Summer has come and gone, but across the pond "it feels like summer camp."

Amidst an historic double-legged leap to Dublin and then London that has enabled Minnesota to become the first NFL team with games on different foreign soils in back-to-back weeks, Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell sensed the significance and reminded his players to "enjoy the heck out of it."

"I just have come to a realization that these types of trips, especially if you've got the right kind of resources and people around you, they're just an incredibly positive experience. And our players, you know, they look at it as an opportunity," O'Connell said. "Especially the way we practiced today; the energy, it was [a] really good Friday practice for us, and we just try to keep attacking it, and attacking it in a way of how fortunate we are to get to be one of the teams that gets to play in Dublin and at a historical venue in front of great fans – both fans of our team, fans of the Steelers, just NFL fans in general. Take a lot of pride in getting to continue to grow the NFL game and our brand of football for the whole world."

While it's cliché – clichés, of course, stand the test of time and are so overused because they're true – O'Connell shared with a flock of Irish and American media the importance of a singular focus. As carefully planned as possible, Minnesota is trying to treat its overseas venture like a typical game week.

"I've been kind of looking at it like two completely separate entities and opportunities, and I know it's easy to say, 'Oh, that's the old coaching cliché of 'one game at a time,' but when you do these trips … you've got to over-communicate. You've got to educate your players. You've got to let them know the things that you're thinking about and the things that you're going to provide, and the 'why' behind how we're going to do things, and down to the smallest of details, because then we have really smart players.

"We get what we emphasize, and they understand the picture," O'Connell continued. "Everything that's in our control, we've got to be attacking it positively. … And then anything outside of our control, you've got to be flexible, and you've got to be willing to adjust and adapt and still keep the main thing the main thing of playing a football game against a really good team on Sunday. And then it's hard for me to even talk about – but next week will be next week and it'll be a totally different week of preparation, and we'll do the same level of education and dialogue and communication, so that they can attack that one too."

Here are four more takeaways from O'Connell's discussions with international and Twin Cities media:

1. Respect for Mike Tomlin

Football's current longest-tenured head coach has never endured a losing season.

The 53-year-old Tomlin has gone 18 years in a row at or above .500, with double-digit wins in 11, one or more playoff games in 12, seven division titles, two AFC Championships and a victory in Super Bowl XLIII.

Translation: The former Vikings defensive coordinator (2006) is elite at his job; his 185 regular-season wins rank 12^th all-time and his .631 winning percentage is T-25^th with late Packers coach Curly Lambeau.

Beyond the on-field success, Tomlin has gained a reputation in multiple decades for his no-nonsense, character-driven approach. He's to the Steelers as much of a face of the franchise as superstar players have become to other organizations. Unsurprisingly, he has attracted universal admiration from coaches.

"I think it starts with the person," O'Connell noted when asked about Tomlin. "He's as genuine and as charismatic and as, you know, I think galvanizing of a leader in our league. I've always just respected the fact – one of the things that I view as very important for me to be the type of head coach that I want to be and I have to be, is being authentic. And I think Mike Tomlin is as authentic as anybody in our league.

"Being himself and leading as somebody with unbelievable leadership skills like he has, he makes it look easy at times, and it's not," added O'Connell, whose .667 winning percentage ranks 15^th in history. "And that's where, just as a young coach, you take a lot from a guy like him, and then you get to the football side – how they play. They're a very tough team. They're prepared physically. They always seem to run the football well; they always seem to have the ability to be physical on defense, stop the run, and tilt the scales in their favor. And then they do the little things right, whether it's blocking kicks in the kicking game, [creating] turnovers, tackling. They do a lot of things at a really high level that are tried and true."

2. Confidence in Carson Wentz

Wentz made his first start for the Vikings a mere 28 days on the job.

That's about as long as some employers require their new hires to train under supervision. Obviously, the NFL and professional sports as a whole are a unique beast – fast and furious, and often spilling over with adversity. Wentz handled his debut as well as imaginable, though, and is doing all the right things.

Although the newness is apparent in some areas, such as Wentz throwing passes to Jordan Addison for the first time Wednesday, the veteran's experience overall also is obvious. O'Connell reasoned that Wentz's smarts and success he's had across his journey "applying principles of playing football and playing the position a certain way" have smoothed his transition from the couch to the gridiron now.

He's "able to apply a lot of his background and reps that he's had in totally different offenses but find ways to connect some things together so that reps and experience he's had maybe will apply to certain things here," O'Connell said of the 32-year-old quarterback. "And then I think it's our job to try to do some things to provide him with comfort and clarity. I thought he was efficient [against Cincinnati]. I thought his lower-body mechanics were really repeatable and consistent, which then allowed him to play that kind of point guard position, put the ball in play and make some plays – kind of run the show."

Wentz's 129.8 passer rating in last week's rout of the Bengals marked his highest since Week 9 of the 2021 slate, when he quarterbacked Indianapolis to a 45-30 win over the Jets with 272 passing yards and three touchdowns. He only attempted 20 passes in his Vikings debut, but savored them, completing 14.

O'Connell said Wentz capitalized on first-string reps he received in Week 2 when J.J. McCarthy missed one practice to attend the birth of his son: "He's been able to duplicate that and continue to grow from there. So, all the confidence in the world and in Carson and the group he's going to have around him."

3. Ryan Kelly's impact

O'Connell told Vikings beat reporters he learned his lesson last year in Los Angeles; he was taken aback by the Rams raucous crowd, expecting a little less noisy of an environment that wound up as a challenge.

(For years, Los Angeles' stadium has been notorious for filling up with fans and colors of visiting teams.)

Accordingly, the Vikings aren't treating Sunday at Croke Park like a neutral-site game. They're preparing as if they were playing in Pittsburgh, anticipating a hostile crowd and plenty of "Terrible Towels" waving.

It's positive news then that Kelly, a four-time Pro Bowl center with a full season of previous experience snapping to Wentz, is back in the mix and ready to help shush Sunday's loudness and anchor the offense.

O'Connell also expressed a great deal of belief in what Blake Brandel can do subbing in for first-round rookie Donovan Jackson, who is on the mend after undergoing surgery for a wrist injury early this week. Brandel held the fort down at left guard in 2024 and played his best before Christian Darrisaw got hurt.

"I thought Michael Jurgens did a really nice job stepping in [last week for Kelly] and really showed some growth from the last time he had played," O'Connell said. "But it still always gives you comfort knowing you've got Ryan in there. Him and Carson have a really great dynamic from their previous time together. I think it probably gives Carson ultra confidence knowing he's got R.K. in there. And then we'll see how a new group of five [offensive linemen perform]. We're really trending toward that time where we get all five of those original guys out there, but if you're going to have anybody step in, I couldn't have more confidence in Blake after his experiences last year, specifically, during the time that (No.) 71 (Darrisaw) was in there next to him. Now he gets to play next to 71 and Ryan Kelly, so I think he's excited about it."

4. J.J. McCarthy update

O'Connell spoke in depth with traveling Vikings beat reporters about McCarthy's status.

Firstly, the coach was curious how the young quarterback's ankle would respond to the long flight; he wants McCarthy to get through the weekend on his normal rehabilitation schedule. O'Connell shared McCarthy will "truly be day-to-day" next week in London and hopes to ramp up his work around then.

"We want him taking drops and experiencing getting the feel back for the consistency of where he had his fundamentals and technique coming out of training camp," O'Connell said about the possibility of McCarthy practicing on a limited basis next week, adding he hasn't considered anything more than that.

McCarthy will be exposed to the offensive game-planning as usual.

O'Connell stressed he wants to get him completely healthy because mobility is key to how he plays.

"I think he moves a lot better than people give him credit for, especially when he is healthy. And then it also has an application to his ability to be as accurate as he can possibly be, being that it's his plant foot, drive foot, whatever you want to call it," O'Connell said. "It's not going to be just OK to just be close, because then you risk, obviously, a setback, or him taking more reps when he's not truly 100 percent."

The high-ankle sprain that McCarthy fought through late in the game against Atlanta but forced him out of action against Cincinnati hasn't slowed down his progress from a mental standpoint. O'Connell retold how the 22-year-old was texting him after the rout last weekend to share his impression of the offense.

"I spent an hour on Sunday night texting back and forth with [J.J.], and finally I just called him," he said. "I'm like, 'Dude, I've got four kids' – a phone call sometimes helps me go in the other room, versus just my wife asking me why I'm on my phone so much: 'I'm texting J.J.!' … A lot of that was triggered by him – of just, 'Hey, man, watching that was really cool for me to see what it can be like.' And, specifically, after playing two games, this isn't like – we're not still talking about 2024 where it's 'Hey, watch and learn.'

"This is experience, you know, have the club in your hand, and then you're just not the first guy on the tee box, but your swing is coming soon," O'Connell explained. "I think that was the cool thing. It wasn't like I went into it like, 'Hey, J.J., here's what I want you to take out of it.' I wanted to organically see what [he thought about] how Sunday went for Carson, both the things he did well, the things that we maybe could have been better at, play calls I could have been better at, and just kind of see the full circle. And then I just loved how engaged he was with Carson, with the quarterbacks, with the whole unit; you can see him on Isaiah Rodgers' touchdown return. A couple times I looked at him like he's almost at a jog."

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