Well, I’m not sure Mike Zimmer can even deny it this time. Gary Kubiak has officially announced his retirement from the NFL and released a statement via the Minnesota Vikings.

Vikings Offensive Coordinator/Assistant Head Coach Gary Kubiak has officially announced his retirement. pic.twitter.com/MOmPfhPjL7

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 21, 2021

It’s been the honor of my lifetime to work for 36 seasons as an NFL player and coach. I’ve been on a football field for most of my life, and now I look forward to stepping away from the game and enjoying more time with my family and friends.

I offer my sincere thanks to the owners and fans of the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans and San Francisco 49ers for giving me opportunities to be a part of this great game and for treating me and my family so well offer the years.

I’ll miss the competition, the planning, game days and being part of a team. But, more than anything, I’ll cherish the friendships I’ve made along the way with players, coaches and staff. I love the game of football and will forever be its biggest fan.”

Gary Kubiak Statement via Minnesota Vikings

The search begins

Well, the search for a new offensive coordinator will officially begin. Will the Minnesota Vikings hand the position to one of their in-house coaches, possibly Klint Kubiak, Gary’s son?

We blogged about that when the season ended and Kubiak all but unofficially announced his retirement. There are a lot of good options, but given how little Mike Zimmer wants to see things change… I’d be hard-pressed to believe anything crazy happens.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

On Monday, it became common knowledge around town that offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak would be retiring from football. Today however, Minnesota Vikings head coach, Mike Zimmer, threw a bucket of cold water on that supposed certainty.

Coach Zimmer says Gary Kubiak will take some to make a decision on his future pic.twitter.com/DpUdDzrS7A

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 5, 2021

While we were searching for an OC who would hopefully lead this Vikings offense into the future, Mike Zimmer wasn’t ready to count his old friend, Gary Kubiak.

So if you were hoping for a quick resolution at OC, it’s not happening. Many of the great coordinator options will be swiped up while we wait, too…

Change isn’t Zimmer’s game

With or without Gary Kubiak, Zim clearly isn’t in a rush to shake things up on offense. If Zim was looking to hire one of the hot up-and-coming young offensive minds around the league, he wouldn’t be so willing to wait for his old friend.

Zimmer’s morning presser tells a pretty clear story. If Gary isn’t coordinating this offense in 2021, it’ll probably be his son Klint. Dennison could get the job too, but it’s likely to be someone in-house.

Re: Gary Kubiak, #Vikings' Mike Zimmer added he likes the system — the wide-zone running game and how the passing game fits Kirk Cousins' strengths. "A coach told me once your offense should be what your quarterback is good at." Said this year was most "explosive" offense w/ Min https://t.co/LuHB7KV0UV

— Andrew Krammer (@Andrew_Krammer) January 5, 2021

Goodbye Marwan Maalouf

In other coordinator news, Marwan Maalouf’s contract will expire in the coming days as Special Teams coordinator, and the Minnesota Vikings will not renew it. The Vikings’ special teams has been absolutely atrocious since he took over.

Coach Zimmer announces that Special Teams Coordinator Marwan Maalouf's contract will expire and not be renewed.

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 5, 2021

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Word leaked today that Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator, Gary Kubiak was retiring from the game of football. This isn’t a shock, after hearing Kubiak’s final game-week press conference.

But if last weekend was the last time Gary puts on an NFL headset, then he has one hell of a Super Bowl winning career to be proud of.

From The Aftermath on @nflnetwork: #Vikings offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak is leaning towards retirement — a decision that would force Mike Zimmer to seek his sixth OC in six years. pic.twitter.com/IlsMQ7u6w0

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 4, 2021

Gary Kubiak via KFAN:

“What they went through on the defensive side of the ball personnel-wise & the people they lost, I’ve never seen it in my years of football… I think the world of [Mike Zimmer], his leadership and how he tries to win games. The #Vikings are in good hands.”

— Sean Borman (@SeanBormanNFL) January 4, 2021

Mike Zimmer has a big decision to make now

With Gary on his way out, Mike Zimmer is coming to a crossroad with his offense. Kirk Cousins put up some of the best numbers of his career last season but the offense still felt held back by a predictably ‘run early and pass only when you need to’ gameplan.

A lot of fans really hate the way the Minnesota Vikings offense operates under Zimmer, Cousins and Kubiak. The stats and numbers tell a different story.

Justin Jefferson broke just about every rookie receiving record in the books, Dalvin Cook finished as the best running back in the NFL and, as previously mentioned, Kirk Cousins had a BIG season, even by his stat-padding standards.

Conservative Options (status quo)

I wouldn’t blame Mike one bit if he decided to keep the offensive side of the ball as “status quo” as possible. Kirk has already dealt with new OC’s every season he’s been in purple. Changing things up more than necessary, could take this offense in the wrong direction.

If Zim wants to keep his offense operating in that same fashion, he has in-house options to choose from, and even an outside plan C.

Of note: QB coach Klint Kubiak, O-line coach Rick Dennison, and TE coach Brian Pariani all followed Gary Kubiak to Minnesota.

If Mike Zimmer picks an outside coach as OC, do they all stick around? Or does Zimmer choose Klint Kubiak and keep the scheme/coaches intact.

— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) January 4, 2021

Another potential OC option for the Vikings is Anthony Lynn. He knows Gary Kubiak well and both of them learned under Mike Shanahan.

— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) January 4, 2021

I expect Anthony Lynn to be the next Offensive Coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings.

Terminology and scheme are identical to Kubiak, whom Minnesota did not want to lose.

— Michael Schottey (@Schottey) January 4, 2021

Graff and others mentioned the in-house favorite as Klint Kubiak. Remember, many thought he might get the job after Stefanski was hired by the Browns, before the job was given to Klint’s father.

If Mike Zimmer wants to keep the offense as 2020-21 as possible, Gary’s son seems like the natural choice. I could also see Zim being a bit excited about some different wrinkles that Klint might bring to his father’s style of offense.

Anthony Lynn was fired by the Chargers today and he is the outside wildcard who the Vikings could bring in, if they thought the offense needed a fresh voice but the same roots.

Outside options of intrigue

The Minnesota Vikings organization could really use this opportunity to try to take a step into the future, if they feel a different approach is necessary. Sure, they’ve drafted offensive lineman of a certain style but Kubiak’s scheme isn’t the only zone running offense that likes to get athletic linemen out in space.

Really, there are A LOT of intriguing offensive minds out on the market place, or expected to be soon.

Zim’s old friends

Mike Zimmer has all sorts of “old friends” that he is well-connected with throughout the NFL. Those names include more former head coach retreads like Hue Jackson and Jay Gruden both who Zim coached with in Cincinnati.

Jay Gruden intrigues me but we don’t know what his status with Jacksonville is.

Youngsters

I think the top candidates should go as

1. Mike Kafka- Cheifs QB Coach
2. Klint Kubiak- internal
3. Anthony Lynn
4. Mike Lafleur- 49ers passing coordinator
5. Ken Dorsey- bills QB coach

— Deshawn Vaughan NFL (@vikingsfans16) January 4, 2021

Of course, Twitter is obsessed with some of the names you see listed above. I’m seeing Mike Kafka and Mike Lafleur everywhere. LaFleur coaches under Mike Shanahan in San Francisco, which is the exact type of futuristic zone scheme many Vikings fans dream of.

Could Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman hand the reins of this offense over to a young offensive zone mind of the future?

The Vikings did what?! options

Speaking it into existence #GaseToMinnesota pic.twitter.com/qYw57ytjl3

— Cooper (@CoopCarlson) January 4, 2021

This would probably be the most controversial name the Vikings could hire. Gase was fired on Sunday by the New York Jets after two miserable seasons as their head coach.

He was HC in Miami for three mediocre years, prior to that, so his head coaching acumen isn’t highly thought of. Before his promotion, Adam Gase was a rising star in the coaching world as an OC.

But when you look back at his career, the coaches he came up under (Mike Martz, Nick Saban, Steve Mariucci) are much more impressive than what he has contributed. His best years as an offensive coordinator were in Denver and he had Peyton Manning as his quarterback.

Wealth of options

The Minnesota Vikings couldn’t have picked a better year to be in the market for an offensive coordinator. There are a lot of good options out there.

But at the end of the day, Mike Zimmer hasn’t been keen on futuristic offensive schemes so I’d be surprised if he makes a splash hire. I put Klint Kubiak as betting favorite by quite a large margin.

One thing is for sure, the decision will make or break Mike Zimmer’s future with the Vikings. The right hire will give him time to raise his young defense and possibly push them deep into the playoffs.

The wrong hire could mean another missed postseason in 2021 and a probable Zimmer exit afterward.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Gary Kubiak has now been the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings for 15 games. Yet, at age 59 he admits that his career as a football coach is “year to year at this point”.

Kubiak definitely enjoyed the season and seems to like his role of calling plays, while holding only the responsibility of an offensive coordinator. When asked about his time as Vikings OC in 2020, and what his future might hold looking ahead to 2021, Kubiak was coy. He made it clear, however, that a return next season is far from a guarantee.

“We’ll see what happens.”

Here's Gary Kubiak earlier this afternoon on his future as the #Vikings OC pic.twitter.com/FTSF7D3D2v

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) December 31, 2020

“I’m kind of a year-to-year guy at this stage of my life, I think, as a football coach. But I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed working with the players.

I love calling games… I mean, that’s the way I grew up.

I’ll tell you. I’ve had my opportunity to be a head coach and I enjoyed that. But it was really fun to be ‘one of the guys’ again, if that makes any sense? Back in that room, teaching and being ‘one of the fellas’.”

— Do you need time to think about 2021? —

“Well, I’m not through with this year yet. Let me finish up this week and let’s go have some fun and play well… and we’ll see what happens.”

Gary Kubiak

Tough to read

Gary Kubiak is a tough person to read. He’s much different than Mike Zimmer, who wears his emotions on his rudolph nose. Still, I’m a bit surprised at the way Gary rode the fence on this subject.

I guess I just didn’t expect liners like “I’m kind of a year-to-year guy at this point” or “we’ll see what happens”. The thank-you’s came off strange too.

Still, in the same < 1-minute-long clip, he talks about how much fun he had this year and how much he enjoys not being the boss anymore. He’s just difficult to get a read on.

Could it be that the Vikings may not want him back? Knowing Zimmer, I really don’t see that being the case. “We’ll see what happens” this weekend and what comes out of US Bank Stadium and TCO Performance Center after that…

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Vikings have possibly the worst professional offensive lineman I’ve ever seen, in Dru Samia. I first took notice last week, while watching back Kirk Cousins’ snaps from week 4. Anytime there was pressure, Dru Samia seemed to be getting rolled over or he was off somewhere, blocking nobody.

At first glance, Samia looked just as bad (if not worse) on Sunday night vs the Seahawks, but I thought it might just be me taking closer notice… Early in the week though, Luke Braun (Locked On Vikings Podcast) made this video of Dru Samia highlights and confirmed what everybody (myself included) saw in real time.

https://t.co/gNN4yQi9ip pic.twitter.com/OQyzSbMwI0

— Luke Braun (@LukeBraunNFL) October 12, 2020

I don’t mean to continue hammering on Dru Samia. This is a 2nd-year player who clearly isn’t ready for the role he’s been thrust into. Having watched him closely, I don’t think he’ll ever become a starting offensive lineman in the NFL… but I wouldn’t stop your NFL conversations with my opinion.

Samia isn’t ready

Right now, however, he isn’t ready. That conclusion doesn’t take all-22 film or a degree in American Football Strategery, to come to grips with.

But if you expected the Minnesota Vikings to make a change at RG or for Gary Kubiak to admit defeat on Samia’s ability, then you’d better head back to the drawing board. While Kubiak has plenty of good things to say about Ezra Cleveland’s progress at practice (of course he does), he also names Samia as the starter for week 7 vs the Atlanta Falcons.

Gary Kubiak seems really pleased with the development of Ezra Cleveland. Said he had a really good practice today and him making the next step is “probably just about an opportunity.” Said that “his time is coming” and confirmed he’s getting practice reps at guard & tackle.

— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) October 15, 2020

Kubiak did say he will stick with Dru Samia at right guard. “We’ve got to continue to grow Dru, and we’ve got to work to some of the mistakes, but we’re also hanging onto some of the positive things he’s doing. We believe in our group, and we’ll just keep working.”

— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingStrib) October 15, 2020

Did you see the Samia film above? If Ezra Cleveland is worse than that… then we should have drafted someone else in the 2nd round. For example, Antoine Winfield Jr was taken 13 slots ahead of Cleveland. How many of Spielman’s (6) 6th-7th round picks would it have taken to jump up and grab Winfield Jr, who is gunning for NFL Rookie of the Year?

Don’t hate the coach, hate the game…

I’m not mad at Gary Kubiak for his interview… What’s he supposed to say? “Yeah, my right guard options suck.” He’s incredible at telling the media what he wants them to hear, even if it makes no sense. He’s the polar opposite of Mike Zimmer, when it comes to his interaction with reporters. It doesn’t make his comments any less asinine, however.

Just to throw in more confusion, Dru Samia didn’t practice today with a wrist injury… making Kubiak’s comments even more dumbfounding. It’s also worth noting, that starting RG Pat Elflein (who is eligible to come off IR), was at practice today.

Thursday's #Vikings injury report pic.twitter.com/oUaFzHNpZq

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 15, 2020

Here is his Kubiak’s interview, from earlier this afternoon.

LIVE: Offensive Coordinator/Assistant Head Coach Gary Kubiak previews #ATLvsMIN https://t.co/KC7Sh8uemM

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 15, 2020

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The #Vikings are turning to a familiar face for their new OC: Gary Kubiak, who has been an assistant head coach and offensive advisor, is taking over as the offensive coordinator, sources say. His impact was felt quickly in Minnesota and now he sticks around.

And, there it is. Paul Allen called it earlier this week but the writing has been on the wall since Stefanksi left. Gary Kubiak will be heading next year’s offense for the Minnesota Vikings.

This is ABSOLUTELY the best move for next year’s Vikings, no matter what many haters out there will say (yeah, I just used “haters”). He is the best OC option because Kirk Cousins is our best QB option and he loves this offense and has a chance to become even more comfortable over the offseason, which is something that is very new for Kirk, being this will be his 6th OC in 8 NFL seasons.

And for anyone who thinks we should get rid of Kirk Cousins, making my argument moot…

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Defensive Coordinator Fog Starting to Clear

One option for their vacant defensive coordinator job: Split duties between impressive assistants DL coach Andre Patterson and LBs coach Adam Zimmer. https://t.co/gMa0efyOs4

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 23, 2020

Rapoport didn’t stop at Offensive Coordinator. Whoever his source is inside of the Vikings family clearly hasn’t cleared him to break anything. Nonetheless, he clearly has inside information toward where the Vikings are leaning on that side of the ball, too.

I don’t really care what they do at “Defensive Coordinator” because it’s really just for titling and both Andre Patterson and Adam Zimmer deserve it. Other than splitting some of the duties that Edwards shouldered, I can’t imagine too much else changes.

We all know Zimmer will be calling plays, no matter who has the Defensive Coordinator title.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

From our breaking news segment on @NFLGameDay: The #Browns have a new head coach in former #Vikings OC Kevin Stefanski. pic.twitter.com/5HjJDkMQzP

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 12, 2020

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Well, there you have it. No matter how bad his offense looked yesterday, it wasn’t enough to keep Kevin Stefanski from the Cleveland Browns Head Coaching job. Not only did the Browns have to actually choose Stefanski over Josh McDaniels and others, but he actually had to agree on going there… which he apparently has.

Congratulations to Kevin, and I wish him all the best…

Ask for the Vikings, this opens up the small possibility that Pat Shurmur comes back to OC 2021 BUT it’s much more likely the Vikings go with the succession plans they seem to have already put in place for this exit, which is fully handing the keys of this ship to Klint Kubiak, with his dad Gary riding shotgun.

Honestly, I’m happy for the distraction. It’s something to think about, beyond the depression of Saturday.. and I’m not afraid of losing Stefanski after what I saw yesterday.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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Liger, Man-Bear-Pig, Kubianski…  All of these things are in-fact awesome, but there is one, or should I say two, that are not like the others…

The 2018 Offensive Coordinator Job for the Vikings could have had its own original series on Netflix. After the Vikings were manhandled in the 2017 NFCCG by the Eagles, we seemed to panic a bit, sprinting to hire John DeFilippo as our new OC. Spielman & Co. thought John was the “missing piece” but the blinders were on and in retrospect, it was more of a hope and a prayer than anything else.  

DeFilippo looked like a genius, as the QB Coach of the defending SB Champs, but a lot of people ignored the fact that Doug Pederson called the plays, Frank Reich was his number 2 and then it was DeFilippo…  So was he a glorified coffee runner?  Some might say “maybe”, some may say “no way”, and others might come at you with a very vocal YES along with a quote along the lines of “did you watch the offense when he was calling the plays?”  

As I sarcastically answer back:  “What offense?”  I’ll see myself out….  

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After one last sputtering performance on the road in Seattle…  DeFilippo was fired.   It was clear that Coach Zimmer and DeFilippo weren’t on the same page, when it came to play calling.  Each week it seemed like Zimmer’s message was to run the ball, establish possession, and control the clock…  Game Day would come and we’d see a one-dimensional offense, zero running game, and a QB scrambling for his life.  Obviously it’s easy to point the finger at DeFilippo, because he was in-charge, but a combo of the bad OL, zero running game (because of that OL), and Cousins struggles to produce… eventually something had to give.

It was DeFilippos’s job.  John didn’t take long to land on his feet, though. He was hired as the Offensive Coordinator in Jacksonville, where he reunited with former SB Winner Nick Foles, who is also in his first season with the Jags.

Enter Kevin Stefanski.

When Kevin was hired, lot of people’s reactions were: “Who? Why? What?”

Obviously people had heard of Kevin, but why make a change during the season… especially to another (would be) first-year coordinator?  You have a 1st year QB and a 1st year OC… things take time. Why break that up so quickly?

Ohhhhh, it’s a business and the Vikings couldn’t wait around while employing a Super Bowl caliber roster.

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 Who is Kevin Stefanski?

As a coach –

– 2005 – Philadelphia Eagles

             (Operations Internship)

– 2005 – Penn

             (Assistant Director of football operations)

– 2006-2008 – Minnesota Vikings

              (Assistant to the Head Coach)

– 2009-2013 – Minnesota Vikings

               (Assistant QB Coach)

– 2014-2015 – Minnesota Vikings

                (TE’s Coach)

– 2016 – Minnesota Vikings

            (Running Backs Coach)

– 2017-2018 – Minnesota Vikings

             (QB Coach)

– 2018 – Minnesota Vikings

            (Interim Offensive Coordinator)

– 2019-Present – Minnesota Vikings

             (Offensive Coordinator)

Via (Wikipedia.com)

Talk about paying your dues…  Ahead of the Miami game, when Stefanski took over, the message was to run the ball more…  In the last 3 games of the 2018 season, the Vikings ran for 383 yards. However, a bulk of that came against Miami, where the Vikings were over 200 rushing yards. That’s an important detail because the running game under Stefanski wasn’t always clicking. In Week 17 for example, the Vikings struggled to top the 60 yard mark in the must-win game against the Bears (we lost).

Stefanski brings a lot of franchise knowledge, leadership, and experience; but as far as the OC job goes, he’s still green.

Enter Gary Kubiak.

Kubiak will serve as a mentor to Stefanski. He’ll be someone who can help him with some of the in’s and out’s of the business that is calling plays, as well as the brand ambassador for their new “zone running scheme”.  The Kubiak hire did come with a bit of a shock, given Kubiak’s track record as one of the best offensive minds in football, and there was the fact that the Vikings had just made a green Kevin Stefanski the full-time Offensive Coordinator.

Kubiak however, brings with him 27 years of coaching at both the college and pro levels, amassing 4 Super Bowl Rings (what really matters) in that time. The Kubiak addition doesn’t mean the team doesn’t trust Stefanski. It means they’re all-in. Both Spielman and Zimmer know the pressure is on in 2019-20, and they are pulling out all the stops to make sure they don’t disappoint.

Kubianski has been born.

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Brian Heintz | Minnesota Sports Fan

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Large dome filled with hot gas meets open flame ——>

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Once DeFilippo was gone, Kevin Stefanski got his first shot at play-calling duties to ride out the final 3 weeks of the 2018 season. He had mixed results..  A 41-point effort against Miami (they weren’t good), a 27 point game against Detroit (also not good) and then a 10 point clunker to finish the season against Chicago (they were good but their kicker sucks).

After Stefanski’s mediocre debut (running the offense of a lame-ass who lied to all of us. THANKS A LOT DEFILIPPO) Zimmer had to choose between giving Kevin the keys to the purple bus or risk losing him to another team. Zimmer opted to stick with Stefanski but made a move no one expected about a week later.

He hired Gary Kubiak as an assistant head coach/offensive analyst for 2019…. who has quite the offensive coaching resume…

The #Vikings added a 4-time Super Bowl champion coach to the staff yesterday with Gary Kubiak joining as assistant head coach/offensive advisor.

?: https://t.co/wkaj34tEPT pic.twitter.com/xcR65BJNtX

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 15, 2019

Yeah, THAT Gary Kubiak. The one who lead the Broncos to a Super Bowl win with 90-year-old Peyton Manning and Brock AF Osweiler. The offensive coordinator for the 1997 Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos and an assistant on two other Super Bowl winning teams. THAT FREAKING GARY KUBIAK.

Gary Kubiak won a Super Bowl with the corpse of Peyton Manning, turned Matt Schaub into a Pro Bowler, Arian Foster into an All-Pro and Terrell Davis into a Hall of Famer. Very solid get for the #Vikings.

— Andy (@AndyCarlsonShow) January 14, 2019

This is a massive move… and a deviation from where a bunch of other organizations are moving. No Sean McVay pupil. No hotshot college coach that is probably in over his head (I’m looking at you, Kliff Kingsbury).

The Vikings basically brought in a coach who invented a scheme that every NFL team is now trying to replicate or make a part of their offense. His play-actions and QB rollouts (both strengths of Cousins) are that of legend.

Kubiak is also considered a mentor to several of the young offensive minds in the NFL right now. Don’t try to make your own brand of offensive success. Go straight to the source! This will work, right? It has to for Mike Zimmer’s sake.

And here’s how it can:

So we don’t exactly know what Gary Kubiak’s role will entail as an offensive adviser, but given his coaching pedigree over nearly 3 decades, there are a few ways his influence could benefit the Vikings offense. https://t.co/dyIYfWs4FT

— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) January 18, 2019

Kubiak has been coaching in the NFL since 1994. He’s seen a lot of things as a QB coach, an offensive coordinator and a head coach. He’s worked with the ELITE like Steve Young, John Elway, and Peyton Manning. He’s also worked with the UMMM…. GOOD —> BELOW AVERAGE like Joe Flacco, Brock Osweiler, and Matt Schaub.

I’m going to spare you the rest of the list because it’s hideous.

Kubiak has continually shown an ability to adapt his schemes to his personnel. His offenses finished top-10 in both yards and points 9 out of 11 seasons while offensive coordinator in Denver from ’95-’05! Imagine how much roster turnover a team has during that span and yet Denver was still always top-10 in those categories.

He moved on to Houston where he took over a recovering expansion franchise that had yet to post a season with more than 7 wins. At QB, he was graced with a ruined David Carr and a…. Matt Schaub.

Yet he was able to bust his Texans’ offenses into the top-10 in both yards and points twice during his tenure in Houston (2 of final 3 – needed 4 years to turn it around). He went to Baltimore and used Joe Flacco to arm-punt his way to 12^TH in yards and 8^TH in points. The Kubiak style works. It has a track record of success.

Gary Kubiak’s past success in the run game could help boost the #Vikings offense.

?: https://t.co/W9u14qni8N pic.twitter.com/JULk120PwE

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 15, 2019

But that’s not the main thing Kubiak is known for. His offenses have thrived on zone running schemes. A scheme that needs athletic lineman, who are able to pull and move depending on the play and cut-back lane. The Vikings do not possess the talent on the offensive line to run through people. This is where the zone scheme comes into play.

Kubiak’s rushing offenses finished top-5 in yards 9 times in his first stint as offensive coordinator with the Broncos. Terrell Davis was a nobody 6-round draft pick before he ran under Kubiak’s offense.

How did Kubiak’s rushing offenses do as a head coach in Houston? Top-10 in 3 of his last 4 years.

Rick Dennison is a top 10 OL coach by the numbers (sacks allowed and tackle for loss). Very good hire by the Vikings bringing in Gary Kubiak and his boys. #Vikings offense should greatly improve next year. https://t.co/YH2tW3K9MZ

— Perez A. Burrows (@Perezident242) January 14, 2019

Now, another worry I’ve heard from Vikings nation:

Will Kubiak be able to coexist with Stefanski and not interfere?

Mike Zimmer’s preference has been to have former head coaches on his staff on the offensive side of the ball. With Norv Turner, he had Pat Shurmur. With Pat Shurmur, he had Tony Sparano. The plan was to have Sparano help John DeFilippo before his tragic passing in training camp. His loss was greatly felt throughout the season. The “assistant (offensive minded) head coach” allows Zimmer to keep both of his hands on his defense.

Zimmer can now use Kubiak as a wise mentor for Stefanski. He’s someone who knows every look Stefanski will see. He can also serve as a buffer between Zimmer and Stefanski, if needed. But make no mistake, Mike Zimmer is still in control of this team.

It’s a lot like the front seat situation when going on a road trip. Only one person can drive but isn’t it nice to have someone who handles the navigation and the music so you can stay focused on steering the ship in the right direction and not killing everyone aboard in the process?

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What if’s, Nightmares, and Unicorns:

Let’s get negative for a moment before we get back to positive. Kubiak could come in handy if the end of Vikings days as we know it were to happen.

If things go poorly this year and Zimmer is fired before the season is over, Kubiak is the logical choice to step in as head coach on an interim (and possibly longer) basis. He could then promote his son Klint to offensive coordinator (which is where Klint is heading eventually somewhere).

On the other hand, if things go well this year and Stefanski leaves for a promotion to head coach elsewhere, Kubiak could slot into offensive coordinator, or stay as an advisor while his son takes the offensive coordinator position. It is literally a win-win for Kubiak and all involved.

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The Vikings find themselves at a crossroads with massive expectations going forward.

Succeed and they will build off of what already looks to be a bright future with a lot of talent, while they look to cement themselves into the playoffs on a yearly basis.

If they suck then everyone is soon to be gone and the next head coach will carry the impossible burden of bringing Minnesota to a Super Bowl. Even if the title is weird and probably made up (Assistant to the Head Coach is more like it) you can never have enough brainpower in one building. And, Zimmer’s willingness to make this happens is a signal that he feels that too.

Seth Toupal | Minnesota Sports Fan

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