Hiring Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah signaled a new era for the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings were no longer confined to Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman’s old-school ways. It was a world where the front office would make analytically sound decisions. “Competitive rebuilds” would replace the full-scale teardowns that the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions undertook.
Minnesota was going to be “super competitive,” according to ownership. In the first year, the Vikings went 13-4 and won the NFC North. But one year after getting bounced in the Wild Card round, the new era feels a lot like the old one. They went 7-10, and a rash of injuries flattened them. Their depth wasn’t enough to hold up, and it seemed like the rest of the division started to pass them by.
How could this have happened to a team set on making “the tournament?” (Or, as fans call it, the playoffs.) And what could it mean in the future? Have the Vikings made progress since the new regime took over, or are they at the point in a Madden franchise where you start over and do what you should have done in the first place?
It began the day the Vikings hired Adofo-Mensah as their general manager. They were an aging team but had several pieces of the 2017 roster that went to the NFC Championship game. With Adam Thielen, Eric Kendricks, Dalvin Cook, and Co., the new regime probably thought they could get more out of a group that went 15-18 in Zimmer’s final two seasons.
The 2022 season felt like one big victory lap for the Vikings. They went 11-0 in one-score games, Kirk Cousins became “Kirko Chainz,” and Minnesota hosted its first playoff game since that magical 2017 season.
Everything was worth it at that moment, but it masked the actual problem. The team didn’t need a new vibe in the building; it needed a new foundation. It needed to get younger and faster and pair that talent with the modern way of thinking that O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah could provide.
The plan hit a snag last offseason. The Vikings needed cap space, and they cut Cook, Thielen, Kendricks, and other veterans without getting anything in return. Minnesota tried to fill the holes with low-risk, high-reward free agents like Marcus Davenport and Byron Murphy Jr., but they weren’t enough to fill the void that Za’Darius Smith and Patrick Peterson left.
Tense contract negotiations replaced the good vibes. T.J. Hockenson needed a lengthy “hold-in” to get a new deal. Fans feared that Justin Jefferson might eventually depart after he didn’t sign a long-term deal. An ominous feeling hung over last September’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and set the tone for the season. At times, it felt like Zimmer was still on the sideline.
The Vikings lost four of their first five games – all decided by one score. Injuries forced the Vikings to rely on their depth, much like the house of cards Zimmer had described toward the end of his tenure. A five-game win streak catapulted Minnesota back into contention before six losses in their final seven games sent the Vikings to an uncertain offseason.
The biggest question is whether or not to bring back Cousins, who was playing out of his mind before tearing his Achilles tendon on Oct. 29. Bringing Cousins back feels like the safe option. But the Vikings have several holes around him, giving everyone a case of déjà vu.
The talk shows and podcasts have the same conversations about the Vikings when Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell arrived two years ago. Was a competitive rebuild the right way to go? The word “rebuild” has a negative connotation in Minnesota. But it might not have been as bad as people thought if the new regime had started when they first took over.
Thanks to Spielman’s final two drafts, the Vikings weren’t in the same position as the Lions, Browns, or Chicago Bears. With Jefferson and offensive tackle Christian Darrisaw in the fold, Adofo-Mensah could have fielded a competitive roster with cornerstones like Danielle Hunter and Brian O’Neill and still been able to sign Cousins to the one-year extension he received in March 2022.
With a foundation in place, Adofo-Mensah could have trimmed the fat and traded some of his veterans for value. None of these players would have fetched multiple firsts like you would see in a Madden franchise. But they could have given the Vikings draft capital ahead of a 2024 class that scouts have been salivating over for almost two years.
The Vikings would have the same success they had in 2022, but they might not have bottomed out as much as some believed. A 7-10 season could have helped Minnesota pick as high as eighth in the 2023 NFL Draft. They could have turned their reported efforts to trade up for Anthony Richardson into reality while using the additional draft capital to build the roster Adofo-Mensah described during last week’s press conference.
“We faced a lot of adversity this season, but you want to get to a point in your program where you can overcome that adversity and still be playing in the tournament,” Adofo-Mensah said. “Obviously, we didn’t meet that, and we’re going to spend this offseason working our butts off to get there.”
Adofo-Mensah could have already been there if he started the rebuild when he arrived in Minnesota. If the Vikings had traded up for Richardson, they could have turned to him instead of Josh Dobbs, Nick Mullens, and Jaren Hall. Having a quarterback of the future would have eliminated the need to take Hall in the fifth round. Instead, they could have selected a little-known BYU receiver, Puka Nacua, to fill Jordan Addison‘s role.
That could have created a breakout scenario in 2024, but it also could have exceeded expectations in 2023 if Richardson led the Vikings to the playoffs. With the supporting cast necessary to compete in the NFC, Adofo-Mensah could have reached the ultimate goal of his competitive rebuild to make “the tournament” annually.
Instead, the Vikings feel like they’re a step behind their division rivals.
People thought the Green Bay Packers were doomed when they moved on from Aaron Rodgers, but they found a third consecutive franchise quarterback in Jordan Love. Armed with the youngest roster in the NFL, the Packers look like they have the kind of roster the Vikings could have had if they started their rebuild sooner.
The same goes for the Lions after they moved on from Matthew Stafford. Jared Goff was a misfit in Sean McVay’s system, but he has thrived with a strong supporting cast to lead Detroit to its first division title and playoff win in 32 years.
Even the Bears have shown progress while hiring Ryan Poles days before Adofo-Mensah took the job in Minnesota. While Chicago has a 10-24 record over the past two seasons, they have the No. 1 and No. 9 overall picks in this year’s draft with $36.4 million in effective cap space, according to Over The Cap.
Meanwhile, the Vikings have a mid-30s quarterback coming off a torn Achilles with a shallow roster that just went 7-10. Minnesota could dust itself off and rip off a 10-win season in 2024 with Cousins on the roster. Still, it wouldn’t solve their problem of being good enough to be “super competitive” but not good enough to win the Super Bowl.
We need to consider that when the Vikings map out their offseason plans. They are spinning their wheels on the snow while the rest of the division is cruising on the autobahn. Their plan hasn’t worked, but it could have succeeded if they didn’t wait two years to pull it off.
The Vikings need a big change to break the cycle. But it may have been too late to save this “competitive rebuild.”
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