Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings will be on the road on Monday night as they look to get revenge against the Rams in the best way possible: a playoff win. They lost their regular season matchup, but now everything is on the line in the NFL’s Wild Card round.
For Kevin O’Connell especially, he has more on the line than just a win or a loss to be added to his record.
In his lone playoff appearance as Vikings head coach, O’Connell suffered a home loss to the New York Giants and current Vikings quarterback Daniel Jones. The potential coach of the year winner is expected to have contract extension talks this Summer with the team. Ben Goessling of Star Tribune spoke about the topic on his podcast.
“. . .The thing I would say is, playoff games have major effects on optics, on narratives, on legacies, things that owners weigh when they’re making decisions about who to pay going into the future…. If Kevin O’Connell goes into discussions with the Wilfs, which they’re going to have after the season, 0-2 in the playoffs, I think that’s a different discussion than, hey, y’all haven’t won a lot of playoff games around here.”
Goessling brings a good point to this discussion. No one doubts whether or not O’Connell deserves an extension; it’s a matter of how much the pay raise is. A loss and tough negotiations could also make the situation Jay Glazer of Fox Sports talked about, where a team could try to trade for him, possible.
Fans shouldn’t worry, yet, as we have a lot of time between now and any extension becoming official. It is just a matter of shining a light on the financial importance of a win for Kevin O’Connell as well as on-the-field importance.