The Minnesota Vikings almost reunited with an old friend

In their recent search for a new offensive line coach, the Minnesota Vikings reportedly considered former head coach Mike Tice for the job.

From 2002 to 2005, Mike Tice was the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. Under Tice, the Vikings made the playoffs just once and never won more than nine games in a single season.

Some of his most memorable moments as Minnesota’s head coach are actually better forgotten. From the Randy Ratio, to the Vikings letting the draft clock expire in 2003, to the love boat scandal, Tice’s tenure with the team was far from great.

Since Minnesota let him go after the 2005 season, the coach has had stints with a number of teams around the NFL as an assistant including the Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, and Oakland Raiders.

During his time with the Bears, Falcons, and Raiders, Tice served as the offensive line coach for each team. A role that he was apparently in the running for with the Vikings during the team’s recent search to replace the late Tony Sparano.

Minnesota Vikings

NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported on Saturday that Minnesota expressed interest in Tice becoming the team’s new offensive line coach, but a deal could not be reached. My oh my, that would have been something.

Instead of adding Tice to their current staff, the Vikings decided to promote from within and revealed that Clancy Barone and Andrew Janocko are now the team’s co-offensive line coaches for 2018. It’s not really a surprise that Minnesota filled Sparano’s void on the staff with two people that were already with the organization.

Tice would have certainly been an interesting hire, but Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer expressed on Saturday that he wanted the team to continue forward with the same schemes that Sparano had been implementing.

With Barone and Janocko, Zimmer clearly feels these two are the best options to lead Minnesota’s offensive line in 2018.