Kevin O’Connell on Ryan Kelly Update, J.J. McCarthy, Opposing Defenses, Preparing for Bears Game

Kevin O’Connell on Ryan Kelly Update, J.J. McCarthy, Opposing Defenses, Preparing for Bears Game

All right, guys. Good afternoon. Um, excited to get on the field today with our guys. Important week for our team. Uh, chance to continue playing well against NFC North opponents. You know, try to play uh obviously a a big emphasis on playing well at home, which which we haven’t done in all three phases of our team and we’re still on the hunt to do that. Got a couple updates for you. Um, Carson Wentz had successful left shoulder surgery yesterday uh in LA. um hope to get him uh hope to he’ll be out there for a few days then hope to get him back uh he’s planning on being back in the building when he returns um continuing his rehab there and then we’ll open Ryan Kelly’s 21day uh window today and then um just so you guys are aware um JJ McCarthy will have a little you know bandage or coverage on the top of his hand. He hit it on a helmet um at one point in the game late in the game and uh everything’s checked out, but we just want to get out in front of uh potentially uh making sure you guys are aware from a communication standpoint exactly what that is. Don’t don’t see that affecting um really his week of preparation very much uh at all. And u Jonathan Gernard uh still would put him kind of in that questionable category. he’ll uh he won’t participate today, but um I still think he has uh has a chance uh for Sunday, but at the same time, we’ll uh we’ll kind of let the medical staff and Tyler and his group and and JG kind of work through the week, and I’ll keep you guys updated um at that point. And like I mentioned on Monday, some, you know, several guys we might uh uh give the day to uh just as we get into this this chunk of the season. Um and then as we ramp up our work throughout the rest of the week, uh those guys will uh continue with their prep to play. But outside of JG, um really nobody else on the injury report uh I have concerns for Sunday about. Kevin, just to clarify, right hand or left hand? Right hand. Yeah, he followed through on on a throw to Justin, I believe, and uh you know, caught one of our our lineman’s helmets. Kevin, we’re seeing um more quarterbacks go under center. Caleb’s doing it a lot more. you’ve done this with Sam, JJ. Why do you think that the league is kind of getting back to that a little bit and what’s maybe the benefit of having JJ under center? Yeah, I think you know just um as the league has kind of evolved with some of the gun aspect of plays and and you know whether you run your quarterback consistently, whether you um you know the I think there’s a lot of offenses that you know either ours uh the family of offense we come from you know the the other people around league the marriage of the run the pass becomes a little bit harder offsetting the back uh you know some teams you know like Atlanta have really featured the pistol to try to find the common ground of both which they’ve had success with. Uh, I think it just comes down to what is the foundation of your offense and and then ultimately I think by game Matt, you know, I know probably, you know, you’ve even noticed it by some defenses. You know, you’ll get to, you know, some coordinators like to uh have defenses called where there’s an alert gun and under. You get in the gun, they’re going to play this coverage. You get in the under center, they’re going to play this to have a better fit of the run game. And then, you know, we’ve got CJ here and those 21 runs can can present problems with the insert of the fullback. We’ve got two really a bunch of tight tight ends we feel good about running the ball with. So, a lot of times it just comes down to, you know, as an offense, what what’s the foundation of our plan for the week? U defensively, are we getting uh normal matches to our personnel groupings? you know, base defense to 12 and 21 and nickel to 11 or are they going to play more nickel like we saw last week from Baltimore really to all groupings and then you kind of build your plan accordingly trying to marry the run and the pass and then you know those weighty downs are kind of a you know they’re a whole different kind of game within the game. Good question though. How are you looking at um Ryan Kelly knowing two concussions this year but also a few previously. How will you kind of think about this and and approach it in terms of usually 21 day windows lead to activation, but he doesn’t have to. Exactly. I I think it’s it’s kind of just the next step for him. As you know, I think I mentioned to you guys when uh we made the decision to to put him on injured reserve. The idea was to have a concrete timeline that now we’ve exceeded um you know, out of out of an abundance of what we think is best for Ryan. Um he’s doing great. Uh he did he really responded well to the work on the sidefield last week. This week is really more about getting him phased back into practice. Uh he’s going to be you know I believe wearing a new helmet, a guarding cap. Um doing some of those things from a a preventative measure, but at the same time it’s how does he handle the work week. Um you know and then ultimately we’re looking at this as a not just the rest of this season but you know beyond as far as Ryan goes. and and and as I said, um you know, I wanted him to be banging down my office door and he’s been getting pretty tarn darn close uh to doing that and uh luckily I keep it open all ways. So, um there’s not much effort involved there. Kevin, with the personnel matching stuff, do you see teams play more nickel to you guys in all situations because Justin is out there or do you get the heavy personnel groups when you go into 12 and 13? I think it’s a mixture, Ben. I think it’s defensive personnel. Um, you look at Baltimore, you know, they made the trade to bring in Gilman as a safety. That allowed them to have Kyle Hamilton closer to the line of scrimmage, be more active, be closer to the ball. Derwin James, you know, Jaylen Ramsay’s done that, you know, either in LA or in Pittsburgh, uh, you’ve seen him really play all the spots. Uh, us with Josh Matelis and how we’ve played at times with three safeties on the field, but really we’re we’re in nickel defense. uh you know the the Bears go against uh a really impactful guy like CJ Gardner Johnson to play that nickel spot and he’s physical and can really has no issues being part of the run fit blitzing and he’s a good cover player too. So um I think it’s more about how defenses want to try to defend you and there’s been multiple times we’ve gone into games and we haven’t seen uh them play nickel to 12 all season long and we’ve seen it in totality in the game we played. So, we really have to and vice versa. Like, you think you’re playing I go back a couple weeks to Detroit and we got, you know, almost exclusively base defense for a good chunk of that game on normal downs. So, I think it’s just how people want to defend you and you got to prepare for both. And then ultimately, you know, find ways to move the football once you kind of see the much like the coverage program to Justin that we’ve seen, it’s an ingame kind of um, you know, kind of navigation of of getting to some things. I think we’ve done a good job this year kind of assessing some of those things. Ran the ball well coming out of the fir, you know, halftime last week when we didn’t particularly run it very effectively early on in the game and um and and it’s just kind of an ongoing thing, but it’s a it’s a it’s a big thing that I look for every single week and just I’m more more than likely prepared for the curveball than the fast ball. Um that’s just how I look at it. Jaylen Redmond’s writing a heck of a story. Yeah, I know when you guys traded Harrison Phillips, all people, wow, you obviously knew what you had. What have you seen in him? I mean, he’s on track to become an elite run stopper. Yeah, he is uh, you know, it’s it’s now about, you know, he’s clearly established himself. There’s a standard to his play. It’s shown up every single week and it goes back a lot before everybody kind of started to notice it for us and just felt like he was a guy that we wanted to make sure was on the field as much as possible. And it’s not just the run game. Um, I think he’s shown up as a rusher, his rush transition off of, you know, you know, playing his role in the run game and then he transitions and can and can sack the quarterback, block shots, all those things. So, I just I think he’s a really good player. Uh I think he’s developed uh throughout his time here and really started to understand how he fits within the defense and now he’s getting an opportunity to be you know a weapon in a lot of ways of playing multiple spots for a purpose and a reason to try to you know shrink that run game menu of our opponents and allow him to be in a playmaking spot. So uh yeah glad you asked about him but you know love the player and everything he brings to to our defense and our building every day. Broom what you’ve seen of the Bears offense I guess on film this year. What what are you seeing with the way that they’re trying to get the most out of Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson influence? Yeah, he’s the, you know, Ben’s, you know, gotten the run game going and then they they’re doing I I think their offensive line’s probably not getting talked about enough. Um, you know, Darnell Wright the when I turn on the tape, I see one of the best right tackles in football. And um I think their additions, you know, at center and guard um have shown up and and been pretty consistently healthy and and been out there on the field uh jelling together. And they made the switch at left tackle and you see the production that they’re getting out of that position now. Um but the way Ben’s calling it, the way they’re um limiting turnovers, they’re forcing a lot of turnovers. you know, we know that formula u you know, pretty well as far as having a defense leading the league in turnovers and it equating to extra possessions, chances to win close games um in some cases allowing Caleb then to to play really well and efficiently throughout the game, but he’s also shown he can he can go get it at the end with his unique arm talent and he’s got, you know, he’s one of the more difficult quarterbacks in the league to get on the ground even when you get to him. Um we’ve seen that firsthand. So, I think it’s a mixture of just, you know, Ben’s doing a good job with that offense. They’ve got really good personnel and they’re and the and the balance of the early down has kind of kept them in a position where uh if they’ve got to alter and try to go get it and get into that two-minute phase, they’ve moved the ball there. Um they’ve played a couple different styles of games, but it’s all really centered around winning the turnover battle, I think, in all six of their wins, and that’s always been such a critical stat for us and something we got to get better at. with is there anywhere that you feel like he’s really progressed since you guys saw him in week one? Um what I would say is and we felt it in the game in week one, you know, just some of the throws. Uh he he can make the highest of level uh throw whether it’s play play pass on the move in the keeper game um different variations of you know attacking downfield and then when he does break contain um he can make every throw at that point too. And um he’s made some throws that haven’t, you know, necessarily ended up in completions that, you know, you you end up watching him a few times on tape just because of the the high high level of difficulty of the throw he can make in and out of the pocket. And that’s something we’ve always known about him. But, you know, like anybody as they accumulate more snaps and, you know, building off of what he did last year, you know, you’re seeing some of that experience kind of show up in a in a consistency now that’s helping them win. Kevin, on JJ, did you need to um to see him throw at all or just to make sure that the grip or whatever’s going on there doesn’t affect grip? No, it’s it’s more so just making sure that you know you if this practice was another 24 hours, it probably wouldn’t have been even been something we mentioned. It’s just to make sure the swelling we got out of there from you know, kind of just a bruise that that we just don’t want it to kind of fester the rest of the week. What kind of conversations did you guys have internally just coming off Sunday? What you guys? Yeah, I think um you know, we we identified maybe some areas where we can, you know, have a little bit better, you know, more poise to the communication and that that’s not just the quarterback, that’s, you know, like I talked about on Monday, it’s the huddle. Um it’s the dynamic of a play call. It’s the dynamic of you know when we are motioning or we are trying to do some things for schematic reasons you know where the emphasis on the cadence is going to be. We still you know going back we didn’t really have a lot of cadences in the game. Um the frustrating part was you know some of those that you know seem to happen and and it’s a discipline thing and it’s a you know a poise and conviction thing to be able to you know know you’re you know I think there’s such an emphasis on guys doing their job and the schematics and the fundamentals and technique but nothing starts without us all getting off on the same cadence and uh it got away from us and in a in a pretty catastrophic way and and you know now we get a chance to we’ve met on it we’ve talked about it the unit’s talked about that um you know Wes and and myself obviously and the position coaches and now we’ve got to practice in a way that reflects uh trying to put that behind us the right way. Kevin, just big picture leaguewide, has it become more challenging to have patience with developing a young quarterback? Oh, it’s you know it is it’s I have long since like understood that’s what it is. And um I I think you’re speaking in regards to um kind of not only the the people in this room, but you know, the people that fill seats in stadiums, the people um that that u you know, evaluate the quarterback position from many different landscapes. You know, I I’ve always known that it’s always been something. I think it’s it’s becoming more of a minute-to-minute day-to-day um you know, reflection and and kind of final verdict uh that you’re seeing. But at the same time, I think you’ve got to look at it both ways. You’ve got to for every time uh there can be a moment where is there a coaching point to be had. Is there something we can do better? Is there is there some consistency of simple principles that might enhance the ability to maybe eliminate some of those things that uh may cause people to have the certain you know u you know type of opinion. But in the end, it’s it comes down to the the things you are seeing and then building upon those while also just like every other position, but maybe not as noticeable as the guy that has his hand his hand on the ball every single snap and um is responsible to deliver it from point A to point B and and all the things that that are very visible to everybody. And so I think we understand that. But at the same time, my job is to um you know, not only by myself, but in conjunction with our staff and and JJ himself, just continuing to coach in a way where um you know, no stone is unturned. We’re recognizing everything, progress, areas of of immediate improvement. And then and and then most importantly what I look for is uh the the consistency of being able to put some routine things in that category of I can expect them every time and and it becomes second nature and you know sometimes when a guy’s making his third or fourth start now or fifth start this week um it’s a lot to ask in in the midst of games especially how they’ve kind of played out. Um, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re, you know, in a business of, you know, trying to go one and0 this week. And, um, JJ’s going to have a great week of prep and we’ll continue to progress. And, uh, there’s been a lot of encouraging things to to go along with some things that, um, you know, we we can improve on and, and he knows that, we know that, and, um, that’s just that’s just kind of where I get to be as far as this the the space that I’m in. Um, and everybody’s entitled to their own opinion and making that judgment whenever they they feel like it’s it’s it’s time to make that judgment, but that’s kind of where I’m at. Kevin, in terms of I mean, you probably don’t see these things, but I think that there’s been some discussion around play calling and maybe spec specifically in regards to uh run pass rate on in short yardage situations. How would you kind of assess your approach and execution in those spots? Yeah, I think um first and foremost like like in any you know healthy discussion I think you got to establish what are we talking about from a standpoint of third and ones uh third and twos third and threes third and two to five um how defenses are going to align you know based upon you know the the front structures that they want to kind of get in. I I think, you know, we’ve had multiple runs called in those situations where um parameters maybe take us out of those looks or we have a run pass solution on them and we’ve converted uh or we’ve had multiple run plays called on early downs where we’ve thrown the ball and got an 11 yard completion, got a nine yard completion and and we look at those as uh statistically part of the run game. I know that doesn’t necessarily fall under that category as a whole, but uh there’s no question if the you know we’ve we’ve had success specifically this year um in the short yardage situations. There’s been you know a couple uh you know schematical things that have have caused us to not convert, but more than likely when we get a hat on a hat and give the ball to JP or Aaron, we’ve we’ve converted those. Um, and I think it’s just a matter of once again like in the moment, uh, whether it’s the third one, third and one chance against Atlanta early on in the year, um, or the third and one from the other day. Um, you know, you as a as a head coach, you and play caller, you’re making the decision to uh, you know, I can’t really make the decision based upon missing an open player or uh, having Justin one-on-one for really the only time all day and that ending up the last thing you think that’s going to do is end up in a in an interception where you, you know, have that run play in mind for fourth and one and and that’s that’s kind of like the quarterback discussion. And I mean it’s uh play calling is something that uh you know we put a lot of work in as a staff and I put a lot of work into it. Um and it’s if it was you know it’s a resultsbased thing play to play gameto game well aware of that. But um that does not mean that I’m not always evaluating the best way to uh you know play each and every snap sequence of games and ultimately what’s best for this team this year. Um, and I’m doing that and and I and I think you’ll see some things reflected in that, but also the defense has a hand in it as well. And and the last thing you want to do is just, you know, do it for the sake of doing it and then have it be not as uh productive as as you would hope, you know, just to get some things in a column somewhere, statistical column. You mentioned that third one and how you went home Sunday night, you thought about that one play call that night. Is that was that typical or is it when you go home, do you have a self scout that you keep yourself up at night think about certain calls? That’s just the only one we talked about, you know. Uh you didn’t ask about any other ones, but um not saying do that, but uh but yeah, it’s that’s it’s not just that. It’s, you know, challenges that you, you know, you throw the red flag and you think you, you know, you’re trying to figure out how in the world did that not go your way or a touchdown catch that gets overturned and, you know, you’re thinking about, okay, well, the premise of this time I challenged the play early on in the game I was told this and then that same premise was used uh to, you know, review something. And there’s a thousand things I think about. What was the practice week like? You know, what was the travel like? what was the circumstances of the week? Like that’s my job is to think about all those things. You just have to throw the the play calling element into it as well, which is a massive massive part of it. Obviously, especially with a young quarterback and um really dynamic players on the outside that, you know, I think the best teams in this league find ways for the best parts of their team um to show up and and be able to make plays and big moments, but I think for us that’s a lot of different players. And um you know it it it all has to be you know there’s really two worlds going on at the same time. Quarterback development and and and and the belief I have in that and conviction I have for certain aspects of it and then as well as uh you know what’s what’s best not only just for our team that day this season but that play. Um, and a lot goes into it and it’s riskreward, right? That third and one call. Um, if Justin doesn’t get tripped up and we throw a touchdown right there as we did and two years ago against Detroit, I think on a fourth and one, very similar play call. And I, you know, I wasn’t asked about that one after the game, but um, it ended in a touchdown. And it’s it’s part of my my role here. And just so everybody, I totally understand it and and accept it. And most importantly, uh, I think the most important part of that is understanding it. There’s no frustration on my end other than what actually happened and and what I could have done better and that’s what I’m always focusing on. Last one. Uh coach, with Ryan Kelly’s window opening up, what can you say about Blake’s uh ability and what he’s shown you, you know, in Ryan Kelly’s absence? Yeah, Blake’s done and I think he’s improved. Uh he’s done a really good job from a standpoint of his poise, command. Um we’ve got a young quarterback back there uh with a center making his first few starts at the position as well. So, um I think a lot has can be credited to Blake as far as the communication and the consistency of that and um I know Blake feels very strongly about having a role in in solving some of the pre- snap stuff that happened the other day and and that’s what we’re going to do as a group. But I think Blake has has continued to show the versatility to play now uh three different spots on our O line since since I’ve been here and and and have some real moments at all of them. I mean, that type of versatility is really, really hard to find at the NFL level. And and Blake’s shown that he can do it. And I think he’s still an ascending player, you know, not only just at the center position at guard, tackle, you know, every time he does one of those things, he’s continuing to improve and one of the hardest working guys on our team. Loves football, made of the right stuff. So, uh, we’re very fortunate to have him with how this season’s kind of played out up front, for sure. Thanks, guys.

Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell addressed the media ahead of the Week 11 matchup against the Chicago Bears in the 2025 NFL regular season.

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