Kevin O’Connell gave out two game balls after the Vikings’ win. They carried a bigger message.

O’Connell’s recognition of new GM Nolan Teasley and 28-year Vikings executive Rob Brzezinski offered an early glimpse of how the franchise’s new leadership dynamic is taking shape.

Kevin O’Connell was nearly done with his locker room speech after a comeback win over the Packers — a game he called “one of those you remember forever.”

The Vikings head coach promised a game ball to each player who’d participated in the victory. He still handed out two, just not to players.

He threw the first one to new general manager Nolan Teasley, congratulating him on his first victory as an NFL GM. Then, on behalf of the Vikings’ entire personnel department, the coach looked for “my guy Rob Brzezinski,” and tossed a game ball to the Vikings’ executive vice president of football operations in the back of the room.

The gesture was a brief nod to the Vikings’ frenetic offseason. Brzezinski ran the team’s front office through free agency and the draft while the Vikings waited to begin their search for a new GM after firing Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Jan. 31.

Brzezinski interviewed for the permanent job, but when the Vikings hired Teasley on June 1, the team’s longest-tenured executive returned to the role he’s played for the past 28 years overseeing the team’s salary cap.

“It was a unique offseason for sure, and there was a lot of great leadership shown pre-Nolan being hired by Rob and his staff,” O’Connell said. “And then from the moment that Nolan’s been hired, it’s been phenomenal: not only the folks that he’s brought in, but Rob and Nolan working side-by-side, the way they have some really talented people [working with the people] we had on the personnel staff already.

“I just thought it was appropriate to make sure [they were recognized] because on game day sometimes it can feel like those guys are further away from it, but that’s not how this is at all. Definitely wanted to highlight Nolan because he’s been so huge since we’ve gotten him, and I’m so excited about what the future looks like working with him. But at the same time, [I wanted to] acknowledge Rob and the staff for the work that was done.”

The bigger test for the Vikings’ new leadership dynamic is still ahead

The Vikings are still in the early days of their new football operations structure, which they hoped to build around three leaders with different focuses (Teasley in player evaluation, O’Connell in player development and Brzezinski in cap/contract management).

The key, they believed, would be a level of synergy between departments that sometimes seemed missing under Adofo-Mensah.

O’Connell and Teasley had admired the other’s work from afar. But for the new structure to work, they’d have to find common ground quickly on key roster decisions.

Brzezinski had long been seen as a source of stability and continuity in the organization. But for the new arrangement to work, he’d have to process whatever disappointment he had about not getting the GM job and work for the candidate who beat him out.

Publicly and privately, there were indications this summer the new structure was off to a good start.

O’Connell praised the additions Teasley made to the front office, like assistant GMs Andrew Healy and Trent Kirchner, assistant pro scouting director Azzaam Kapadia and football advisor Ryan Pace. On the other side, one Vikings official remarked how impressed he’d been by watching the coaching staff work.

When the Vikings signed right tackle Brian O’Neill to a four-year, $96 million deal on July 28, Teasley called the move an example of the connection between the coaching staff and the front office, while thanking Brzezinski and senior football administration manager Emily Badis for leading the negotiation.

“It’s become clear we’re aligned in our vision, both in terms of where we are currently and as we embark on the 2026 season, but also where we’re headed in the future as we build this thing out,” Teasley said.

Tougher decisions await the Vikings, like another set of quarterback deliberations in the spring. Plus, an early win over the Packers is hardly proof the new structure will work.

Still, it was notable on Sunday that O’Connell used the moment to recognize Teasley, Brzezinski and the Vikings’ reconfigured front office.

The team built its new structure on the idea the three would complement one another. With the Vikings’ owners watching after the win, O’Connell’s gesture was an early indication the leaders understand how important it is for them to make it work.

Strib