Vikings' Kevin O'Connell Wins 2024-25 NFL Coach of the Year Award over Campbell, Reid

Kevin O'Connell has won the NFL's Coach of the Year award after leading the Minnesota Vikings to 14 wins, doubling the team's victory total from 2023.

This year's COY race was a close contest between O'Connell and Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell, but KOC won in the end. He also bested fellow finalists Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs, Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos and Dan Quinn of the Washington Commanders.

Last year's Vikings went 7-10 during an injury-riddled season that saw quarterback Kirk Cousins lost for the year after eight games with a torn Achilles and superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson miss seven games with a hamstring issue.

This year's Vikings went into the season with a new quarterback in Sam Darnold, who was expected to serve as bridge quarterback to rookie J.J. McCarthy. Darnold was firmly entrenched as the year's QB1, however, when McCarthy suffered a torn meniscus in a preseason game.

Darnold was once the expected cornerstone franchise player with the New York Jets, who selected the ex-USC star with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft. He was gone by 2021 after three uneven seasons, and his chance to start with the Carolina Panthers then fell by the wayside after 16 games over 2021 and 2022. Following a year as Brock Purdy's backup in San Francisco, Darnold found himself in Minnesota.

Minnesota proceeded to finish ninth in scoring, averaging 25.4 points per game. Darnold enjoyed a career year, throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns.

The Vikings' defense excelled as well, finishing fifth in scoring. Minnesota held its opponents to seven or fewer points on three different occasions.

The Vikings rolled off five straight wins to start the year. After a two-game losing streak, Minnesota then had a nine-game win streak to move to 14-2.

That set up a battle with the Detroit Lions for the NFC North title and the conference's No. 1 seed. Minnesota fell short before eventually losing to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Wild Card round.

However, this was still an excellent regular season for Minnesota, and O'Connell was at the forefront of it.

The former Rams offensive coordinator has coached Minnesota for three seasons. His first year was a success as well, as Minnesota improved from 8-9 to 13-4 and won the NFC North.

The future is bright in Minnesota with O'Connell in town, and now he has some hardware showcasing the respect for his work.