Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell isn’t saying if Ed Donatell will return as defensive coordinator for the 2023 season.
O’Connell was asked today if Donatell will be back and didn’t answer, instead saying that right now he’s in “evaluation mode” with both his players and his assistant coaches, and that the evaluation will be “ongoing” this week.
The 65-year-old Donatell is a longtime NFL defensive coordinator who just finished his first year on the job in Minnesota, and the results weren’t good. The Vikings won the NFC North, but they did so in a season in which their defense took a step backward, and in the playoff loss to the Giants, the Vikings had no answer for Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.
Any coordinator whose head coach declines to commit to him is on the hot seat, but at this point O’Connell isn’t saying Donatell is done, just that the decision has not yet been made.
