Fred Pagac Is No Longer the Vikings’ Defensive Coordinator

Fred Pagac is no longer dangling like a lonely Christmas ornament. On Friday the Vikings finally pulled the trigger on the defensive coordinator, ending weeks of non-suspense. Pagac was offered the chance to stay on as linebackers coach but it’s not yet known if he’ll accept. Current LB coach Mike Singletary is believed to be a candidate to take over for Pagac as DC.

Pagac’s legacy as defensive coordinator is one of failure and slow disintegration. This wasn’t entirely Pagac’s fault. A lot of bad crap happened to the defense in 2011, including a ton of injuries, a bunch of aging players going over the cliff, Chris Cook getting himself unofficially suspended with pay after a domestic assault and just overall undisciplined play. Pagac himself came under fire after it was revealed that on more than one occasion his players ignored his instructions, instead calling their own plays in the huddle. Leslie Frazier was on at least two occasions forced to take over play-calling duties from Pagac.

The writing was on the wall for Pagac from the second the news came out about the players disrespecting him. Was it fair for his tenure to come to such an ignominious end? Like I said before, a lot of the stuff that happened wasn’t his fault. But it’s also obvious that, whatever his virtues, Pagac is far from a defensive mastermind. And a defensive mastermind was what the Vikings would’ve needed this year to overcome their various travails.

Some of us are still holding out hope that the team can find a guru to give this defense the rebuild it needs, but with the top notch DC candidates all going elsewhere, that hope is beginning to get dim. At this moment Singletary seems to be the leading candidate, but I think most of us agree that promoting Singletary would be a terrible move for this team.

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