Does Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell want to sign an extension to stay in Minnesota?
“I think so.” O'Connell Thursday, according to a reporter for The Athletic..
And do Vikings executives want to keep their current head coach in Minnesota beyond the fourth and final year of his contract in 2025?
They do…probably.
CBS NFL Insider Jonathan Jones says. I wrote this on Thursday“Expectations across the league have been for months. [that] Vikings will extend [O’Connell] this offseason. ”
This prediction parallels what Jay Glazer reported on Fox NFL Sunday in early January that multiple teams were considering trading O'Connell.
Now, it looks like those teams may not be given a chance.
Co-owner Mark Wilf told the Minnesota Star Tribune in early January:looking forward to a great futureO'Connell, 39, along with general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who also enters the final year of his contract in 2025.
According to the Star Tribune, Minnesota's ownership group intended to begin talks about contract extensions for both the head coach and general manager during the upcoming offseason.
The offseason may have come sooner than the Wilfs expected, but it doesn't seem to have changed their mindset much.
After starting the season 5-0 and amassing 14 wins, the most for a Vikings team since 1998, the 2024 season suddenly ended in the NFC Wild Card Round at the hands of Matthew Stafford and the Rams. The curtain closed on .
Despite this, The Athletic reported that O'Connell has already had “excellent conversations” with the owners.
Even though 2024 ends badly, Minnesota has plenty of reasons to be optimistic.
One player wears No. 18 (Justin Jefferson) and, at just 25 years old, has all the makings to go down as one of the best receivers of all time.
Another will wear No. 9 (JJ McCarthy) once he's healthy after knee treatment — something Minnesotans hope will happen for years to come.
And in O'Connell, the first coach in franchise history to win 13 games in multiple seasons, the Vikings may already have the talent to lead both sides, and the entire Arctic State, to the Promised Land.
He's 0-2 in the playoffs and hasn't vaulted over a wild-card spot yet, but hope is eternal.
