Near the end of Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell’s media availability Wednesday, I ventured into more of a 30,000-foot view of the team.
My question: There’s a lot of season left, but it’s safe to say that at this point the Vikings have exceeded external expectations. What were those of us who tried to predict this team missing at the start of the year that you maybe liked?
O’Connell could have spiked the football, so to speak, and taken the opportunity to strut around or say “I told you so.”
But I didn’t expect that, nor did he do that. Instead, he gave the sort of nuanced and process-driven answer that has benefitted the Vikings greatly in their approach already this year. I talked about it more detail on Thursday’s “Daily Delivery” podcast.
“The greatest thing about this league is we get to roll a ball out for four quarters and figure it out together,” O’Connell said, adding that he didn’t read or listen to a lot of preseason predictions. “Sometimes we figure those things out on a little bit different timetable than maybe you guys do. I luckily get the opportunity to have a lot of moments where I get to talk to the team long before the first result, second, third or fourth, whatever it is.
“And I tried to get out in front of this with my confidence, with the team feeling their confidence, and then see if we could trigger that as far as preparation, being totally focused on every day we get to work together and be prepared for when the first time we get to compete guys can ... take that confidence in what we could be and start turning it into a reality.”
Before the year started, ESPN’s Football Power Index predicted the Vikings would win 6.8 games and suggested they had about a 15% chance of making the playoffs. That same model now projects 11.1 wins and an 83.7% chance at the postseason.
Preseason over-under wagering totals fell along those pessimistic lines as well. Seven Star Tribune writers weighed in with preseason record predictions. Five of us (myself included) predicted seven wins or fewer and Andrew Krammer was the most optimistic of all of us with a 9-8 record.