Kevin O’Connell Breaks Down Vikings Win Over Bears & J.J. McCarthy’s NFL Regular Season Debut

Kevin O’Connell Breaks Down Vikings Win Over Bears & J.J. McCarthy’s NFL Regular Season Debut

Um there’s a lot to unpack after that one. Um but uh I’m so proud of our team. I’m proud of uh I think days like this kind of affirm a lot of the things that uh you know we really feel are important with our organization from a standpoint of when things aren’t going well, things aren’t going your way. You know, I thought the defense you know battled and kept us in the football game. special teams made some huge plays. Uh, you know, obviously Miles Price with some big returns, Bull Racker with, you know, the field goal to give us a little bit of life there at the end of the first half. I was just so proud of JJ. Uh, and in our offensive group, there was a lot of there’s a thousand things um that we all can clean up. There’s a thousand things that myself and our staff will get cleaned up. Um, we can all be better, but to come to this place. Ton of energy in the building um and find a way to just keep playing uh just keep trying to find a way. and our guys. You know, there’s been some games here over these last few years where um you know, we’ve demonstrated that, but tonight uh felt like uh there was something new quarterback on the road, you know, some new players throughout our team really trying to figure it out together and uh the way that uh we were able to do that. Very, very proud of our team. There’s obviously some guys uh with some notable performances and then I’ll hit you guys on some injuries. Um but uh JJ McCarthy, you know, clearly just, you know, I felt, you know, the thing is I felt poised from the very beginning. Um I didn’t necessarily think our entire group uh with some of the things that transpired where we were really close on some things that could have changed the game a little bit. a lot of yardage that we got uh via some penalties there, but uh you know, just didn’t do a good enough job sustaining uh you know, obviously converting third downs early on was an issue to be able to get drives going. Um but JJ McCarthy for him to make some of the plays he did. Um I told him at halftime, you are going to bring us back to win this game. Um and the look in his eye was fantastic. And the best thing is just the belief I felt from the team, the unit. Um and and ultimately uh that doesn’t get done without him in the second half. Two passing touchdowns and then the critical uh rushing touchdown, you know, at the end. Will Riker, like I said, that field goal was huge. You know, the 59 y. Miles Price already talked about that from a standpoint of uh being a rookie out there, changing field position, giving us a chance all night long. You know, you look at Eric Wilson stepping in for cash and then obviously blocking a punt. Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones. You know, it was kind of a tough night there and having Jordan to be a little bit uh you know, be that physical presence and then you see Aaron’s ability to change the game on one play with the touchdown. Um and then uh you know, Jayvon Hardgrave Grave was you know, you just felt him all night long and Caleb is really a tough guy to bring down clearly. Um his athleticism is real. We talked about it all week and you got to give those guys a lot of credit for for playing the good football uh that they did and it was a flatout battle, you know, to uh it’s not always going to be pretty when you’re trying to bring along a young quarterback. You just got to keep playing and you got to allow, you know, him to grow. Uh there’s a lot of just things we can improve on and we will. It’d be great to be home for a couple weeks. U but uh but all in all, I’m very proud of our team, very proud of our staff and just that figured out and find a way is something that will be a redeeming quality as we continue to press onward. Um, just to give you guys an update on a couple injuries here. You know, Cashman, uh, you know, did get a hamstring. He’ll have an MRI. Um, and then a cuda there on the last play. Um, everything’s, you know, checked out. We wanted to be smart with that. Um, but he’ll be evaluated for a concussion. Um, he will travel home with us as well. Um, and then Ryan Kelly and Ty Chandler both, uh, went into the blue tent and both returned. Um, so with that, I’ll open it up to you guys. What about JJ made you believe that he was going to take you back for you to Yeah, I just, you know, I just felt, you know, it was a very unique game from a standpoint of uh, you know, obviously you have to just put blinders on and just keep playing. Every rep for him is unbelievable experience. It’s experience for me, you know, with him. It’s experience for our offensevious knowledge. stepped in and and you know did a great job battling battling all night but you know there were times where JJ had to overcome some things you know around him and and he just kept playing didn’t necessarily alter the way he was playing you know there’d be a play out there and they tip the ball or it was just every you know for a while there just felt like everything that could go wrong kind of did and many many times you know teams will wilt in those circumstances and and ours did It’s a credit to our players. It’s a credit to what they have built in that locker room. And uh we’re one and0, you know, with a thousand things to clean up across the board. Uh the defense knows they’re going to, you know, they’re going to have to battle all year long after that, you know, following the opening drive touchdown. I think, you know, next nine drives, they only gave up a field goal. Um so I’m I’m just, you know, proud of the group, but JJ especially, uh heck of a growth moment for him. and uh one that I had total belief in him that we were going to figure it out together. Kevin, on the read option on the touchdown run, what made you decide to go to that that moment of that third one? Yeah, you know, they they made some adjustments, you know, kind of some unscouted looks in the in the first half across the board. I thought they did a great job, uh, you know, keeping us off balance with some looks that, you know, maybe you’re you’re you’re working off of a tendency from, you know, a previous team that you played against the coordinator from. And and I don’t know whether it was, you know, maybe a couple of their guys out, but they were they were doing some things differently than maybe what was on the sheet. And with a young quarterback and you’re trying to work through what that looks like, um you you’ve got to work through it together and you know, we had some miscommunication. Obviously, it got very loud at times, the negatives, you know, up against the play clock a little bit, but I thought as the game went on, you could kind of feel JJ pushing that group to get out of the huddle a little quicker, get to the line of scrimmage, get a line. We’re trying to help him out as much as we can. Um especially in a game where there could be some looks that you’re trying to work through that maybe weren’t jumping out at you on tape. Uh so we’re trying to, you know, you know, make it as user friendly as we can, but sometimes that takes some time. So we’ve got to find a way, you know, find that middle ground, continue to push the urgency and the execution. U but once again that play call in particular was really just a matter of I you know JJ’s a very very good athlete and you know the look presented itself uh where you know we felt pretty good about TJ being able to kind of lead him in from there if uh you know the it was a pull type read. He was reading the play and he made a you know a great play. Both of his you know touchdown passes were critical huge plays as well and great execution by him. Kevin, after the pick six, what did you notice from JJ on the sideline that let you know he was going to be okay? Yeah, you know, it was a allout zero pressure. You know, he he he got to his protection the right I mean, that was a veteran quarterback play. It just, you know, happened that uh you know, the quarterback the corner knows that it’s an allout zero. He learned how to play pretty good vision, zero coverage here. And credit Shaunie, I mean uh for making that play. What a huge play. And when you have a a pick six, the way the first half went normally, uh that’s enough for a lot of teams to go ahead and pack their stuff up and head home. And there wasn’t one moment. I just I just told them I said, “You did everything right. They made a play. Uh you know, you you protected yourself enough to maybe, you know, there was a there was another potential, you know, eligible on the play that that might have had an opportunity to to score honestly. And what, you know, what kind of play would that have been?” But great learning out, you know, vision zero. He’s he’s looking at you the whole way. Field out cut to Justin Jefferson and and he made a play on it. So I just told him just like the whole day one more, you know, just worry, but let’s just keep playing the next snap together and I promise you we’ll find a way. That’s what I told him. And and he he’s got an unbelievable look in his eye on game day. And he just kept, you know, his belief and and his trust in himself. And you know, the the phrase that I like to use, you guys have heard many times, being at your best when your best is required. There’s no other time than that than to, you know, have two touchdowns and two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown. 21 points in the really darn near close to just the fourth quarter alone. So, um, really big time moment to build off of. Kevin, how important were those fourth early fourth quarter runs for Jordan Mason to kind of set up other things like the play? Yeah, I think, you know, it was one of those things where because of the crowd noise and you’re trying to avoid third down, third and longs as much as possible. Um, probably should have, you know, ran the football more and and in the first half and that’s where I got to grow and get better as well. You know, this is a a total look inward to how we improve and it starts with me. Um, but I thought we, you know, that growth I’m a big fan of, you know, not having that figured outness on Tuesday morning. You know, normally I like to say Monday morning, but staff and as a collective group, we really honed in on some things that we wanted to get done. And that efficiency set up uh a lot of things and and uh you know allowed us to make some plays in the past game, but having Jordan’s physicality with Aaron, you know, keeping Aaron as fresh as we could and then being able to use him as a weapon in the pass game as well um kind of came together in a way when we needed it the most. What did you think of the teammates reaction to? Yeah, I think uh you know it was just momentum was kind of just the way the defense was playing and I just kept telling Flo, you know, you know, just give us just keep giving us an OP. You guys are doing everything in your power to just keep giving us an OP. And then the special teams kicked in and made some plays, you know, with the returns and the block punt. Um and then, you know, just it was kind of like a this team’s got a lot of confidence in itself and there were moments where maybe that confidence was being but absolutely not broken. So that was kind of a an eruption a little bit of our sideline and kind of what was keeping it together kind of let out in that moment. Um and uh it was a it was big time. It was big time to see the team and they voted him a captain. They clearly see something in him. We do as well. This is one game. He did an unbelievable job leading his team back to win. It’s a total team effort. Uh, but we will use this as a major major growth moment. Um, and we got a short week and got to get ready to go. On Ty Chandler’s return at the end there, do you go into that saying if it’s returnable, we’ll return it? Got to return it. Try to get under the table like you were kind of Yeah. And and we, you know, I know for a fact that Matt Daniels was in the huddle telling those guys that, but he Tai’s really the off returner. you know, with the type of night that that uh that Miles Price had, you know, they’re trying to kick it away from him, and I’m sure they’re trying to get that thing to the chalk to make sure we can’t do that. And I I don’t even know how deep it was. I didn’t care. But yeah, I think he did, you know, your players looking over at me during play, but it was get out and secure the secure the football for sure. And that allowed us to take it all the way down. Um there, you know, there was I think there was You know, half the stadium was at the line of scrimmage during that four-minute drive and rightly so. They were just trying to get it back and yeah, go ahead. Blake had beer. Yeah, that’s why we went and got him. I mean, Ewell has been such a critical addition. Quy and his guys went out and got him. you’re you’re always looking for that veteran presence and you know he is you know he is a player that we I don’t know if we win the football game unless you have Eric Wilson to kind of not only I mean the block punt but u but just the way he goes in and he’s green dotting and calling it and that’s really you know you want to see a prototype of a veteran guy that helps your football team win by any means necessary it’s Eric Wilson so fired up that we have him fired up that we were able to bring him back here and he’s already clearly had a monumental impact. Kevin, whether the block punt or will record in the kick or Miles Price in the returns, how much did your special teams kind of contribute to being able to come back here? Yeah, I mean, shoot, we only had, you know, what was it? 49 plays of offense. We just we just didn’t have enough time on the field. We didn’t have enough to really do our part for the better part of two and a half quarters. So, you need your defense to be, you know, what they are and what they were for us tonight. you need your your special teams to make a play here and there. Steal that steal that hidden yardage wherever you can and and uh those guys did those guys did a great job. Just we talk about it a lot. What are you going to do in your one play phase uh to maybe go change the game and and uh those guys affected the game in a really positive way. You know, credit to those guys, hat, DG. You don’t win a game like this unless it’s a true three all three phase finding way. That’s true. Kevin, you said this is But the fact that JJ now how important is that for his development for you guys going forward? Yeah, you know part of this thing with a young quarterback is you know everybody’s going to be waiting to you know the aha moment of like look what happened and uh and for him to like that that can weigh on a player but not him. I mean he prepared the right way and you know just you know you talk about meeting in the moment regardless of circumstances regardless of what the outcome may have ended up in it being. Uh there is a big picture plan that you know you you hope to you know not have this chapter be the first chapter of needing to bring your team back so significantly um after a really tough start. Uh but yeah this is I mean there’s no look there’s no way to to deny we don’t win this unless JJ plays the way he did in the second half and most importantly kept the belief of his football team behind him and and now we know it’s possible. So, you know, he hoped to not be in these circumstances very often. Uh but uh you know, this team’s made of the right stuff. Players have built something special within that locker room and on that sideline and and I’m just very very proud of them and you have to be so proud of JJ, you know, leading leading the group back. Kevin, Kevin, what did you think of just the defensive line rotation a lot of the players stepping up and making plays? Yeah, we want to keep those guys fresh. Um I thought uh I felt all those guys active, you know, the activity of being able to kind of stunt the run um enough to put them in long yardage situations and get off the field and keep giving us those opportunities as an offense. But yeah, I’ve been telling you guys for the better part of uh since, you know, late July, like we feel great about the depth of that group, seeing those guys play and rotate and try to keep those guys fresh when they’re on the field a lot more than we’re on the field as an offense. You got to try to do that. So, when the momentum does swing, you know, we can we can try to hold that lead and and get a really tough, hard fought win on the road in the NFC North. I mean, this is what this division is going to be. Obviously, we want to play a better version. We want to be a better version of ourselves as a team for four quarters, but we’re going to have to lean on different phases of our team at different times. That’s just the NFL, the life you live in the NFL. Thank you. working.

Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell addressed the media after the team’s Week 1 27-24 win over the Chicago Bears.

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