Did the Vikings actually want Gary Kubiak to be their offensive coordinator?

Some recent comments by Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer suggest that the team had interest in Gary Kubiak leading their offense next season before promoting Kevin Stefanski.

When the Minnesota Vikings revealed that Kevin Stefanski had been promoted to be the team’s full-time offensive coordinator for 2019, the news didn’t come as much of a surprise. Stefanski has been a long-time member of the Vikings’ coaching staff and promoting him seemed like an easy move for the team to make.

The surprise came when Minnesota later announced that they were adding former NFL head coach Gary Kubiak to their staff as an offensive advisor.

Given Kubiak’s background in running successful offenses, the Vikings’ decision to bring him aboard was mostly viewed in a positive light. Still, some have wondered why Minnesota chose to add him to the staff after picking Stefanski to be their new offensive coordinator.

Well, based on some recent comments by Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, the team might have actually wanted Kubiak to be their new offensive coordinator prior to giving Stefanski the job.

During a recent interview with NFL Network’s Steve Marriuci and Melissa Stark, Zimmer was asked to explain how Kubiak ended up being added to Minnesota’s coaching staff this year.

"“Right after the season, I talked to Gary to see if he might be interested. He said he was interested, but then he said, ‘they’re trying to do something with me here in Denver and I’ll get back to you if it doesn’t work out.’ Then I heard that it wasn’t going to work out (in Denver) for whatever reason. So we got on the phone, we got him in here the next day. It’s been unbelievable so far.”"

Zimmer revealing that the Vikings spoke to Kubiak, “right after the season,” would seem to indicate that the team had interest in him becoming their offensive coordinator for 2019.

But like Minnesota’s head coach said, Kubiak first had to figure out if the Broncos wanted him on their coaching staff for next season. It appeared that the former NFL head coach was going to join Denver’s staff to run their offense in 2019, so the Vikings did what was necessary and moved on to interviewing other potential offensive coordinator candidates.

With Kubiak out of the picture, Minnesota opted to stick with Stefanski to run their offense next season. But it’s hard to believe that the Vikings would have picked Stefanski for the job over Kubiak if both were available at the same time.

Either way, Minnesota was still able to add the former head coach to their 2019 staff and his expertise should be a big help in getting the team’s offense back on track next season.