Why Shanahan believes O’Connell’s Vikings offense poses problems

Why Shanahan believes O’Connell’s Vikings offense poses problems originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Kyle Shanahan is well aware that a Kevin O’Connell-led Vikings offense can cause the 49ers a headache for a second consecutive season on Sunday.

During the latest episode of NBC Sports Bay Area’s “49ers Game Plan,” which debuted Friday night, Shanahan explained to Greg Papa the similarity between O’Connell’s scheme with his and Los Angeles Rams’ Sean McVay’s, and why it poses a threat.

“Yeah, I think it’s similar, especially how the Rams were,” Shanahan told Papa. “I think the Rams have been a little different here this year in one game, with a little different running style and stuff.”

With a 22-17 resounding upset last season boosting their hopes, the Vikings look to continue their seven-game home win streak against the 49ers. San Francisco has not won in Minneapolis since 1992.

And O’Connell, who served as McVay’s offensive coordinator with the Rams in 2020 and 2021, bolstered his offense this offseason, adding quarterback Sam Darnold and running back Aaron Jones in efforts to complement superstar receiver Justin Jefferson.

Knowledgeable of the scheme O’Connell operates, Shanahan has a good idea of how the third-year NFL head coach might leverage his offensive weapons.

“But they do base their stuff mainly out of one back,” Shanahan added. “They do a lot of tempo things. A lot of dropbacks and things are very similar.”

In the Week 1 win over the New York Jets, San Francisco’s secondary limited star receiver Garrett Wilson to a subpar 60 yards receiving and zero touchdowns, while keeping Aaron Rodgers to 167 yards on 13 completions.

The task might look much different at U.S. Bank Stadium, with Jefferson eager to exploit any one-on-one coverage he gets.

Shanahan respects that, and everything else that makes O’Connell’s offense electrifying.

“Kevin has always done a really good job,” Shanahan added. “I got a ton of respect for him.

“When you have Kevin, their system, a really good running back, a really good quarterback, as good of a receiver as there is, they can be a problem. We got our work cut out for us.”

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