The Minnesota Vikings officially announced that they have hired Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell as their new head coach with a press conference expected to come on Thursday morning.
Since coming to the Rams, head coach Sean McVay has proven he has a knack for identifying talent in the coaching ranks.
McVay has seen several assistants leave Los Angeles for head coaching jobs around the league, and for good reason considering the success the Rams have had the past five seasons. Now, with Los Angeles having recently been crowned Super Bowl champions, McVay is set to lose yet in O’Connell to the Vikings.
It appears O’Connell might not be the only Rams coach heading to Minnesota as tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Wes Phillips is expected to join him in an undetermined role, via Adam Schefter of ESPN:
O’Connell is expected to take Rams tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Wes Phillips with him to Minnesota as his offensive coordinator or passing game coordinator, league sources have told Schefter.
Additionally, Rams running backs coach Thomas Brown is also interviewing to be O’Connell’s offensive coordinator:
Rams’ RB coach Thomas Brown will be interviewing with the Vikings for their offensive coordinator job, per source. Brown worked closely in LA with soon-to-be Vikings’ HC Kevin O’Connell.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 16, 2022
O’Connell served as the Rams offensive coordinator the past two seasons and joins the McVay coaching tree alongside Matt LaFleur, Zac Taylor, and Brandon Staley. Minnesota went 8-9 last season and often times suffered long scoring droughts in games, perhaps a large reason why O’Connell was their pick.
There have not been many rumblings of who McVay will look to hire to replace O’Connell, but whoever he ends up choosing will be tasked with trying to keep their elite offense humming. Losing O’Connell hurts, but he should succeed leading the Vikings.
