EAGAN — Brian O’Neill looked like he had just been through a tornado.

He sat in the visitor’s locker room at Lambeau Field trying to process what had just happened. His voice was a little shaky as he took off his shoes and cut the tape off his wrists. His arms blotchy from getting smacked over and over by Clay Matthews.

One year ago O’Neill was called upon to make his NFL debut in one of sports’ palaces in a rivalry game that — at the time — felt like it could determine the NFC North.

In Week 2, 2018 against the Green Bay Packers, an injury forced the Minnesota Vikings to put in their second-round pick from Pitt. It seemed at first his debut would come in an unmemorable loss but the Vikings made a furious comeback from down 22-7 with him at right tackle —only to see kicker Daniel Carlson miss a potential winner in overtime.

O’Neill did not give up a sack and only allowed a handful of QB pressures. At that point, he was only a few years removed from playing tight end.

“Last year at this time I was just trying to hang on for dear life and just not screw it up for these other guys,” O’Neill said Friday. “I’ve come a long way since then and we have a long way to go.”

Teammates understood the challenge he faced.

The Vikings’ plan had been to treat O’Neill like a project — to start Rashod Hill and let him grow both mentally and physically. Instead — at about 20 pounds lighter than your average tackle and with many years less experience playing the position than most rookies — he took on the Packers.

“That’s something that happens to all of us,” defensive end Danielle Hunter said. “There’s always going to be that game where we get thrown into that fire and we just have to figure it out. It always has to go back to technique and fundamentals and what your coach told you. That’s what he did in that game.”

“It’s super easy to get caught up in the moment, get overwhelmed and not do your job, which will lead to you being removed from your job,” defensive end Stephen Weatherly said. “But trial by fire is the best way to do it.”

O’Neill was not removed from his job after Green Bay — in fact he was ultimately was given the starting gig even when everyone was healthy. According to Pro Football Focus he did not give up a sack in ‘18 but his PFF grades were underwhelming because of how often he was pushed back into the quarterback.

In Week 1 against Atlanta we saw none of that.

“I think it helps that he’s athletic and he’s smart,” head coach Mike Zimmer said. “When he came in here initially, I think he had to get used to the physicality and the speed of the NFL. You could see it coming throughout the course of last year in the beginning, and he’s just continued to improve from there.”

Part of that improvement came from battling against Danielle Hunter daily in practice. Hunter is one of the NFL’s premier pass rushers — quick, smart, large and dangerous. Hunter has seen the growth from the Week 2 version of O’Neill to the version headed back to Lambeau to face a much-improved Packers defense this week.

“It’s a tremendous difference. Last year he came in and was just trying to get used to the program and use the right technique,” Hunter said. “You could tell when the season came he got thrown in there and went up against top notch pass rushers that he did pretty good. He has really good feet, that helps him out a lot. He took his time to get down the technique aspect of it and as the season went on he did pretty good. You could tell in the offseason he trained and got better and better. When this year started I could tell he got better. There were things that I used to do to him and I would win and he would catch onto it now.”

Weatherly has also seen a significant change in O’Neill’s demeanor.

“He’s a lot more comfortable with what he’s been asked to do,” Weatherly said. “His ability to communicate with the offensive line has gotten a lot better. Bigger, stronger. He’s always had that quickness, he’s always been agile but if anything…this sport is about confidence, the more confidence you have the better you play. It’s a really big jump that he’s had, he feels like he’s supposed to be there.”

“We often times don’t give Brian (O’Neill) enough credit for his development that he’s come in there and performed really well,” offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski said. “You see his skillset on display in the run game and the pass game.”

The defensive ends who battle him in practice see O’Neill’s skillset as starting with his top-notch athleticism. When he was drafted he ranked in the 98th percentile in the 40-yard dash and 3-cone drill. Those gifts don’t always translate to the field but for O’Neill they have.

“His agility, his speed, his quickness, he can beat you to the cutoff point and when he gets there he has quick enough hands and knows where the place them to stop your momentum,” Weatherly said.

On the mental side, Zimmer commented last season that he had been impressed by the toughness O’Neill showed throughout last year especially when he was overmatched by the size and power of some of the NFL’s best edge rushers.

The young tackle said he sees toughness as simply doing a tough job with great consistency so he hasn’t focused on how hard he can hit or the number of pancake blocks he can rack up. Instead he emphasized the ability to remain calm in the tornado of an NFL game.

“There are a lot of good things that are going to happen throughout a game and there’s a lot of bad things that are going to happen, being able to take those punches and roll with them try to stay even keeled in a variety of situations, it’s something that only comes with time and I’m still trying to improve on it, stay cruise control,” O’Neill said.

When he matches up with the Packers rushers, which may include both Zadarius Smith and Preston Smith at different times on Sunday, it will test his mental and capacity. Zadarius led the NFL (tied with Hunter) last week with 10 QB pressures per PFF and Preston had 1.5 sacks.

But this time around his teammates won’t be looking to see what he’s made of. They will go into Lambeau believing they have an asset at right tackle.

“If there’s an elite pass rusher on his side, you don’t have to worry about that,” Hunter said. “I’m just amazed at how much he’s able to keep up with whoever he’s up against.”