{"id":932651,"date":"2026-06-30T07:09:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T07:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/932651\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T07:09:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T07:09:20","slug":"kevin-oconnell-and-the-minnesota-vikings-are-dragged-into-dianna-russini-saga-in-a-way-they-dont-want-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/932651\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin O’Connell and the Minnesota Vikings are dragged into Dianna Russini saga in a way they don’t want to be"},"content":{"rendered":"

The saga of Dianna Russini has taken another interesting turn, this time involving the Minnesota Vikings and Kevin O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Dec
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDec 25, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell looks on in the second quarter against the Detroit Lions at U.S. Bank Stadium.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatt Krohn-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Vikings haven\u2019t had the best association with former reporter at The Athletic Dianna Russini.<\/p>\n

During the 2025 offseason, Russini was driving hard<\/a> the idea that Aaron Rodgers was going to be signing with the Vikings. It didn\u2019t end up coming to fruition, and that soured the fanbase with Russini, because she didn\u2019t stop talking about it with a lot of gusto.<\/p>\n

After she parted ways with The Athletic, more has come out about her time there, including reportedly using an NFL head coach to get out of a ticket. It was initially reported as a FaceTime call, but that was the only detail that wasn\u2019t correct.<\/p>\n

Kevin O\u2019Connell linked to Dianna Russini traffic stop<\/p>\n

The bodycam footage of Russini being pulled over this January, which was the morning the Buffalo Bills fired Sean McDermott, was released. It turns out that she used a text message with head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell to get out of a ticket for using her cell phone.<\/p>\n

During the initial interaction, Russini tells the officer she is an NFL reporter finding out that McDermott was fired as an explanation why she was on her phone. The officer tells her that he\u2019s not a fan, but after pressing, Russini finds out that he\u2019s a Vikings fan.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when things get interesting.<\/p>\n

Russini shows a text message thread she had with O\u2019Connell, which makes sense in trying to get out of a ticket. However, that\u2019s not what is most intriguing.<\/p>\n

We know that Russini was sharing copious amounts of info about Rodgers and the Vikings. Many will link O\u2019Connell to being the source, but we don\u2019t know that for sure. Coaches often have friendly relationships with the media, as it benefits them just as much. Was O\u2019Connell the source? It\u2019s certainly possible. <\/p>\n

However, that wasn\u2019t the most intriguing element of the traffic stop. Russini dropped three words that likely did come from O\u2019Connell himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir quarterback sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was referring to J.J. McCarthy. Keep in mind that this is on January 19th per the timestamp. That is before we knew that Murray would be available. What does this mean for McCarthy\u2019s future? It certainly lines up with how former general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was scapegoated<\/a>, blaming him for the selection of McCarthy.<\/p>\n

Dianna Russini dropping the line “Their quarterback sucks” regarding J.J. McCarthy after using Kevin O’Connell’s text messages lines up with how much Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was scapegoated for the selection https:\/\/t.co\/GI6RZxWV0h<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Tyler Forness (@TheRealForno) June 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

This is not how the Vikings wanted the six-week break to go, and having this happen is tough. However, the Vikings also didn\u2019t do anything wrong here. It\u2019s more than okay for O\u2019Connell to talk with a reporter. This is on Russini more than anything.<\/p>\n

Just another average day in a Minnesota Vikings offseason.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Georgia\t\t<\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings News<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMinnesota Vikings found a massive steal everyone forgot to draft, and he could impact Kevin O\u2019Connell\u2019s offense as a rookie\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Wide receiver Dillon Bell has been a huge riser throughout the offseason, and he could have a serious impact as a rookie.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Nov\t\t<\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings News<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tKyler Murray finds himself on a list everyone wants to be on, and it\u2019s a strong signal to Vikings HC Kevin O\u2019Connell\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s far from certain that Kyler Murray is going to win the starting quarterback job, but many in the media believe him to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The saga of Dianna Russini has taken another interesting turn, this time involving the Minnesota Vikings and Kevin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":932652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[6164,7,1519,6192,233,259,2529,6,234],"class_list":["post-932651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-vikings","tag-dianna-russini","tag-football","tag-j-j-mccarthy","tag-kevin-oconnell","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-minnesotavikings","tag-nfl","tag-vikings"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116837808075088492","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}