The Vikings May Finally Be Embracing A Different Way To Win

The Minnesota Vikings saved their best football for the final five games of the 2025 season, finishing with a 9-8 record after entering December at 4-8. A more conservative offensive approach kept the ball out of J.J. McCarthy and Max Brosmer’s hands. Instead, the Vikings relied on the ground game and a defense that was playing out of its mind by the end of the season.

Unfortunately, the win streak meant almost nothing in the standings. The Vikings leapfrogged the Detroit Lions, finishing third place in the NFC North. As a result, they set themselves up to play a third-place schedule rather than a last-place one.

That may feel like a minuscule punishment, but Minnesota now faces the Washington Commanders, Indianapolis Colts, and San Francisco 49ers. Even one more loss in December would have instead set the Vikings up with the New York Giants, Tennessee Titans, and Arizona Cardinals.

As if that weren’t enough, Minnesota ended up with the 18th-overall pick in the NFL Draft, the final non-playoff slot. That’s notable for a team that had already been eliminated from playoff contention before playing the Dallas Cowboys in Week 15.

This may have left fans feeling they witnessed the most pointless winning streak ever, with the team gaining no advantage from changing its play style by the time it was too late. But Kevin O’Connell told KFAN’s Paul Allen after the scouting combine that the streak wasn’t for nothing.

There has been a frustration over the years that O’Connell doesn’t run the ball enough, especially in short-yardage situations. Yet the Vikings changed course, running more than they passed the ball in four of their final five games of 2025. The one game they threw more was Week 18 against the Green Bay Packers, when they officially threw 33 times (including two sacks) and ran 31 times.

That Minnesota leaned on the run not just for one game but for five suggests O’Connell may be more willing to surrender the passing game if needed than he may have previously believed. But that was enough to get the team over .500. Would he be willing to apply that moving forward, even with Kyler Murray under center?

Coaching staff changes and personnel acquisitions suggest a philosophy that leans on the running game more than before. The Vikings hired Frank Smith, who spent the past four seasons as the Miami Dolphins’ offensive coordinator under Mike McDaniel. The Dolphins averaged a league-high 5.1 yards per carry in 2023 and ranked 19th in rushing attempts in 2024, despite averaging four yards per carry, the fifth-worst in the league.

Even last year’s disastrous Miami team ranked fourth in yards per rushing attempt, suggesting that, whether successful or not, the Dolphins would lean on the running game. That doesn’t mean running as frequently as they did in the 1980s. Still, the Vikings could benefit from some stubborn playcalling in the run game.

Smith’s background in the offensive line is extensive. He was a three-year starting center for Ben Roethlisberger at Miami (Ohio). He then spent 10 seasons as an offensive line coach, with stints as tight ends coach for the Chicago Bears and Las Vegas Raiders from 2015 through 2020.

Minnesota also promoted Keith Carter to offensive line coach after firing Chris Kuper, who had served in the role since O’Connell was hired in 2022. Carter was an offensive line coach at small-school Redlands in 2007 and 2008 and the University of San Diego in 2010 and 2011.

Carter was an offensive quality control coach for the Seattle Seahawks in 2012 and 2013, when Marshawn Lynch helped Seattle win the Super Bowl in his second season. After a year coaching San Jose State’s offensive line, Carter was hired as the Atlanta Falcons’ assistant offensive line coach in 2015 and 2016. Atlanta ranked fifth in the NFL in rushing in 2016, nearly beating the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

The Titans hired Carter in 2018 to serve as their offensive line coach over the next five seasons, and he oversaw a rushing attack that ranked in the top six in yards per game in four of those years.

That suggests a philosophical shift for O’Connell. The draft reinforced it. Third-round tackle Caleb Tiernan is a better pass blocker than he is in the run (84.3 PFF pass-block grade in 2025, 59.7 run-block grade). But he stands over 6’7 ⅝” and 323 lbs., displaying his athleticism with a 35.5” vertical.

Perhaps Minnesota projects that his athletic profile can translate into their scheme and that he will become a better run blocker in the future. Ideally, he will be able to sit behind Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill as he hones his technique this year.

The Vikings then drafted Michigan tight end/fullback Max Bredeson in the fifth round. He’s a tenacious blocker who won’t go out for many passes, but is willing to move around the offensive backfield and act as an inline blocker to create rushing lanes. He ranked third on Michigan’s offense with a 78.1 run-blocking grade.

Finally, Minnesota was able to land speedy running back Demond Claiborne in the sixth round. Alec Lewis of The Athletic went on 9 to Noon and told Allen that some around the NFL refer to Claiborne as “Diet Coke De’Von Achane/Jahmyr Gibbs,” which almost sounds cooler than regular Achane or Gibbs.

The Dolphins drafted Achane in 2023, and he has run 544 times for 3,057 yards (an absurd 5.7 YPC average) and 22 touchdowns. If the Vikings can get anything close to Achane in Claiborne, they will have gotten a steal.

Last offseason, former general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said that the Vikings were building a team that could win different kinds of games.

“To win four [playoff] games, or however many you need to win the ultimate prize, you can get into different types of fights,” he said after the draft in April. “You don’t know what type of fight it’s going to be when you enter it. You want to have the type of roster, the type of schemes that will allow you to win any type of game.”

Ironically, Minnesota got over the hump of losing to Detroit by beating them 27-24 in Week 10, moving to 4-4. But instead of capitalizing on the victory, the Vikings lost their next four games.

Now, Minnesota isn’t just trying to build a roster that can win a variety of fights in 2026 and beyond. They’re trying to change the way they call a football game.

That doesn’t mean the Vikings won’t still try to get Justin Jefferson the football. Tyreek Hill caught 238 passes for 3,509 yards and 20 touchdowns with the Dolphins in 2022 and 2023. But a true emphasis on “marrying the run to the pass” may be mandatory moving forward, not just a phrase shared publicly but never put into practice.

The 2025 season was full of disappointment. Kevin O’Connell is doing what he can to make sure that the only bright spot of the season isn’t wasted in the future.