Just over a week after the Minnesota Vikings wrapped up a disappointing 2025 season, head coach Kevin O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah stepped to the podium for their end-of-year press conferences. The message? A mix of familiar frustrations, cautious optimism, and a few hints that the harmony between coach and GM might not be as rock-solid as it once seemed.
Let’s start with the quarterback situation, because that’s where the spotlight is-and will continue to be-all offseason. O’Connell made it clear he’s still committed to developing J.J.
McCarthy, the rookie quarterback who missed a September practice to be with his family for the birth of his son. That moment drew a surprisingly pointed comment from O’Connell, who mentioned it while reflecting on the season.
It wasn’t a direct criticism, but it showed how much every rep mattered in a season where the Vikings fell short.
O’Connell also emphasized his desire to build the “deepest, most talented quarterback room” possible. Translation: McCarthy might be in the mix, but the door is wide open for competition.
Meanwhile, Adofo-Mensah dodged a direct answer when asked if McCarthy would be the starter in 2026. It was the kind of sidestep Vikings fans have seen before-reminiscent of Kirk Cousins’ time in Minnesota, when the team often danced around commitment while hoping for better results.
Both O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah acknowledged the need for more explosive plays. The offense’s yards per play dipped from 5.6 in 2024 to 4.9 in 2025-a significant drop that speaks to a unit that struggled to stretch the field or consistently move the chains. Fixing that is priority one this offseason, and both men pledged to do what it takes to return to playoff contention.
But while the tone was collaborative on the surface, there were signs of strain beneath it. The Vikings’ leadership duo has long touted their partnership, but cracks are beginning to show. And if things continue trending in the wrong direction, this regime could find itself in a familiar spot-the kind of crossroads the team faced at the end of the Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman era.
That chapter of Vikings history is still fresh. Zimmer and Spielman started out aligned in 2014, with Spielman hiring Zimmer to clean up a culture that had grown soft under Leslie Frazier.
Early success followed. Spielman landed key pieces like Linval Joseph in free agency and Adam Thielen as an undrafted gem.
The 2015 draft brought in Stefon Diggs, Danielle Hunter, and Eric Kendricks. Add that to a foundation featuring Harrison Smith and Xavier Rhodes, and the Vikings looked poised for a sustained run.
They nearly got there. The team made the NFC Championship Game in 2017, and belief in the front office-coaching combo was sky high.
But the quarterback position was always Spielman’s Achilles’ heel. He missed on multiple franchise QB opportunities, and when the team felt just a quarterback away, he made the splashy move to sign Cousins in free agency.
Zimmer, ever the defensive coach, wasn’t thrilled. His body language at Cousins’ introductory press conference said it all.
From there, the team started spinning its wheels. The 2019 playoff win with Cousins was a bright spot, but it masked deeper issues.
The 2020 draft brought stars like Justin Jefferson and solid contributors like K.J. Osborn and Josh Metellus, but it also included a flurry of trade-downs that added quantity over quality.
By 2021, the disconnect between coach and GM had grown too wide to ignore. The team missed the playoffs again, and both men were shown the door.
That’s when the Adofo-Mensah/O’Connell era began-with a promise to be different. And for a while, it was.
O’Connell squeezed a 13-win season out of the Zimmer/Spielman core in 2022. In 2023, the team looked poised to make another playoff push until Cousins tore his Achilles.
Then came the Sam Darnold experiment in 2024, which improbably led to a 14-win season and sky-high expectations heading into 2025.
But 2025 didn’t deliver. While O’Connell continued to show he can scheme with the best of them, Adofo-Mensah’s roster construction has been under scrutiny.
Four drafts in, and the returns have been mixed. The front office has operated with a long-term vision-building a sustainable contender with multiple chances to strike gold-but that plan feels a little shakier now.
Adofo-Mensah reaffirmed that vision in his press conference, but the context has changed. The Vikings are heading into an offseason with no clear answer at quarterback and a division that’s getting tougher by the year.
Every other team in the NFC North has won a playoff game since O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah took over in 2022. If the Vikings don’t join that list in 2026, the pressure will be turned up to eleven.
That urgency could lead to risky decisions. A splashy trade for a quarterback-whether it’s a big name or a reclamation project-would signal desperation more than direction.
Even smaller moves, like swinging a deal for Mac Jones or Kyler Murray, would raise eyebrows. And if those don’t work?
The Vikings could find themselves repeating the same cycle of short-term fixes and long-term setbacks.
We’ve already seen hints of that. Trading for Adam Thielen this past season felt more nostalgic than strategic. The situation with Christian Darrisaw’s knee-where the team seemed to overreact to Justin Skule’s struggles-looked like a panic move rather than a calculated adjustment.
And then there’s the optics. O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah holding separate press conferences may not seem like a big deal, but it’s a departure from the united front they’ve presented in the past. Whether intentional or not, it adds to the perception that the partnership is under strain.
The Vikings aren’t in crisis mode-yet. But the margin for error is shrinking.
If O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah start making decisions to protect their jobs instead of building the right way, the franchise risks slipping back into the cycle it worked so hard to escape. The next few months will be telling.
The Vikings don’t just need a quarterback-they need clarity, cohesion, and a plan that doesn’t crumble under pressure.