Kevin O'Connell after Vikings' loss: 'Our first real adversity as a team'

All right, I'll get to our injuries, just kind of updates in a second, but didn't want to start out and just mention we're all thinking and praying for Jack Campbell. I asked Dan after the game if he had any update. He didn't have much of one, but definitely something that you hate seeing, a competitive, super physical NFC North game, but still. You know, you know. Hard to talk about the result when you see something like that. But So just thoughts and prayers with him for sure. Thank We knew we were going to need to play well in all three phases to win a game. Tough place to come play. Thought our team battled. you Thought we made some plays offensively. Thought we left some plays out there. And ultimately, you know, there were some sequences in the game very where I think we can just be better complementary, you know, of the other phases, you know, of our team and vice versa. much. But injury update-wise, Theo Jackson had a quad contusion, did not return. We'll see how he comes in and feels this week. Brian O'Neill, Isaiah Rogers, Max Bredesen, and Kyler Murray. Brian had the, you know, they called down from up top. He was fine with the concussion eval. Isaiah Rogers, ankle sprain. Max Bredesen evaluated for a knee, he returned, and Kyler Murray just some hamstring tightness and he was able to return late in the football game, you know, that took place. But, you know, obviously from a results standpoint, our first, you know, our first real adversity as a team, you know, coming on November 1st, we've got to respond the right way, we've got to respond, go back to work and get ready to play Monday Night Football at U.S. Bank Stadium against a really good team. Thank you. Thank you very much. With that, I'll open it up to you guys. Kevin, Justin is wanting to speak to us. Yeah. Where was he looking on his frustration? Yeah, I mean, you know, we had some opportunities for him. Thank There were some chances there. I thought we missed a couple of them high, if I remember right. And then just the way the flow of the game went, we only had 50 plays you and trying to activate both him and J.A. very I thought T.J. made some plays. But we've got to find a way to, especially on potential chances for him, much. on some of those sequences where we're looking to kind of kick off some momentum. He's a great guy to do it. Behind and we'll continue to find ways to get him football but division game these guys want to win I don't you know I don't fault. I don't fault the frustration or the competitiveness and in any way shape or form Thank you. Yeah, you know, I definitely got to go back and look at it because from my vantage point or knowing the coverage on a play, you're thinking maybe there's going to be some opportunities. But I thought, you know, I thought he made some, you know, big-time throws, even the first one to, you know, to pull there on the Ben Urosek on the, you know, the low cross. And then even on the sequence where, you know, it looks like Jay gets behind him a couple plays later. Thank you. We wanted to be aggressive and got to take a look at where that throw was, where the defender was. It looked like Jay was coming back to it, maybe played through some contact there before the ball got there. But I just thought in general there were some positives, but there's still some plays that we're leaving out there that will help with the overall rhythm of the game. And we've got to continue to find the best way to get him comfortable. It's comfortable. Get him feeling like, you know, he can consistently just throw completions. You know, I thought there was a big sequence there, you know, not only after, you know, on the first drive, but, you know, after the interception to have two three-and-outs and, you know, some negatives in there, set you up for some third and longs. That's not the formula. That hasn't been the formula for anybody, and we've got to avoid those negatives, avoid, you know, any of the negatives that are self-inflicted either by execution, you know, Some, you know, chances to maybe put the ball in play and scratch and claw your way back to just that new set of downs. Because you can see it when we get going a little bit, there's some encouraging things going on out there. But we just need to do it more consistently to help, you know, with the, you know, football is just a game of momentum. And when you can capture it, when you get a play to capture, you got to capitalize on that and go get some points. And, um... Going to keep working for sure, and there's a lot of things to work towards in a positive manner because of the talent, the skill sets of all of our guys. But we're into November now, and we've got to start working with the same urgency we've had. I mean, the preparation has been really good, just continuing to wait for that consistent four quarters of good football and see what that looks like. Yeah, it's just a very standard, you know, Dan had three timeouts left and we're trying to still be aggressive and take some chunks and then get that thing under the two minute and into their zone. I thought we had a chance at Justin on the play. I got once again, you know, from from my vantage point to evaluate it right now. I did think we could maybe stay on the move, you know, once, you know, we had some good ways of getting him on the perimeter today, getting him moving outside the pocket, and thought we had a chance at Justin, who he was trying to throw to on the play. I think it just got away from him. You know, that one kind of, you know. Something you remember in the game, we ended up scoring on the red zone trip, but we thought we had a chance to add him a little high on that one. And then there was a third down where against kind of an all up kind of look where he spun out and maybe had Justin right at the chain. So, you know, there's three right there where I think Justin had nine targets where those three just trigger more plays, if nothing else. But I did think that that was a critical sequence, especially with them getting the ball, you know, a chance with the lead. Thank You know, to pitch and catch and have the ability to kind of dictate the end of the first half for at worst, hopefully three points. But we were, you know, we were trying to, you you know, obviously manage the clock and not get doubled up, but want to score touchdowns, very especially on the road when you get an opportunity like that. Kevin, when you talk about getting highlight points, what is the process of doing that? much. Yeah, we're, you know, it's going back through it and any, you know, any of the inconsistencies really dive into the why, you know. So I... I don't necessarily believe, you know, it's going to be one tell all thing, you know, and I think it's how we continue to put together the plans. You know, he was, you know, where he's most comfortable in his alignment and then marrying up the offense from there. And I think we're, I think we've done a good job of that from a standpoint of, you know, the ability to gun run, gun play action screen, you know. It's a movement game, and we like the idea of getting them on the perimeter. We like the idea of activating them a little bit here and there in the run game, which we saw a little bit today. But I don't necessarily think right now off the top of my head it's one particular thing, but that's what we've got to go back. I'm very fortunate to have an extra day to go to work on that and knowing that we're just looking for consistent. You know, it doesn't. It doesn't need to be much more than just guys doing their jobs. And, you know, Pitching and catching, protection, I thought, for the most part, we had a good plan for 97. We had a good plan for some of their stuff. Thank you very much. That one or two more plays could change the whole dynamic of one of those sequences that we needed to make play. Kevin, fourth and five on the last drive. Yeah, you know, when I went for it on the fourth and four, we got the exact look we wanted on the play. I think there was a little bit of internal pressure, but we had J.A. versus a one-on-one matchup screaming across the field. He'd love to be able to just take a hitch and drive that ball. J.A. probably scores on the play. I think there was some internal, you know, kind of pressure right there that forced him to kind of get that ball up early. Talking to Flo, you know, before that, you know, obviously it was a long sequence there while they were tending to Jack on the field. It just felt like it was a moment to be aggressive, knowing that I have total trust and confidence in our defense. And they got the stop. We got the ball back, and we went down and got a fourth-quarter lead. But tip your cap to them for the way they were able to move it and go down there and get the touchdown to take the lead back. We had all three timeouts at the time, the two-minute. So there was an opportunity there to put a defense that we've got a ton of confidence in. To get a stop and see how much time we could have coming back at them at that moment. Especially that far backed up in our own territory. Did not getting the other court down point very hard? No, I think it was one of those things where... I think the sequence played out. You'd love to not only get the first down, but have a chance against a look like that to score. But the response of our defense was really good. And then Kyler hitting J.A. on the big one and then scoring a couple plays later. We'll talk to you later. That's the type of response you need in a moment like that. And then we just didn't get it. We couldn't get them stopped on the last one. I did. Yeah, I did. I just. Like I said, my confidence level in those guys and where we were at in the game. From a standpoint of, you know, if we don't get it, you know, what that looks like with them immediately getting points or being in the scoring range. If we do get it, you know, the circumstances are obviously, you know, very easy to look at it as a, you know, shoulda, coulda, woulda type situation. But I was – where we were at on the field more so, you know, was played into a decision of – You know, of punting that ball away and trusting the fact that between the kicking game phase and getting a stop there, we would get one more out. Kevin, just the run game, does it feel offensively when it just doesn't feel like we're getting an offense? Yeah, and we're trying to avoid, you know, being in a situation where we're, you know, setting ourselves up for third and longers. And, you know, they do some things schematically, you know, playing their base defensive group versus your 11 group, which, you know, can limit some of the things that you want to do, but at the same time set you up to maybe focus in the, you know, your own bigger groupings and marry up some plays from there. Thank That's where, to me, those early down. You know, completion, you know, chunk kind of plays where we don't have to hold the ball very long. We've got people running through some zones and and, you know, we pitch you and catch those and activate some of our playmakers run after catch. very You have a chance now to kind of flip flip how you're being played. But, yeah, you know, obviously, Kyler, a couple of Kyler's runs much. were were positive for the overall element of it. But it did feel, you know, you know, at times like it was. You know, tough sledding in there, and you're just trying not to set yourself up to play. We only had 10 third downs, which was good because I think the 8 or 10 explosives that we did have kind of offset some of the high volume of third downs that we've seen in some of the games earlier on this season. But ultimately, you know, we've got to take a look at it and find the perfect balance to be able to run it. We want to run it. And then activate, you know, activate our, you know, our best players on the perimeter are Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and those guys can change football games. We've got to find a way to do that. Thank you guys for having me. What do you need to do to get Kyle at a point where the timing is such that the ball can tell if he hits those things? Yeah, I don't necessarily think it has much to do with timing, because we tie the rhythm of the quarterback, whatever action it's off of, or if it's just a straight drop back, or we're moving him off the spot in the movement game, those things are all tied into. Having him set ready to throw when we want to pull the trigger. Sometimes there's a level of anticipation there in some of those zones, throwing it in between underneath players as Justin runs in behind. When we do get to the top shelf, getting the ball down the field like he did to Jordan over the top of it. Had a chance early on, we talked about in the game, that those are the ones you just want them to be aggressive and you want to have a completion mindset. They defend the deep part of the field. There's going to be some completions there in rhythm. And then also his ability to activate his athleticism has been a positive thing for us. Now we've just got to figure out what that balance looks like and activate those things with consistency. And then you try to build momentum from there.