"I thought the line of scrimmage was big," O'Connell said. "You know, our defensive line, our edge players, having Andrew Van Ginkel back, the physicality that they played with up front, allowed guys … to go make a lot of tackles, make a lot of plays.
"Flo' did a really good job mixing it up, but it wasn't always scheme," O'Connell added. "It was a lot of guys defeating blocks, not getting knocked back, trying to stop the run early. And I thought we did a good job."
The Vikings did give up three fourth-down conversions, including two of Detroit's touchdowns, but also forced an aggressive Lions squad to punt five times for just the third time this season.
"You know they're gonna keep competing. You know they're gonna make some plays," O'Connell said. "They've got some really good players over there, and it just felt like our guys kept playing and pressed onward."
With Sunday's win, the Vikings are back to .500 (4-4) and are 2-0 in the division with victories at Chicago and Detroit.
"This is a tough place to come win, and I'm just really proud of our guys," he emphasized. "Proud of them from the beginning of the week 'til now. Would be very easy to just kind of succumb to some of the aspects of this league when things aren't going your way — and this team just does not do that."