3 reasons why the Vikings made the right call with Gary Kubiak

Continuity

It was clear for all to see that any complete change in the Vikings offense would have been detrimental to the fortunes of Kirk Cousins, who is heading into the final year of his $84 million deal with plenty of questions surrounding his future.

While Kevin Stefanski got the credit for the quarterback’s best season of his career, Gary Kubiak also generated considerable praise for contributing to a playbook that played to Minnesota’s strengths, utilizing both Dalvin Cook and Cousins to full effect with almost instant results.

If the Vikings controlled the game with the run early on, then the play-action passes and deep opportunities also brought a level of explosiveness to the offense that had been missing since the days of Brett Favre. Although, the relative predictability of Minnesota’s offense eventually ended up costing them against the 49ers’ vaunted defense in the divisional round this year.

Kubiak will now have the opportunity to make the tweaks he wants and perhaps become more creative with the tools he has at his disposal, which will likely see the prospect of Adam Thielen, Stefon Diggs, Kyle Rudolph, and Irv Smith Jr. seeing more of the football going forward.

The Vikings’ new offensive coordinator knows these players, what they bring to the table, and what their weaknesses are. So making Kubiak fully in charge of the offense now not only represents a sensible move from Mike Zimmer, but it’s also one that can open up the offense even more providing the much-maligned offensive line improves.

Whether this is done by developing players already on the roster, selecting young talent in the draft, or looking at the options available in free agency remains to be seen. But as long as this is addressed, then there is no reason why Kubiak cannot make a success of his latest chance in a prominent position of leadership.