There was a moment in the season that may have been a turning point for the Minnesota Vikings. Head coach Kevin O’Connell remembers it well

Kevin O’Connell tried.

Without even beginning to know whether it would work. The head coach of the Minnesota Vikings still doesn’t know.

But the story his team is writing this season is already well worth reading.

That’s exactly what he asked for after the miserable 0:3 start. “If you look at it as an opportunity and your team is trying to be the best version of itself to achieve a bigger goal, I think we can continue to write our own story. And we have the pen in our hand to do that,” he had said at the time.

The team went on to write chapters of success, but also experienced setbacks such as the injuries to star receiver Justin Jefferson and quarterback Kirk Cousins.

When the playmaker tore his Achilles tendon in Week 8, the Vikings were left wondering what to do next at 4-4 and a few days before the trade deadline.

The answer to the difficult situation was Josh Dobbs, who has been adding the fairytale elements to the Vikings story ever since.

Dobbs, of all people, has long been nothing more than a backup in the NFL, a journeyman who is now in his seventh year in the NFL with his seventh team.

His move from the weak Cardinals was not met with jubilation, and the 28-year-old was initially only planned as a backup until Jaren Hall also got injured – and Dobbs led the team to two wins, a 6:4 record. And straight into real dreams of the playoffs.

Josh Dobbs: First Spanish, then French

And that despite not even knowing all of his teammates’ names when he made his debut, let alone the entire playbook. “It’s like having studied Spanish all year, then turning up on Wednesday and someone telling you that you have a French exam on Sunday,” he said of the task.

Fraglos was also helped by his ability to grasp things quickly, as he graduated with a perfect grade point average in aerospace engineering from the University of Tennessee.

Still, “I can’t emphasize enough the circumstances he was in for our offense, but I think what was really special this week, even after that performance, was his work, how he prepared,” O’Connell said.

Dobbs literally lived in the facility and went through his normal process “while we were able to show him how we do things, how we try to improve his ability to play fast while giving him really good plays,” said O’Connell, who knows there’s still room for improvement.

Still getting to know each other

Because: “The best thing about it is that we’re all still getting to know each other,” said O’Connell.

But what the Vikings coach already knows is that the new quarterback’s mobility is extremely helpful.

“Josh has shown us in two starts what mobility can mean – in addition to what we’re doing offensively in this difficult time where we’re trying to overcome the loss of Kirk,” O’Connell said.

While Cousins’ season is over, Jefferson could soon make his comeback from a hamstring injury to potentially write a few more chapters of success along with Dobbs.