Why blaming Kevin O'Connell for Christian Darrisaw's injury is absurd

The bottom line: You can't be worried about injuries while calling a football game.

Oct 24, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell watches game action against the Los Angeles Rams during the second half at SoFi Stadium. / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Vikings star left tackle Christian Darrisaw is out for the season with a knee injury. It's a brutal blow for Minnesota's offense. It was also a freak accident that's nobody's fault.

Darrisaw got hurt at the end of the first half on Thursday night, with the Vikings backed up in their own territory. Because of that, there have been quite a few people on social media blaming Kevin O'Connell for the injury, making the argument that it wasn't worth the risk of running a play in that situation.

Quite frankly, that's absurd.

The Vikings were at their own 3, yes, but they had all three of their timeouts and 35 seconds on the clock in a 14-14 game. The Rams' defense came out in a dime look (six defensive backs on the field), so O'Connell called a run to see if they could get a chunk gain, call a timeout, and perhaps move the ball into field goal range. Unlike a dropback that risks a sack or interception, it's a low-risk move.

"Just calling a run play we called several other times in the game," O'Connell said. "See if we can pop a run there, they're in a light body grouping with six DBs on the field, including one of them playing linebacker. Just trying to see if we can pop one and then maybe take the timeout, reset, and try to get a couple chunks. We've got a kicker that can hit it from a long way away."

Unfortunately, two Vikings linemen double-teamed a defensive tackle and nobody blocked safety Jaylen McCollough, who came downhill from a linebacker alignment and happened to roll up on Darrisaw's knee as he was trying to tackle Aaron Jones.

To blame O'Connell for running the ball in that spot instead of taking a knee is just lazy, unfair analysis with the benefit of hindsight. It's completely standard practice to call a run there and see if you can pop one. Even if the odds of the Vikings getting into field goal range were low, what if they blocked the run well and Jones picked up 15 yards or so? Then a team that has the best wide receiver in the sport would only need a couple more chunk gains to set up Will Reichard and his huge leg for a chance to take the lead before halftime.

The bottom line is that coaches cannot worry about "what if someone gets injured here?" when calling games. A similar thing happened on Monday night when Buccaneers WR Chris Godwin suffered a season-ending ankle injury with a little over a minute left in a ten-point game. The odds of Tampa Bay tying it up were low, but they had already scored 21 points in the fourth quarter and recovered an onside kick. With another score and onside kick, they could've theoretically tied the game. In that situation, they weren't thinking "oh we shouldn't try this, someone could get hurt."

This is the NFL. Injuries are unfortunately part of the game. Late in the first half against the Rams, the Vikings called a run they've probably called dozens of times this season. One of their best players got seriously hurt on the play, which is devastating and awful. But that doesn't mean it's anyone's fault.