Packers-Vikings Big Matchup: Close Friends Jeff Hafley vs. Kevin O’Connell

Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell became close friends during their year together with the Cleveland Browns.

Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley at training camp. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Kevin O’Connell wasn’t quite 30 years old in 2015 when he got his first NFL coaching job as quarterbacks coach of the Cleveland Browns.

The Browns’ 36-year-old defensive backs coach was Jeff Hafley.

On Sunday, O’Connell will lead his Minnesota Vikings into Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers. O’Connell is the head coach and offensive play-caller for the undefeated Vikings. Hafley is the defensive coordinator for the one-loss Packers.

“From the first day I met him, we kind of hit it off,” O’Connell told reporters in Minneapolis this week. “I really do respect him as much as anybody in this league, and a very smart hire by Matt (LaFleur) to bring him in there. You can see it, it’s all over the tape. They’re playing really, really good defense.”

A decade ago in Cleveland, they lived right across the street from each other.

“His wife, Leah, and my wife, Gina, we hung out a lot,” Hafley said on Thursday. “We really hit it off. Great, great human being. It was his first year coaching because he had just finished playing, and you could just tell right away [that he would be a successful coach].

“The way he carried himself, just a special guy, a man of integrity, first class in everything he does, the way he approaches people. He’s a guy I would’ve bet early on and said I’d pick that guy to be a head coach pretty quickly. He has that aura about him.”

Hafley and O’Connell spent the 2015 season together, then moved onto San Francisco in 2016 before they went their separate ways.

In 2019, O’Connell got his first big chance as offensive coordinator in Washington. He then served as Sean McVay’s offensive coordinator with the Rams in 2020 and 2021 before being hired by the Vikings in 2022.

In 2019, Hafley also got his first big chance as defensive coordinator at Ohio State. After one season with the Buckeyes, he spent the last four years as head coach at Boston College.

Through it all, they remained close.

“He’s smart. We spent a lot of time talking football, offense, defense,” Hafley said. “Our families hung out on vacation and just got to know him really well. He’s got a great family. He’s a really good football coach, but he’s even a better person. So, yeah, a good friend of mine.”

Said O’Connell: “I think the world of him as a person.”

While Jordan Love’s potential return to the lineup against a dominant Vikings defense and Aaron Jones’ return to Lambeau Field are the major storylines this week, Hafley’s defense against O’Connell’s offense is just as intriguing.

Sam Darnold, a former first-round bust, has resurrected his career and enters Sunday’s game ranked second in passer rating. The Vikings are third in scoring. Green Bay’s defense is 12th in points allowed due in part to ranking No. 1 in interception percentage and No. 6 on third down.

As always, it will be players, not X’s and O’s, that determine the outcome of the game. But O’Connell and Hafley know each other well and have had the week to prepare for this critical NFC North game.

“I think the scheme’s really good,” Hafley said. “They’re running the ball really well – really well. And then his pass game, it’s not just the players, I think it’s also the scheme and then he’s got really good players, too.”

Hafley said Justin Jefferson is “probably the best wide receiver in the league” and fellow receiver Jordan Addison has “special” talent. The signing of Jones added the run-game dynamic the Vikings lacked last year, when they finished 29th in rushing.

“Obviously, the running back’s a phenomenal player and, from what everybody around here says, is one of the most special human beings ever,” Hafley said. “Everyone seems to rave about him, so I’m sad I never got a chance to meet him.”

Left tackle Christian Darrisaw and right tackle Brian O’Neill are “really good players” in providing bookend protection for Darnold. They will pose a strong challenge to a Packers front that produced eight sacks against the Titans last week.

“They’ve really kind of pieced it all together,” Hafley said. “They’re a talented team with a really good scheme, so they present a challenge. They’ve been scoring a lot of points.”

It will be up to Hafley to find a way to stop all of that firepower.

That will start with trying to get inside the head of one of his close friends.

“We talk often,” Hafley said. “Obviously, we won’t this week, but I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”

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