For any NFL team, the most important relationship happens between the head coach and the G.M. (Except where the coach is the G.M., in title or far more often in power.)
In Minnesota, the biggest question emerging from the hiring of Nolan Teasley as the successor to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is whether Teasley and Kevin O’Connell will operate as a partnership that strengthens, not fractures, during the inevitability of adversity.
When the coach and G.M. are truly in it together, struggles don’t become an occasion to point fingers. When the coach and G.M. don’t have a strong connection, human nature takes over when the going gets tough. One blames the other, subtly or overtly, in the hopes of surviving the purge.
Earlier this month, O’Connell said he’d be as involved in the G.M. search as ownership wanted him to be. As characterized by Kevin Seifert of ESPN, O’Connell was heavily involved.
Seifert reports that ownership “lean[ed] mostly” on O’Connell and Vikings chief operating officer Andrew Miller in the search that landed on Teasley.
Ben Goessling of the Minneapolis Star Tribune notes that Teasley and O’Connell “have known each other for years,” and that they built a relationship through O’Connell’s connection to Seahawks G.M. John Schneider.
Via Goessling, that relationship made Teasley “attractive” to the Vikings as they “looked for a partner for the head coach.”
Teasley’s side of the relationship becomes critical, too. Most aspiring General Managers have a personal list of the coaches they’d want to work with if/when they get the top job in a team’s front office.
Remember when Jim Caldwell coached the Lions? He went 11-5, 7-9, 9-7, and 9-7 with a team that had struggled through many bad seasons. It wasn’t enough to keep Bob Quinn from fulfilling his desire to work with Matt Patricia — who generated a record of 13-29-1 before the Lions moved on.
O’Connell, through four years, has proven that he should be at or near the top of anyone’s list. And if Teasley and O’Connell already know each other, that’s a major plus.
Regardless, they’re now partners. They need to be joined at the hip in order to give the Vikings a chance at something more than every-other-year one-and-done playoff appearances.
