The Minnesota Vikings have a five-game winning streak, despite having been without wide receiver Justin Jefferson for the entire stretch and quarterback Kirk Cousins for the past two wins.
Quarterback Joshua Dobbs, acquired from Arizona at the trade deadline, has led the Vikings to wins over Atlanta and New Orleans and become one of the best stories of the NFL season.
If the Vikings continue on their current path there will be plenty of credit to go around for a team that started 1-4. Much of that will go to players but there are others who will have turned the criticism they received in September and October into praise that could earn them postseason honors.
A few of the candidates.
Kevin O'Connell making a case for NFL coach of the year
Kevin O’Connell led the Vikings to 13 wins and their first NFC North title since 2017 last year, but that wasn’t enough to earn him NFL coach of the year honors.
The Giants’ Brian Daboll, who like O’Connell was in his first season as a head coach and had been an offensive coordinator, was the winner. What was surprising was O’Connell finished sixth in the voting and only got one first-place vote.
The voters must have thought the Vikings winning an NFL-record 11 one-score games made them more lucky than good. That isn’t an issue this season. The Vikings haven’t had nearly as much good fortune and have had to deal with far more adversity.
Nonetheless, O’Connell’s team is now in the seventh and final wild-card spot in the NFC and only a half-game behind fifth-seed Seattle and sixth-seed Dallas. Minnesota also is a game and a half back of the Detroit Lions for the NFC North lead.
O’Connell gets credit for keeping his players believing through a terrible start and also for his work with Dobbs since the journeyman’s arrival.
There will be plenty of competition for this award and the job first-year coach DeMeco Ryans has done in turning around the Houston Texans can’t be ignored. The Texans were 3-13 last season and are currently 5-4 and have the best rookie quarterback in the league in C.J. Stroud.
But plenty have noticed the job that O’Connell is doing and he figures to be in the running for this honor, assuming the Vikings continue to win.
Joshua Dobbs trade could get Kwesi-Adofo Mensah recognition
Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has received criticism for a few of his moves, including trading back in the opening round during his first draft and then taking a safety who can’t get the field (Lewis Cine). That was the first of a few picks by Adofo-Mensah in the 2022 draft that raised eyebrows.
But there are far fewer questions these days about ownership’s decision to go with Adofo-Mensah.
Adofo-Mensah obtained Dobbs from Arizona in a trade that included a late-round pick swap. Dobbs was acquired to serve as the backup to fifth-round rookie Jaren Hall, but Hall lasted only 11 plays on Nov. 5 in Atlanta before he suffered a concussion.
Dobbs’ performance in the Vikings’ 27-19 victory over the Saints on Sunday was nearly flawless and looked as if he had been part of the offense since the offseason program.
This is the second consecutive year that Adofo-Mensah made a key trade at the deadline. A year ago, he acquired tight end T.J. Hockenson from Detroit. Hockenson, like Dobbs, made an immediate contribution.
There are no complaints with Adofo-Mensah’s first-round pick from last spring. Wide receiver Jordan Addison, taken 23rd overall, is a big reason the Vikings have been so successful, despite Jefferson’s absence, and third-round cornerback Mehki Blackmon also has received extensive playing time and had a key interception against the Saints.
While Cine is looking like a bust, the 2022 draft is starting to look better. Second-year cornerback Andrew Booth Jr., is playing more; second-round guard Ed Ingram has shown major improvement; fourth-round cornerback Akayleb Evans has been a starter all season; fifth-round running back Ty Chandler has seen an increased role of late; and sixth-round wide receiver Jalen Nailor has shown flashes of potential when healthy.
The Pro Football Writers of America vote on the NFL executive of the year and one has to think that Adofo-Mensah’s moves have caught their attention.
Brian Flores' remarkable work with Vikings' defense deserves recognition
This one seems like a no-brainer and, yes, there are a lot of good candidates.
But how do you make a case that Vikings’ first-year defensive coordinator Brian Flores isn’t the NFL assistant coach of the year? At least right now.
The Vikings’ defense was a mess last season under one-and-done coordinator Ed Donatell. Minnesota was 31st in the league in total defense (388.7 yards per game), 32nd against the pass (265.6), 20th against the rush (123.1) and tied for 28th in scoring (25.1).
O’Connell all but begged Donatell to be more aggressive and, yet, it never happened. Donatell was dismissed after the Vikings’ first-round playoff loss to the New York Giants.
Flores, who was fired after three seasons as the Miami Dolphins coach and spent last season as a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was named as Donatell’s replacement.
While Donatell coached a passive offense that wasn’t willing to take chances and got beat as a result, Flores has introduced a scheme that revolves around using three safeties and goes heavy on the blitz. The only thing that’s predictable about Flores’ defense is you can’t predict what he will do on a game-by-game basis.
The results have been impressive.
The Vikings are 13th in total defense (323.2 yards), 16th against the pass (224.4), 10th against the run (98.8) and 14th in scoring (20.9).
Flores is proving just how important coaching and he’s also demonstrating that some players who might have struggled last season still had the ability to be productive.
It won’t be surprising if Flores becomes one of the top head coaching candidates in the NFL this season.
Jordan Addison in running for NFL offensive rookie of the year
I know, I know.
Stroud is going to win the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and the second-overall pick in this year’s draft deserves it.
But Addison deserves to be mentioned. He is currently 21st in the NFL with 45 receptions for 603 yards and seven touchdowns. That puts him second on the Vikings in receptions and receiving yards — both behind Hockenson (71 and 681) — and first in TD receptions. Addison is second among rookie wide receivers in yards and first in touchdowns.
Addison was drafted in part to relieve some of the pressure from the always heavily covered Jefferson, but he has done far more than that. Since Jefferson went out because of a hamstring injury, Addison has 26 catches for 354 yards and four touchdowns. Addison also has remained a key contributor in the two games since Cousins suffered a torn Achilles’, catching nine passes for 121 yards.
The former Pitt and USC star would be the top wide receiver on many NFL rosters. Addison isn’t big, he’s listed at 5-11, 175 pounds, but he’s a reliable target and his footwork on the sideline is incredible.
Again, Stroud is going to win this award because that’s the way the world works when a quarterback has success, but Addison deserves praise for what he has done.
Judd Zulgad is co-host of the Purple Daily Podcast and Mackey & Judd podcast at www.skornorth.com.
