Kevin O’Connell Doing Postseason Postmortem In Minnesota

Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell is evaluating a surprisingly successful season that ended in disappointment.

The Vikings crashed out of the Wild Card Weekend 31-24 to the resurgent New York Giants. There’s no guessing what they need to improve next year as a porous defense was often their undoing.

The Vikings’ defense ranked 28th in points allowed and 31st in yards allowed. They conceded over 30 (40 + on two occasions) points in all but one of their defeats this season.

Want $250 to bet on the NFL Playoffs?

Sign up now!

Questions will be asked about the status of defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, who has been under scrutiny since the summer.

However, Kevin O’Connell wouldn’t be drawn on any potential changes to their operation ahead of next season.

“I’m in the process of going through, as we did with our players on Monday,” O’Connell told reporters on Wednesday. 

“I don’t know the total number between practice squad, IR and our roster guys, but [general manager] Kewsi (Adofo-Mensah) and I had a chance to sit down and speak face-to-face with everyone. Get their feelings on both the individual and collective thoughts on where we’re at right now and then over the past couple days, and it’s ongoing. You know, I’m doing the same thing with my entire coaching staff. I’m in evaluation mode of everything that we did.”

Read: Mike McCarthy – Defense Was Foundation For Bucs Win

“That is an ongoing process that is continuing as we speak and will continue throughout the rest of this week,” Kevin O’Connell said of staff evaluations. “I think it’s important to do, and I think after the success we had this year and then coming up short of where we ultimately wanted to get to, I think it’s the right thing to do. To make sure I go through that thorough process in doing so.”