, you know, just trying to always earn it. Somebody's chasing you. Somebody's trying to be better than you. You've gotta have that mindset.
"I'm unbelievably grateful to be the general manager of the Vikings, and I want to continue to be," Adofo-Mensah said. "So, I'm going to leave this office and keep being the general manager of the Vikings and work hard to try to improve this team, and whatever comes to the future, will come."
