Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady greets Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell on the field after the game at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
The Minnesota Vikings embarrassed themselves in Week 9's Monday Night Football clash against the Buffalo Bills, losing 23-6 at home as coach Kevin O'Connell and two others took the brunt of the blame. Fill-in QB Carson Wentz' awfulness reached historic levels as the Bills picked him apart on defense, forcing him into two interceptions and a woefully bad completion percentage.
O'Connell attempted to digest the loss as fast as humanly possible, but media and fans were ready to turn the page with the NFL's trade deadline just hours away (4 p.m. ET on Tuesday). O'Connell was brief as he fielded a question about the deadline coming up.
He was asked about a potential trade for a new QB with Kyler Murray battling a hamstring issue and Wentz dealing with the fallout from his terrible performance.
“Yeah, I'll defer to (GM) Nolan Teasley on that, we've had dialogue about a lot of different positions, and, tight turnaround playing on a Monday Night game, and we'll get right to work on any potential moves that can be there, but really just focused on the game tonight, which was not good enough in any shape or form.”
O'Connell's team gained less than 200 yards and turned the ball over three times against coach Joe Brady's Bills, including two Wentz interceptions. Josh Allen helped the Bills get a leg up on their opposition early, recovering from an interception in the end zone to hit tight end Keleki Latu for a 25-yard touchdown to make the score 10-3 en route to the big-time road victory.
O'Connell has to work do in restoring his QB's confidence after he was picked apart by Pat McAfee and Tony Romo on the game broadcast, and by the Bills. The Vikings coach is a smart and dedicated enough leader to make it work, but it's going to take going through everything with a fine-toothed comb if the Vikings want to beat the Packers, and the 49ers, in the coming weeks.