Bud Grant, whose Hall of Fame career began with four straight losses, once joked that his advice to new head coaches would be to temper expectations by not winning too quickly.
After a stellar Vikings debut, what's in store for Kevin O'Connell in Week 2?
The 37-year-old posted one of the cleanest, most successful debuts by a head coach in Vikings history. Only two new Vikings coaches have won their first two games.
September 15, 2022 at 12:24AM
If Kevin O'Connell was given that tongue-in-cheek advice, he sure as heck didn't listen. The 37-year-old rookie just posted one of the cleanest, most successful debuts by a head coach in Vikings history.
In fact, let's rank it No. 2 among the 10 fellas who have coached the Purple. Sorry, Mike Zimmer, but KOC has moved ahead of you again, bumping you to No. 3 on a list whose top spot was forever retired on Sept. 17, 1961, when Norm Van Brocklin, fresh off winning the 1960 MVP award as Philadelphia's quarterback, led an expansion team to a 37-13 win over George Halas, one of the NFL's founding fathers, and his Chicago Bears at Met Stadium.
Six coaches have won their Vikings debut. Besides Van Brocklin's legendary start, the happy head coaches were:
Denny Green in 1992. The new sheriff went to Green Bay and beat the Packers 23-20. Green Bay was coming off a 4-12 season and was playing Game 1 of the Brett Favre era.
Brad Childress in 2006. He inherited a 9-7 team, took it to Washington and won 19-16 on "Monday Night Football."
Leslie Frazier in 2010. He was named interim head coach when Childress was fired after a 31-3 home loss to the Packers dropped the Vikings to 3-7. Six days later, Frazier won 19-16 at Washington. With the interim tag removed, Frazier lost his first four games to start the 2011 season.
Zimmer in 2014. Inheriting a 5-10-1 team that finished last in points allowed (30.0) in 2013, Zimmer went to St. Louis and punished the Rams 34-6.
O'Connell on Sunday. Touting a fresh, modern, Sean McVay-way approach to the profession, O'Connell's results matched all the rhetoric in a 23-7 home-crowd-pleasing win over a Packers team touting three straight 13-win seasons and two-time defending league MVP in Aaron Rodgers.
O'Connell was the first coach in his Vikings debut to oversee a team that committed fewer than four penalties (three for 20 yards), didn't turn the ball over and had at least two takeaways on defense.
A day later, he said he never felt overwhelmed by the magnitude of his first game as head coach.
"For me, I just felt prepared," he said. "I felt the trust level with the guys on the field. I know calling the offense there really wasn't a time when I didn't feel like I was a play or two ahead. I never really felt like situationally there was too much going on."
Leaguewide, first-time head coaches went 4-1 in Week 1. Chicago's Matt Eberflus beat the 49ers as a seven-point underdog. Miami's Mike McDaniel took down Bill Belichick. The Giants' Brian Daboll upset the Titans in Tennessee. And Denver's Nathaniel Hackett wore the rookie class' dunce cap after some clock-management issues and questionable end-of-game decisions in a loss at Seattle on Monday night.
Next up for O'Connell's Vikings: Monday night in Philadelphia against the 1-0 Eagles. Should the Vikings win, O'Connell would join only Childress and Frazier as newbies who started 2-0. Childress won 16-13 in overtime at Carolina. Frazier, as interim, returned to the Metrodome and beat Buffalo 38-14.
No new Vikings coach has ever started 3-0. Only two have posted winning seasons: Jerry Burns in 1986 (9-7) and Green in 1992 (11-5). Only Green made the playoffs, where he went one and done.
As for the No. 1 guy on this list of best Purple debuts, well, Van Brocklin lost his next seven and finished 3-11.
As for the now-No. 3 guy on this list, Zimmer's debut euphoria didn't last beyond the following Friday when his best player, Adrian Peterson, was indicted on child abuse charges and ended up not playing again that season.
So Zimmer's Week 2 that year went this way:
1. A 30-7 blowout loss to the Patriots at TCF Bank Stadium.
2. An opening postgame statement by Zim saying he wouldn't talk about Adrian until the following day.
3. Reporters ignoring Zim's opening statement repeatedly until ...
4. Zim snapped and became perhaps the first coach in NFL history to demand reporters to refocus their attention on a 23-point loss.
"Let's talk about the game," Zimmer said. "Do you want to talk about the game?"
So, you see, young KOC, things can change quite drastically from week to week in this league. Here's hoping your Week 2 Friday goes better than Zimmer's did eight years ago.
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.
