Wes Phillips doesn't buy criticism of Vikings' offensive complexity

Expectations for the Vikings’ offense have been high throughout the Kevin O’Connell era. Early in his tenure as Minnesota’s head coach, the offense largely lived up to those expectations. However, over the past season and a half, Vikings fans have grown increasingly frustrated with an offense that has struggled to find consistency and take advantage of an elite defense.

Much has been made of the revolving door at quarterback since the start of the 2025 season and its impact on Minnesota’s offense. But there’s also been discussion about the complexity of O’Connell’s system and whether it has contributed to the team’s struggles.

During his Tuesday press conference, Vikings offensive coordinator Wes Phillips rejected the idea that the complexity of Minnesota’s offense has been a factor.

“No, I don’t,” Phillips bluntly responded. “You know, a lot gets made into how we have some kind of super hard offense or something. I mean, this is NFL football. There’s complexity to some of the things that we do. But, also I don’t think there’s a whole lot of offenses that are just lining up, you know, two by two, three by one, and just just calling plays and and trying trying to win a whole lot.”

Phillips, 47, has been Minnesota’s offensive coordinator since O’Connell took over as head coach in 2022. The two have a long history together, having worked on the same coaching staff in all but one season since 2017.

Both were offensive coaches in Washington in 2017 and 2018 before Phillips joined the Los Angeles Rams’ coaching staff in 2019. O’Connell followed him to Los Angeles a year later, serving as offensive coordinator for two seasons before landing the Vikings’ head coaching job.

“Whatever your system is, you’re not moving people for no reason,” continued Phillips. “You’re not motioning for no reason. You know, everything you’re doing is trying to give your guys some sort of slight advantage, slight edge in order for them to win. Whether that’s angles in the run game, whether that’s releases, that sort of thing.”

Phillips acknowledged that simplifying the offense can be necessary when players are struggling to grasp their assignments, but he doesn’t believe that’s the issue facing Minnesota.

“OK, when you lose a game and you say, ‘Alright, maybe the execution is not what we wanted in all phases and all areas.’ And you kind of look and you say, ‘Alright, did we have a bunch of mental errors? Are we busting a lot of things?’ And if that’s the case, then that is an argument to simplify, tighten the menu. Hey, maybe we put too much on these guys going into a game plan. But when that’s not the case, you know, it’s more about execution and all 11 being on the same page and executing as one.”

Despite their 6-1 start, the Vikings rank 28th in the NFL in scoring and dead last in total yards. For an offense featuring the likes of Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson, Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones, that’s simply inexcusable.

Much of the blame has fallen on veteran quarterback Kyler Murray, who has rarely looked comfortable operating O’Connell’s offense. His 64.9% completion rate this season is his lowest since his rookie year.

But when asked to assess Murray’s play this season, Phillips declined to single out the quarterback, instead redirecting the conversation toward the team’s overall offensive struggles.

“Yeah, I don’t really want to get into an overarching, ‘Hey, this is the [problem],'” said Phillips. “The fact of the matter is we lost the game against a tough football team on the road. It’s a division game. It stings, but we’ve got to get better moving forward. We’ll see as the week goes on where we’re at in that spot with [VP of health and performance Tyler Williams] and his crew. But yeah, we’ve got to get better. We’re going to actively pursue every avenue we can to make that happen.”

Murray and the Vikings’ offense face another big test in prime time Monday night against the Buffalo Bills. If the offensive struggles continue, calls for a change at quarterback will likely grow even louder.