In every season since Kevin O’Connell took over as head coach for the Minnesota Vikings, he’s fired off a five-game win streak or more.
The Minnesota Vikings saved their season in Week 9 by beating the Detroit Lions, and a classic Kevin O’Connell tactic could be on the way.
Few expected Minnesota to take down Detroit last Sunday, but it did, and with that out of the way, one can’t rule out O’Connell’s patented tactic: a season-changing win streak.
Kevin O’Connell’s Classic Win Streak Cannot Be Ruled Out
The win over the Lions might’ve changed everything.
The Examples in 2022, 2023, and 2024
In 2022, his first year in charge, O’Connell won seven consecutive games, a win streak kickstarted in Week 3 after a win over — you guessed it — the Lions. The Vikings won a thriller in Buffalo that November, running the winning streak to seven games before faceplanting the following week at home against the Dallas Cowboys.
A year later, O’Connell confirmed his ways. Minnesota was left for dead at 1-4 after losing at home to the Kansas City Chiefs, sending fans to mock draft simulators and melancholy. But the Vikings started winning in Week 6 of that season, even weathering the storm of Kirk Cousins’ Achilles rupture. O’Connell won five straight before Joshua Dobbs Mania cooled off.
Then, in 2024, Minnesota won the first five games of the season against a daunting schedule, faltered against the Lions and Rams, and later won nine straight before collapsing on the grandest stages of the season.
Every year, O’Connell authors at least one five-game winning streak. It’s clockwork.
The Hard Part Is Out of the Way
If one had forecasted a week ago that Minnesota would chip off Detroit for an upset and then contemplate a winning spurt, the theory would’ve been dismissed and labeled zany. That’s how formidable the Lions were entering Week 9, but the Vikings defeated them anyway.
So, the hard part is done. Snapping a three-year losing streak against Detroit wasn’t supposed to happen, according to oddsmakers, but O’Connell and friends did it anyway.
The framework has been laid. Beat the Lions — and pop off several wins consecutively. It’s what O’Connell does.
The Next Handful of Games
For curious minds, these are Minnesota’s next four games, which could coincide with the dub streak theory:
- vs. Baltimore Ravens
- vs. Chicago Bears
- at Green Bay Packers
- at Seattle Seahawks
Minnesota will see Lamar Jackson for the first time since 2021. Won’t be easy. The Bears are beatable, but they’ll play better than they did in Week 1 when the Vikings prevailed. At Green Bay is never fun, but O’Connell has recently had the Packers’ number. And then at the end of November, the world will watch the J.J. McCarthy vs. Sam Darnold Bowl.
Not easy, but there’s a path to win the next four.
Beat the Ravens?
The Ravens played like rubbish to start the season, and then Jackson fell injured for several weeks. Of course, he’s back, and Baltimore will hope to effectuate a winning streak of its own.
But the fact remains that something is wrong with the Ravens’ defense. It ranks 21st leaguewide per DVOA, a departure from its typical Top 15 (at worst) standing.
Meanwhile, Brian Flores’ defense has produced an odd claim to fame in 2025: it has stopped Saquon Barkley and Jahmyr Gibbs while struggling against Kenneth Gainwell and Kimani Vidal.
Well, the Ravens will scoot into Minneapolis on Sunday, and if the trend continues, Flores will put the clamps on Derrick Henry, too, possibly running the win total to two in a row.
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CBS Sports‘ John Breech noted this week on MIN-BAL, “As a starter, Jackson is 2-3 this year and in all three of those losses, the Ravens surrendered at least 37 points, so if even if Jackson plays well, that doesn’t necessarily mean Baltimore is going to win.”
“That’s called getting Bengal’d, where your offense puts up a ton of points, but you still lose because your defense can’t stop anyone. That’s what I think might happen to Baltimore this week. The Ravens have given up the fifth-most passing yards per game in the NFL this year, and that could be a problem for a team that’s about to face a Vikings offense that has one of the top receivers in the NFL in Justin Jefferson.”
If Minnesota takes down Baltimore, the fan base will totally renew playoff expectations.
“I definitely don’t trust J.J. McCarthy just yet, and if the Ravens could get any pressure on the quarterback, I’d probably lean toward Baltimore, but they haven’t been able to do that this year. Even the Ravens know they’ve struggled to get pressure on the QB, which is why they added Dre’Mont Jones in a trade on Monday night,” Breech added.
“Jones might eventually help Baltimore’s defense, but I don’t think he’ll help much this week. The Ravens have NEVER won in Minnesota and I’m going to say that streak somehow continues on Sunday.”
After the Seahawks game at the end of the month, the Vikings will see a softer trio of opponents: the Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, and New York Giants.
