EAGAN, Minn. – Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell won Super Bowl LVI in his most recent visit to SoFi Stadium.
That happened 981 days ago when O'Connell was a deputy to Los Angeles Sheriff Sean McVay, the youngest Super Bowl-winning head coach in history. Three days later, O'Connell was hired by the Vikings.
Now O'Connell, who served as the Rams offensive coordinator for two seasons under McVay, is going back to Cali.
"Thank goodness for the viewing pleasure at home, it's not going to be Sean and I going 1-on-1," O'Connell quipped Monday afternoon in the media center at the Vikings team headquarters. "I think [McVay's] probably quicker, a little bit more sudden change," O'Connell smiled, lightening the mood one day after a stinging loss. "But I've definitely got the length and sneaky athleticism – maybe."
Playing on Thursday Night Football in a little more than 72 hours gives the Vikings a chance to quickly turn the page from their first defeat this season. It also pits two of football's sharpest offensive minds against one another on a short week, which intensifies the storyline of competing genius play-callers.
"You can't get too carried away with that because it's still going to be 11 players in Vikings uniforms playing against 11 L.A. Rams in their uniforms," O'Connell emphasized, returning focus to on-field execution.
They may not be physically facing each other this week, but the way O'Connell spoke of his relationship with McVay said a lot about the latter's impact on the third-year Vikings coach and how it motivated him to instill the right values and culture in Minnesota.
"He's one of my closest friends in this league," O'Connell commented. "I have so much love for him.
"[I'll] always look back on those two years [together] as incredibly impactful," said O'Connell, noting the tandem's storybook ending. "Winning a Super Bowl was something that I will not ever forget, for sure."
Both coaches are busy, obviously, so communication nowadays may come in the form of a text message "here and there" – but O'Connell attributes some of his growth as a coach, and as a human, to McVay.
"I have so much respect for him – how he runs that organization, his leadership, his football intellect," O'Connell said. "He's as good as it gets, and I've got nothing but love for him, and will always be like that."
O'Connell said he pulls from his memory bank of moments working beside McVay "all the time."
"One of the things that probably made me feel so prepared for this job," O'Connell said, "was his willingness to allow me to be a part of things that maybe at other places offensive coordinators aren't a part of. I got to see a lot, learn a lot, ask a lot of questions – probably one too many for his liking."
He added: "I think the process of that organization, the culture, the people, the player ownership-led kind of driving force which went behind that bar being raised during my time there to eventually winning the last game we got to play together at SoFi in the Super Bowl was a culmination of a lot of things."
Things that O'Connell has emphasized in his first 40 games leading the Vikings: namely a roster overhaul loaded with smart, tough players who love football, and a commitment to the process over the progress.
Two Rams who displayed those intangibles daily during O'Connell's stint in L.A. are quarterback Matthew Stafford and wide receiver Cooper Kupp; the latter is set to play Thursday for the first time since Sept. 15.
Their connection in 2021 produced the first Triple Crown season by a receiver (Kupp led the league with 145 receptions, 1,947 yards receiving and 16 touchdown catches) since Steve Smith, Sr., in 2005.
Awesomely, Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson delivered Kupp-esque production during his first year playing in O'Connell's system, pacing the NFL in the first two categories (128 catches; 1,809 yards receiving) en route to Offensive Player of the Year accolades, which Kupp claimed in 2021.
When the Rams veteran duo is healthy, they're still flaunting chemistry.
Kupp opened 2024 with a 14-110-1 receiving line on 21 targets in the Rams overtime loss to the Lions. Stafford went 34-for-49 (69.4%) with 317 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception in that game.
"I can remember walking in that building very early in the morning and both their cars being there and they're watching third-down tape or red-zone tape," O'Connell recalled the hours Stafford and Kupp spent fostering on-field success. "Much like I envisioned maybe that [Patrick] Mahomes and [Travis] Kelce relationship of, 'This is what it looked like on paper but this is kind of the spin maybe we're going to put on it or the adjustment we'll make if we get this look or that look,' and just watched it come to life."
O'Connell's immersion with the Rams offense from 2020-21, along with the QB-WR pairing's classroom habits, leads him to think they'll be ready for Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores on a short week.
"[It] can be a challenge to play against those guys," O'Connell said. "And being well coached is one thing, but I think their players definitely, led by Matthew, Cooper, (10-year Rams o-lineman) Rob Havenstein, they've got some guys that have been through a lot of plays together, and they'll be ready to go.
"Anytime you're playing against Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp you better be on the screws because you know they're going to be – regardless of if Coop's been out for a little bit – the execution is going to be very, very high, even on a short week," O'Connell said, effusing praise again for McVay's teachings. "That's going to be all 11 in all three phases when you play a really well-coached team like the Rams."
