There’s no doubt that the Minnesota Vikings have one of the best coaching staffs in the NFL heading into the 2025 season. Head coach and offensive guru Kevin O’Connell is the league’s reigning coach of the year, and he’s complemented on the other side of the ball by elite defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who is a former head coach himself.
According to at least one analyst, it’s the best coaching staff in the entire league. ESPN’s Ben Solak recently put O’Connell and the Vikings atop his ranking of all 32 staffs, which is largely focused on each team’s trio of head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator. The Vikings jumped up nine spots from Solak’s list last year, when they were tenth.
Here’s what he wrote:
“When I ranked the Vikings in this exercise last season, I sang the praises of Flores, the defensive coordinator who had done the most with the least in 2023. But I wondered if O’Connell, another branch off the Shanahan-McVay tree, could innovate and evolve beyond the tried-and-true system he had run with Kirk Cousins to that point. What could he offer a younger quarterback in need of development? The answer: a whole lot! Not necessarily to the quarterback we expected, as Sam Darnold started the entire season in J.J. McCarthy’s absence — but what a season it was. O’Connell’s mastery is in opening intermediate and downfield passing windows. Darnold had more passing attempts at least 10 yards downfield than any other quarterback, and NFL Next Gen Stats charted those targets with an average separation of 2.7 yards —fifth highest in the league. O’Connell has easily leaped into that utmost echelon of offensive designers, and Flores remains the cream of the defensive crop. There are always little things to wonder about — scheming for a rookie is different from scheming for a veteran, even if that veteran had never been successful elsewhere — but there is no doubt that O’Connell & Co. elevate players more than any other coaching staff in football.”
It’s hard to argue with that. Through three seasons, O’Connell has proven to be both an outstanding offensive mind and an excellent leader of the Vikings’ franchise from a people standpoint. He’s gotten strong quarterback play out of Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold, not to mention flashes from Josh Dobbs and Nick Mullens. He puts his players in positions to succeed. Now, the task is to help J.J. McCarthy thrive — and to win a playoff game after going 0-2 in that area over three seasons full of regular season success.
Flores is also a big part of the Vikings’ placement here. He’s proven himself to be among the best, most innovative defensive coaches in the league, so the Vikings are frankly pretty fortunate that he hasn’t gotten a head coaching gig in either of the past two offseasons (which almost certainly has something to do with Flores’ ongoing lawsuit against the league).
Those are the two coaches that matter most, but there are plenty of others on the Vikings’ staff who deserve recognition. Wes Phillips (OC), Josh McCown (QBs), Keenan McCardell (WRs), Brian Angelichio (TEs/passing game coordinator) and Chris Kuper (OL) are among O’Connell’s key delegates on offense. Daronte Jones is Flores’ lead assistant on defense, while Marcus Dixon and Mike Siravo are important position coaches. Mike Pettine is a former NFL head coach who is now one of O’Connell’s lead assistants.
It’s an excellent coaching staff — perhaps the best in the league.