2. Kevin O'Connell has been outspoken about franchises failing quarterbacks more than the other way around. Here's the part you might have missed.
With so much focus on quarterback development, offensive play callers and schemes, it's easy to overlook a long-established fact: A strong defense is a quarterback's best friend, no matter how old the QB happens to be.
The Vikings won their first game with backup quarterback Carson Wentz in the lineup Sunday. On this day, they might have beaten the Joe Burrow-less Bengals if O'Connell himself had lined up behind center.
Cornerback Isaiah Rodgers scored two return touchdowns for a defense that produced 33.3 EPA, most for the Vikings in any of their 422 total games since 2000. The defensive effort by Minnesota in its 48-10 victory over Cincinnati placed a giant exclamation point on one of the leading reasons the Vikings have not failed their quarterbacks in recent seasons: Their defense under coordinator Brian Flores has carried them.
O'Connell and Flores have won 23 games together. In those games, the Vikings' defense has totaled almost 20 times more EPA than the offense, per TruMedia. Talk about not failing your quarterbacks!
Of those 23 victories, 14 came with Sam Darnold in the lineup, four with Kirk Cousins, two with Joshua Dobbs and one apiece with Jaren Hall, J.J. McCarthy and Carson Wentz. The defense outperformed the offense from an EPA standpoint 16 times in those 23 Vikings victories.
"I believe organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations," O'Connell told "The Rich Eisen Show."
The Athletic used the quote in a recent piece about why so many quarterbacks fail.
Counting playoffs, O'Connell and Flores have lost 15 games together. In those games, there was much less separation between the offense (-67.3 EPA) and defense (-77.4), while the special teams were better (+11.7).
The Vikings will need their defense to travel, with four of their next five on the road, including games against Aaron Rodgers, Justin Herbert and Jared Goff. Their next two home games are against Philly and Baltimore.