Inside The Vikings

Josh Dobbs and Kevin O'Connell are Having Fun and Changing the Vikings' Outlook

The Vikings just continue to roll thanks to Dobbs' playmaking and O'Connell's creativity.

Will Ragatz

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Shortly before his first home start as the Vikings' quarterback got underway, Josh Dobbs was getting in some final warmup throws. All around him, more than 66,000 fans were doing the Skol Chant — clapping their hands above their heads in unison after two drum beats.

That's when his new position coach, Chris O'Hara, came up to him and told him to take a look around.

"Just take a second to take it all in," O'Hara told Dobbs.

So he did. Dobbs had heard about the chant before, but had never experienced it. Now here he was, getting ready to run out on the field as the starting quarterback in front of these fans less than two weeks after the Cardinals traded him to Minnesota for almost nothing.

Over the course of the next 90 minutes, he showed the home crowd exactly why the Vikings went out and got him when Kirk Cousins was lost for the season. Dobbs followed up his heroic, improbable performance in Atlanta the week prior with another remarkable chapter in this story that has captivated the country, racking up 260 total yards and two touchdowns as the Vikings cruised to a 24-3 halftime lead over the Saints.

After Dobbs delivered a dime up the seam to T.J. Hockenson for Minnesota's third touchdown of the second quarter, "Higher" by Creed — the unofficial rally song of the Vikings' current five-game winning streak — began blasting throughout the stadium's speakers. Once the chorus rolled around, nearly everyone was singing. It was a sight to behold.

The Vikings held on in the second half for a 27-19 victory, their fifth in a row. When they were 1-4 a month earlier, things seemed bleak. Three weeks later, they were 4-4 but had just lost Cousins to a torn Achilles, and things seemed even bleaker. Suddenly, this magical two-game run from Dobbs has fans believing again.

"This is a lot of fun," he said afterwards. "I'm enjoying every single second of it."

Of course he is. Dobbs is a 28-year-old veteran who is on his seventh different NFL team. He's been traded twice in just the last three months. He was thrilled to get his first extended opportunity as a starter earlier this year in Arizona, but the losses predictably piled up for one of the worst teams in football. Then, out of nowhere, he received a chance to come play quarterback for a talent-laden team that was already rolling before he arrived.

You know who else is having fun? Kevin O'Connell, the Vikings' head coach and offensive play caller. He was devastated when Cousins got hurt, considering the long history between the two and how well Cousins was playing in his second year running this offense. But the arrival of Dobbs has breathed new life into the entire franchise. 

For as wildly impressive as Dobbs has been in this difficult situation, it's been equally impressive to see O'Connell take on this challenge and adapt on the fly to help his new quarterback succeed. The first half of Sunday's game against the Saints was a masterclass in play calling and execution that provided a look at the potential of an O'Connell offense led by a dual-threat QB.

"Kirk was playing as well as anybody in this league, really ripping apart coverage and attacking things and kind of running everything," O'Connell said. "Josh, in two starts, has shown us what mobility can do for us."

The Josh Dobbs-Kevin O'Connell duo is 2-0 / Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

On the Vikings' first touchdown drive, they faked a zone read play and had Ty Chandler pop out as the lead blocker on a designed run for Dobbs. Later in the drive, Dobbs miraculously escaped a collapsing pocket, rolled to his right, and found Hockenson for a big chunk to make something out of nothing. O'Connell was in his bag again on the touchdown, motioning Dobbs out of the play before Chandler took a direct snap and waltzed through a gaping hole for the score.

"Coming up on our 11th game now, we've got a lot of time on the practice field logged that maybe Josh wasn't there for, but he's been a quick study on some of that stuff," O'Connell said. "We're trying to kind of meet in the middle on that and continue to evolve, I think is the word. There's no rule that says you have to stay the same for the whole season."

Dobbs isn't Cousins as a pure pocket passer, but he hasn't been over-reliant on his legs during these two wins. Even without much experience in this offense, he's shown an ability to go through his progressions and deliver accurate throws from the pocket, like on the touchdown to Hockenson. What Dobbs does bring that's different is the element of playmaking ability when things break down. There's no better example than his unbelievable seven-yard scramble for the Vikings' second touchdown — a play that left his head coach speechless.

"I like to fist pump with the best of them," O'Connell said. "But that was one where I was just kind of like 'Wow.'"

It's only been two games, but the way Dobbs has played since arriving in Minnesota has changed the Vikings' outlook for the rest of the season. His dual-threat ability creates all kinds of possibilities for an offense with a smart, creative mind like O'Connell drawing things up. It allows the Vikings to continue marrying the run and the pass at a high level while defenses have to respect the threat of Dobbs' legs. Imagine what this thing might look like once Justin Jefferson is back in the mix, which could be as soon as this weekend.

"It was a pretty outstanding day from Josh," O'Connell said. "And the best thing about it is we're all still getting to know each other and getting the comfort level where we can continue to apply layers to this thing to be the most successful we can be on offense.

"(I'm) having fun coaching him right now."

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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