Report: Vikings plan to introduce Kevin O’Connell as head coach Thursday

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The Super Bowl is over, the 2021 NFL season is done and it appears that the Minnesota Vikings have their next head coach in place.

The Vikings have not made anything official, but according to an ESPN report, the team is planning to introduce Kevin O’Connell as the next head coach on Thursday. The Vikings’ ownership group fired Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman on Jan. 10, after an 8-9 season and missing the NFC Playoffs for the second straight year, and third time in four seasons.

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was hired in late January to replace Spielman as general manager.

O’Connell reportedly emerged as the favorite after the Vikings held an in-person interview with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh at TCO Performance Center on National Signing Day, and Harbaugh decided to return to the Wolverines’ program. The Vikings’ management team flew to L.A. to interviefw O’Connell, the Rams’ offensive coordinator, while they were preparing for the NFC title game against the San Francisco 49ers.

O’Connell will come to Minnesota a Super Bowl champion after the Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium. The Vikings missed the NFC Playoffs five times in eight seasons under Zimmer, winning just two playoff games.

In a media session before the Super Bowl, O’Connell hinted at joining the Vikings after the season. The hire could not be made official until after the Super Bowl.

“First and foremost I’m feeling incredibly humbled for the opportunity that’s going to be ahead of me. But at the same time, I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed the process of coming here to learning all about our coaches here, our players here, everybody in the support staff,” O’Connell said. “What’s been put together here from a culture standpoint and just the human beings that you encounter every single day, it makes this place very special. It’s something that I’ve really tried to embrace and absorb, because it’s something I’d love to try to re-create. What it does is it allows the best of each and every person in the building to come out.”

O’Connell is 36 years old and spent the last two seasons as the Rams’ offensive coordinator. He overlapped with Adofo-Mensah with the 49ers in 2016.

The delay in announcing O’Connell’s hiring is likely due to the Rams having their Super Bowl parade in L.A. on Wednesday. The hire can’t become official until O’Connell signs a contract with Minnesota.

Until the Vikings make the hire official, anything is possible.