EAGAN, Minn. — To cut to the chase, Kevin O'Connell wants to retain Brian Flores.

Four days after the Vikings notched their fourth consecutive win, Minnesota's head coach met with members of the media to recap the festive drubbing of Detroit and preview Week 18 and the opportunity to finish the slate 9-8, which would be significant since the team was 4-8 one month ago.

In between questions about the quarterback and why winning in December matters without a ticket to the postseason dance, O'Connell discussed his defensive coordinator, who has transformed that side of the ball into a devastating unit and is being touted as a hot name in the forthcoming coaching carousel.

O'Connell noted they've shared recent dialogue, and things are in a "really positive place right now."

" Flo' knows I love him. He was the guy three years ago that I identified to bring in here, and the growth and just our relationship and what he's meant to me personally is so massive," O'Connell said. "That's not even taking into account what he's been able to do defensively for our team. Been such a huge part of helping us daily, minute-to-minute kind of weather the different storms we had to navigate this year.

"I absolutely want Brian Flores to be the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings as long as we can have him," he added. "I would say this, I do know that he's demonstrated a lot of things that, having gone through the process of the head coach hiring process before, myself, I imagine he's going to be a pretty popular guy there as well — and rightly so, he's earned everything. [But] that doesn't take away from the route we want to go to make sure he's our defense coordinator for the foreseeable future."

O'Connell said he doesn't anticipate Flores leaving to become the defensive coordinator for another team "based upon my dialogue with him and, obviously, the enthusiasm and the want-to for us to get something done," but recognized the timing of that discourse, with the end of the season days away.

"I know he enjoys being here. I know he and I, just from our recent ​​dialogue, that he feels very similar about me that I do with him," O'Connell continued. "Hopefully I can come to this podium and say, 'He's going to be here for as long as we can keep him here before another team makes him their head coach.'"

Here are four other takeaways from O'Connell's session with Twin Cities reporters:

1. On the injury front

O'Connell didn't delve into a QB decision for Sunday's season finale against Green Bay but pointed out there are several options behind starter J.J. McCarthy if the hairline fracture in his throwing hand doesn't heal enough. O'Connell said some swelling has gone down since the Dec. 21 injury, and McCarthy is progressing, but gripping the football will be the real test once the team returns to practice Wednesday.

If McCarthy can't make his 10^th career start, Minnesota could rely again on rookie Max Brosmer, who became the first player ever to be sacked 7-plus times and finish with fewer than 70 pass yards in a win.

The Vikings could also pivot to 30-year-old John Wolford, who has been a "snap away" on several occasions since joining the club in late October, or even turn to Brett Rypien, 29, who served as the team's No. 3 QB last year and was claimed off waivers from the Colts two days before hosting the Lions.

Elsewhere, starters Brian O'Neill, T.J. Hockenson, Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones, Sr., are banged up.

Additionally, O'Connell doesn't foresee undrafted rookie Myles Price being available for Week 18, and a couple hours after his session, undrafted rookie defensive lineman Elijah Williams was placed on Injured Reserve. Price was injured returning the opening kickoff Christmas Day, and Williams played six snaps on defense before each suffered ankle injuries. The latter played 42 snaps overall and 29 on special teams.

2. Price-less UDFA impact

Sixteen games and 87 combined kick and punt returns for 1,777 yards.

For anyone, that's an unbelievable impact. And for an undrafted free agent, it's nearly unprecedented.

Two NFL players passed by in the draft have outshined Price in the return phase through 16 games in their first seasons: Chris Carr (1,938 return yards, 2005) and B.J. Sams (1,826, 2004). That's it — the full list.

Price wasn't perfect for the Vikings, but he was electric. He averaged 9.9 yards on an NFL-high 30 punt returns, good for the best average by a Vikings punt-return man since Marcus Sherels in 2018 (12.0; min. 10 returns). Also, Price logged more than 130 total return yards in seven games, smashing the old record by a Viking — Eddie Payton (1980) Percy Harvin (2009) and Cordarrelle Patterson (2013) each tallied four.

Price was a dual-threat, and he quickly established himself as one of the best such players in the league. Titans fourth-round rookie Chimere Dike is the standalone returner with more 130-plus-yard games than Price in 2025 (9).

"I can remember when 'Hat' (Special Teams Coordinator Matt Daniels) and D.G. (Assistant Special Teams Coach Dalmin Gibson) came to me pre-draft and saved some clips and made sure I got a chance to watch him, and then talked to him before kind of that undrafted free-agent process started," O'Connell said of Price. "And he's been everything we had hoped and more back there.

"Even that return that he got hurt on the other day, there was a little space there. And we had talked a lot about not only winning the special teams phase in that game, but had a chance for one right there," O'Connell continued. "Unfortunately, those things happen from time-to-time, but it doesn't take away from anything Myles has been able to accomplish and (I) feel really strongly about him and his future — not only just as a returner, but just as he continues to grow and get better and better at the receiver position and compete to get on the field there as well."

Beyond his featured returner role, Price logged 17 snaps on offense as a rookie, with 10 coming in Week 3 against Cincinnati.

3. Proud of Brosmer's response in tough circumstances

Brosmer made his second career start last week, stepping in for an injured McCarthy and leading the huddle en route to Minnesota's Christmas defeat of Detroit.

The Vikings struggled to find a groove in the passing game, but Brosmer protected the football and responded to challenges with calmness — both of which are things O'Connell doesn't take for granted.

"We were down some guys up front, and they (the Lions) had their full group in the front seven there for the better part of the game," O'Connell said of Brosmer. "There were times where, could he have pulled the trigger? There were some things we could've — a throw here and there — we could have made, but I thought Max [understood] the way the game was going and having that veteran feel of, 'Hey, I'm going to do what's required to win this game.' "

O'Connell noted he and the coaching staff had decided "pretty early on" that with the way Minnesota's defense was playing and also receiving complementary play from special teams, they would opt for more conservative play offensively.

"If the plays came to us, great, but we weren't going to force a lot of things," O'Connell said. "It doesn't always look the way you want in any way, shape or form on the stat sheet. But we've had plenty of games this year where maybe the stat sheet ended up looking better, and what was the win-loss final? That's where I was proud of the way he managed the game."

O'Connell also tipped his cap to Brosmer's late-game throw to Justin Jefferson to keep the drive alive and force Detroit to use its timeouts.

"For him to make that play in the moment, I thought that was a big-time play by Max," he said.

4. Stacking wins in December

The Vikings have been playing well during the season's fourth quarter, having won four straight entering their final game.

Minnesota has already been eliminated from postseason contention, and an improving record will drop the team in draft order. But O'Connell and the Vikings are focused on winning here and now, plain and simple.

"I think anytime as an organization, when you get 17 opportunities, I just believe you do everything in your power to win every single one of those opportunities along the way," O'Connell said. "I think we're going to look back on moments throughout the season where, 'Hey, it could have been different if…' but our jobs for this week are to go out there in a divisional game — we get a chance to finish with a winning record in one of the most competitive divisions in football."

O'Connell has emphasized the importance of winning in December, something the team hasn't always excelled at under his tutelage. So regardless of missing the playoffs, it's important to stack positive plays and games this month. The Vikings lost their final three games of December 2023 but have now won nine consecutive in the month (5-0 in 2024 and 4-0 in 2025).

"We set out on this journey when, you know, it was some pretty dark times a few weeks back, and I laid out the challenge to our team. I laid out the challenge to our coaching staff to navigate this the right way," O'Connell said. "And we're all going to learn a lot from it when we do. And my belief was we would, and to their credit, they've answered the challenge."

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