In a discussion of the NFL's best young head coaches, there's one proper place to start.

Kevin O'Connell was tabbed by The Associated Press as the 2024 Coach of the Year, after all. The 40-year-old got his flowers for steering the Vikings ship to 14 regular-season wins last year (their over/under for victories was set by Vegas at 8.5) and one shy of the top overall seed in the NFC playoffs.

His personal connection to the most important position on the field, quarterback, factored into former Vikings starter Sam Darnold's career revival, and his player-driven philosophy benefited a strong culture.

O'Connell, by and large, is succeeding at his job because he failed at his first one.

A third-round pick of New England in 2008, he was 4-for-6 passing with 23 yards in two games. He knows the pains of roster cutdowns because he was waived after one season and didn't appear in a game again.

"I don't think I'd be here now if it wasn't for what I experienced as a player," O'Connell told Yahoo! Sports. "That taught me what kind of head I would have wanted when I was going through [those struggles]."

Entering his fourth season as Minnesota's head coach, O'Connell was featured this week by Yahoo! Sports' Charles Robinson and Jori Epstein in their article highlighting 25 "game-changers" to watch in 2025.

The compilation of forceful figures in the football landscape expected to influence the league and its future range from a family QB dynasty (The Mannings) to seven-time Super Bowl champ and now minority owner of the Raiders, Tom Brady, two dual-threat quarterbacks, a slew of front office execs and a pair of coaches, who, ironically, call offensive and defensive plays for the same franchise – Minnesota.

That's right, third-year Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores was spotlighted in the story, too.

Robinson likened the path O'Connell is carving to one of his greatest influences: Rams Head Coach Sean McVay. The former's success has spanned seven years as an assistant, three at the helm, and involved superb quarterback play from Kirk Cousins, Sam Darnold, Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford and others.

Robinson called O'Connell a "virtuoso as a connector with both players and coaches" and credited him for quickly solidifying Minnesota's culture after some turmoil at the end of the Mike Zimmer era.

Flores has a similarly profound rapport with Vikings personnel. His defense is famous for its exotic blitzes and disguised coverages, but also for the freedom it grants the players to make schematic suggestions in meetings and try out ideas on the field. Flores leaves opposing play-callers "guessing a lot of the game."

Epstein wrote the following about Flores:

Ambitious play-calls flop when players aren't able to take their coaches' theories and implement them in practice. Flores seems to will swagger and toughness into his players, opposing play-callers believing Minnesota's defense has taken on Flores' fiery personality. And Flores leverages his personnel creatively.

Joshua Metellus and Andrew Van Ginkel are two examples of versatile Vikings defenders who Flores loves to take advantage of — by moving them around the formation and rotating their responsibilities.

Minnesota fielded a bottom-five scoring defense in two of the three seasons before Flores' arrival, Epstein noted. But in the two years since, his unit has swarmed offenses and leaped from 28th to fifth.

See the breakdown of 25 game-changers, plus Robinson teasing a deeper dive into O'Connell, here.

Ready or not

We're going to find out soon how J.J. McCarthy handles the bright lights of Monday Night Football.

Not to mention how he deals with his new role as Minnesota's unquestioned starting quarterback at 22 years old, about 12 months removed from a meniscus tear in his knee, guiding a roster ready to win now.

There's some external uncertainty linked to McCarthy as Sept. 8 approaches. But those within the Vikings walls know he is well equipped to perform at a high level and well prepared to lead O'Connell's complex, quarterback-friendly offense.

Steven Ruiz of The Ringer this week outlined the unprecedented nature of McCarthy's upcoming opportunity — to start for the Vikings in his sophomore NFL season following a year on the injured shelf.

Here is context from Ruiz, who recently visited Minnesota's training camp:

Three other quarterbacks drafted in the first round (since 2000) didn't take a single dropback during their rookie campaigns — Carson Palmer in 2003, Jason Campbell in 2005, and Jordan Love in 2020 — but they were healthy and presumably got reps on the practice field. McCarthy, who had to navigate the Vikings facility on a scooter last season (for a period in his recovery), had none of that. And when he starts his first NFL game in two weeks, a Monday-nighter in Chicago, he'll have only 27 preseason dropbacks under his belt. In terms of pro experience, he's arguably the rawest second-year starter in modern NFL history.

What McCarthy has put on tape in relatively brief exhibition appearances (he passed for a pair of touchdowns in his lone preseason test as a rookie and led a scoring drive in his only series this year) is positive. The issue, obviously, is the small sampling versus a "live" pro defense. Ruiz noted because success in the NFL is fleeting, the Vikings are taking a risk by entrusting McCarthy the keys to the team.

Ruiz wrote the following:

If McCarthy isn't ready to play, this will feel like a wasted year for a team that could be in championship contention with just above-average quarterback play. If he is ready, the Vikings could run away with the NFC North. That makes the second-year passer, who hasn't started a game that counts since he won a national championship with Michigan 19 months ago, one of the main characters of the 2025 season.

Hoisting the ultimate trophy at the college level solidified McCarthy's reputation as a winner. But his functioning in the Wolverines offense, under current Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, left some evaluators skeptical. The same doubts will be attached to his body of work until he silences them.

Ruiz pointed out that McCarthy took the fewest dropbacks (380 across 15 games) in his final college season of any of the six quarterbacks selected in the first round last year. Jayden Daniels took the second fewest, 425, in three fewer games. In short, the playmaking onus of Harbaugh's team was not on the QB.

McCarthy was an attractive prospect — and No. 10 pick — for many reasons, though: apparent arm strength; great athleticism; experience in a pro-style system; and mature decision-making to list a few.

One area he's worked diligently to improve is throwing with touch. He was a "one-speed-pitch kind of guy" at Michigan by his own admission. A stark difference between the college game and NFL is needing to layer passes over defenders. It's why McCarthy has focused on that skill in practice — and progressed.

Ruiz witnessed McCarthy's strides when the team hosted New England for joint practices in camp. In the first session, Ruiz observed McCarthy make a number of "poorly placed passes and throws into coverage." He self-corrected, however, and "lit up" the Patriots in red-zone and 2-minute drills on Day 2.

McCarthy's readiness for the bright lights doesn't change his circumstances, Ruiz concluded.

The Vikings put together a comprehensive plan to ensure that 2024 wasn't a lost year for McCarthy, but there's no substitute for getting out on the field and playing football. McCarthy has given his coaches and teammates every reason to believe he's ready for the challenge that awaits him in 2025. They've seen the work he puts in to understand the offense. They've seen how that's translated to the practice field, where he's emerged as a team leader. The one thing they haven't seen is how it will look when McCarthy takes the field in a game that counts — and how much this past year has prepared him for the real thing.

You can read Ruiz's piece on McCarthy here.

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