Kevin O’Connell hopes to stay in Minnesota long term

Would you, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, want to sign an extension to stay in Minnesota?

“Yes,” O’Connell said Thursday, according to The Athletic.

And you, Vikings leaders, do you want to keep your current head coach in Minnesota beyond 2025, the fourth and final year of his contract?

They do…probably.

So says CBS NFL insider Jonathan Jones, who wrote Thursday that “the league-wide expectation, for months, was that the Vikings would extend (O’Connell) this offseason.” »

That expectation parallels what Jay Glazer reported on “Fox NFL Sunday” earlier in January — that several teams were considering trying to trade for O’Connell.

Now it looks like these teams may not get the chance.

Co-owner Mark Wilf told the Minnesota Star Tribune earlier in January that he was “looking forward to a great future” with O’Connell, 39, and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who is also entering the final year of his contract in 2025.

According to the Star Tribune, Minnesota’s ownership group intended to open discussions on contract extensions for the head coach and general manager during the upcoming offseason.

And while the offseason may have arrived earlier than Wilf and company expected, it doesn’t appear to have significantly altered their thinking.

After starting the season 5-0 and racking up 14 wins – the most for a Vikings team since 1998 – the 2024 campaign came to an abrupt and unceremonious end at the hands of Matthew Stafford and the Rams in the NFC wild-card round .

Nonetheless, O’Connell has already had an “excellent dialogue” with the owners, The Athletic reported.

Despite the disappointing end to 2024, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic in Minnesota.

One wears number 18 (Justin Jefferson) and, at just 25 years old, has all the assets to become one of the greatest receivers of all time.

Another, once he finishes rehabbing his knee, will wear number 9 (JJ McCarthy). Minnesotans hope for many more years.

And in O’Connell, the first coach in franchise history with multiple 13-win seasons, the Vikings might already have the man to lead them both — to lead the entire North Star State — to the Promised Land.

He’s 0-2 in the playoffs and hasn’t made the wild-card cut yet, but hope springs eternal.