It’s official, Pat Shurmur is no longer with the Minnesota Vikings

The former Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator was formally introduced on Friday as the new head coach of the New York Giants.

It has been known for quite awhile now that Pat Shurmur was not going to be around in 2018 with the Minnesota Vikings. Under his guidance, the Vikings’ offense saw a tremendous improvement this past season from what the team put out on the field in 2016.

Despite not having the services of quarterback Sam Bradford or running back Dalvin Cook for the majority of the year, Shurmur made the best of the personnel that was actually healthy and Minnesota was still able to be productive on offense.

Due to the Vikings having success on the offensive side of the ball in 2017, Shurmur became a target by teams around the league that were in need of a new head coach. He interviewed with a number of franchises during Minnesota’s first-round playoff bye including the Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, and New York Giants.

Prior to the Vikings’ matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship, reports began to circulate about Shurmur agreeing to become the Giants next head coach. Those reports were confirmed a day after Minnesota’s NFC Championship loss when New York officially announced that he had been selected to fill the vacancy.

Minnesota Vikings

On Friday, Shurmur was formally introduced as the Giants new head coach to the New York media. Before answering a few questions, Shurmur thanked the Vikings for his past two years with the team.

"“I’d like to thank the Minnesota Vikings. We went there two years ago and quickly became very close to the people up there. Mark and Zygi Wilf, obviously Kevin Warren, Rob Brzezinski, George Paton, and then certainly along the way Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer.They are an outstanding organization. I want to thank the players, as well. They are an old‑school operation with an eye on the future, and they do it right. And if we’re going to get to where we need to be, at some point we’re going to have to play them and beat them. So that’ll be a challenge for us.”"

Shurmur said that he plans to call the plays for the Giants’ offense but that he will also be hiring an offensive coordinator. He is reportedly interested in current Minnesota quarterbacks coach Kevin Stefanski for the job, but so are the Vikings for their own offensive coordinator vacancy.

Next: 4 possible candidates to replace Pat Shurmur next season

New York is not one of Minnesota’s scheduled opponents for the 2018 regular season. So if the Vikings were to face Shurmur and the Giants next year, it would have to come during the playoffs.