The Vikings may be down and out, but head coach Kevin O’Connell’s message is one that sets an expectation for everyone on the roster to remain motivated and continue building what O’Connell started when he was hired in 2022.

“We are certainly in a tough time right now. We have not won a game in far too long, and we’ve got used to, around here, winning games, so what I’ve been really challenging the guys to do is stay the course,” O’Connell said Tuesday during an interview with KFAN-FM 100.3’s Paul Allen.

“Continue to show that we are willing and capable of playing extremely hard, working throughout the week, putting together great game plans, getting these players to understand what they’ve built here, culturally, can’t just be something we endorse and ring the bell about when we’re winning. It’s more important to be able to show what we’re all made of in these moments when things are tough.”

At 4-8, the Vikings are all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. They’ve lost four games in a row and have scored six points total in back-to-back losses to the Packers and Seahawks. O’Connell says the losses have hit him especially hard this season.

“It’s been difficult. They’re always hard,” he said. “You do this long enough, and you start realizing exactly what the wins really mean. But it’s more so, the life of a coach, the wins are… you move on very quickly from those because you know the next challenge is coming. You don’t really get the same enjoyment out of the wins that maybe you once did.”

“I can tell you, the losses, there’s not a Sunday where a loss comes our way that it doesn’t hit me incredibly hard,” O’Connell continued. “And the same goes for our staff. We want so badly to see our players experience success, with the way they work and what they put into this. Nothing is given in this league. It is hard to win. We’ve learned that firsthand this year. It’s not something we can come to expect. It’s something that we gotta know, the work that it takes, no matter what, to try to go get a win every week in the NFL.”

That’s why the next five weeks, which will lead to the inevitable end of the season and significant questions about the quarterback situation, are so important to O’Connell, who believes the current woes are nothing more than a temporary dip.

“We’re on our way. I can’t tell you when it’s going to be, but we’re on our way to getting where we want to get to as an organization. Sometimes there’s temporary pitfalls along the way, that if you allow those to inevitably tarnish your ability to go get, ultimately, the end goal done, whether that’s in the future or the near future to come, then shame on all of us for not being about what we say we’re about, and that’s not something that I will ever allow to happen in this organization while I get to be the leader of it,” he said.

O’Connell answers questions from kids

The KFAN interview happened during the station’s annual Toys for Tots drive, so some kids were given a chance to ask O’Connell a question. While one question was about football and largely related to his message about staying the course, two others took the coach off the field.

Connor from Arlington, Minn., asked O’Connell what his superpower would be if he could choose one. The coach and father of four said he’d like to have the power to be in multiple places at once.

“To be able to be home with my kids, I’ve got four of them,” O’Connell said. “To be at multiple places at once, and to be able to be all-in wherever you are, would be my superpower. But it would also allow me to maybe be in the meeting rooms of our opponents and find out the game plans they may be using against us.”

Jacob from Burnsville, Minn., asked which three people O’Connell would choose to play a round of golf with. Again, O’Connell was lured to spending time with his kids.

“I would say one of them would have to be Tiger Woods. I would want to see what that looks like playing next to him. And then, believe it or not, I would probably want my two boys, Kaden and Kolton, to be out there,” O’Connell said.

More from Vikings On SI