MINNEAPOLIS — Football coaches tend to be optimists. At least, the employed ones are. They're fixers. They're confident because without confidence they couldn't function. The good ones believe that they can take their players and defeat your players, and take yours and defeat theirs.
When Kevin O'Connell conducts his introductory news conference this week as the new coach of the Vikings, he likely will express confidence that he can win with the Vikings' current roster.
Could that be true?
Let's take a look at O'Connell's experience with the Los Angeles Rams as they won the Super Bowl this season, and the similarities he might find in Minnesota:
Quarterback: Matthew Stafford and Kirk Cousins aren't all that similar. Stafford is more athletic and creative. Cousins is more cautious and efficient.
Here's where they are similar: Before joining the Rams, Stafford had never won a playoff game. In his first 10 seasons, Cousins has won one.
This past season, the Vikings had a pretty good offense and a terrible defense, and yet the team hired a young offensive coach from the staff of an offensive guru, instead of the defensive coordinator, Raheem Morris, whose unit stood out the most in the Super Bowl.
Clearly, the Vikings are looking for offensive answers. O'Connell's answer during interviews may well have been that he can win with Cousins, just as his bosses in L.A. were eager to make the illogical leap that a quarterback with no postseason success could win a Super Bowl.
— Running back: One of the most intriguing aspects of Rams coach Sean McVay's offense is that he wants to run the ball. He is not Andy Reid. He doesn't run the ball as a way to rest his quarterback; McVay wants to punish defenses and use play-action and the threat of the run to set up big plays. McVay cycled through three lead backs this season. None of them are as good as the Vikings' Dalvin Cook.
— Pass rusher: The best player on the field in the Super Bowl, and one of the best players of his generation, is Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald. Tony Dungy once said that he needed one great pass rusher around whom to build a defense. The one great pass rusher forces the offense into protections and patterns that make the offense predictable. The Vikings have that player in Danielle Hunter, if he can return to health.
— An LSU receiver: LSU produces star receivers faster than Cafe Du Monde produces beignets. The Rams signed Odell Beckham Jr. this season, and he may have won the Super Bowl MVP award had he not injured his knee in the second quarter. The Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase didn't have a big night but did rack up 25 catches this postseason. The Vikings have Chase's former teammate, Justin Jefferson, one of the most productive young receivers in NFL history.
— A great stadium: The Rams play their home games, and played the Super Bowl, at SoFi Stadium, which is a larger and more lavish version of U.S. Bank Stadium. But I prefer the Vikings' stadium, because of the view of downtown Minneapolis, and a one-team home stadium in Minnesota is probably more of a home-field advantage than a shared stadium in a town that hasn't always supported NFL teams.
— Receiving depth: Rams star receiver Cooper Kupp had a season for the ages. He also had help. The Rams got quality production from Robert Woods, before he was hurt; Van Jefferson; and Beckham. The Vikings feature similar quality in Jefferson, Adam Thielen and K.J. Osborn.
Is this a prediction that O'Connell is going to win a Super Bowl? No.
Can Cousins be the kind of franchise-elevating quarterback that Stafford proved to be? Possible, but I doubt it.
Is Hunter as much of a force, even when fully healthy, as Donald? Few in NFL history are.
But two of the past five, three of the past nine and five of the past 16 champions had never won a Super Bowl before, as measured by franchises playing in their current home cities.
Stranger things have happened than a young coach finding a way to win big with a new franchise — like Nick Foles winning a Super Bowl over Tom Brady in U.S. Bank Stadium.
