Kevin O’Connell Takes the Slime

The Vikings employed O’Connell in February soon after he offensively coordinated the Los Angeles Rams to a Tremendous Bowl triumph more than the Cincinnati Bengals. To date, the Sean McVay coaching tree, the place O’Connell was reared, has made fabulous head coaches, including Matt LaFleur (Packers), Zac Taylor (Bengals), Brandon Staley (Chargers), and now O’Connell.

Of training course, O’Connell has a extended way to get prior to identification as a LaFleur-like mentor, but the Vikings did win all through his first head coaching working experience previous week. Accordingly, enthusiasm for Minnesota soared as national pundits and Vegas sportsbooks took discover of the new-search Vikings. Minnesota climbed from +3600 Super Bowl odds to +2400 from 7 days 1 to Week 2.

And the entertaining evidently prolonged to gamers and the locker area as folks were being authorized to introduce slime into group operations. Although the actual physical existence of slime is “no huge deal,” the lightheartedness of its use is a steep departure from how Minnesota made use of to do things.

Down the extend of the Mike Zimmer era, the ambiance in Eagan, Minnesota, was reportedly rigid and tight-lipped. Pursuing the exoduses of Zimmer and his manager Rick Spielman, reviews indicated the culture experienced calcified over the final two seasons. Unsurprisingly, 2020 and 2021 marked the start of the Vikings tumble into mediocrity, way too.

Reaction to the slime video clip was favourable, and most commenters and retweeters asserted that “Zimmer would in no way do this,” or one thing to that result. People folks likely aren’t mistaken. It would’ve in truth been strange to see the slime tomfoolery everywhere linked with the Vikings from 2014 to 2021.

Last week, the Vikings began the 2022 period 1-, downing the Green Bay Packers by a rating of 23-7 in Minneapolis. Minnesota’s offense, defense, and exclusive teams shined, when Inexperienced Bay’s anything unsuccessful to simply click. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was irritated for most of the recreation, and the group only scored after.

Up up coming? Minnesota travels to Philadelphia for a day with the Eagles on Monday Night Soccer. The Vikings are not historically a prosperous street Monday Night time Football team, so the 7 days 2 sport serves as a litmus test for the new routine. The Eagles are favored more than the Vikings by 2.5 factors.

Potentially an even bigger bucket of slime will be on the agenda if Minnesota pulls out a gain.

Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his day by day YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates again to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).

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