REPORT: Kevin Stefanski not returning to Vikings in 2019

The interim offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings this past season will not be re-signing with the team for 2019 according to a recent report.

When Mike Zimmer took over as the head coach for the Minnesota Vikings in 2014, he didn’t completely clean house when he was building his coaching staff. Zimmer kept a number of Vikings coaches from the previous season around, including Kevin Stefanski.

Stefanski had worked under Minnesota’s previous two head coaches, Leslie Frazier and Brad Childress, and Zimmer clearly felt he was worthy enough to keep around on his staff.

Well now, after spending the 2018 season as the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach and their interim offensive coordinator for the team’s final three games, Stefanski has decided to move on from the franchise according to the Pioneer Press’ Charley Walters on Saturday.

This was a choice made by the longtime Minnesota assistant and not by the team according to Walters. So it sounds as if whoever the Vikings hire to run their offense next season is likely going to be someone who wasn’t with the staff in 2018.

That person could potentially be Mike Mularkey.

Also included in Walters’ report on Saturday was the notion that Mularkey has emerged as a serious candidate to become Minnesota’s new offensive coordinator.

Mularkey, last seen in the NFL as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans, has run the offenses for a number of teams around the league during his career including the Atlanta Falcons, Miami Dolphins, and Pittsburgh Steelers. With him calling the plays in 2010, the Falcons had the NFL’s fourth-best scoring offense.

With the news that Stefanski is not expected to return in 2019, another domino has fallen in the Vikings’ search for their next offensive coordinator. It also pretty much guarantees that Minnesota will have their fifth different offensive coordinator since Zimmer was hired in 2014.