For the last seven years, Mike Zimmer has been the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. Zimmer’s tenure with the Vikings is the third-longest in the franchise’s history behind Dennis Green (10 seasons) and Bud Grant (18 seasons).
Before Minnesota brought in Zimmer, Leslie Frazier was the guy who held the job from 2011 to 2013. Under Frazier, the Vikings finished with less than six wins in a season twice, and they made the playoffs once on the back of an Adrian Peterson MVP campaign.
Since his departure from Minnesota, Frazier has floated around the NFL as an assistant coach, and he’s currently the defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills.
Former Minnesota Vikings head coach close to landing a new job?
While helping the Bills prepare to pull off the upset over the Kansas City Chiefs in this weekend’s AFC Championship, Frazier recently spent some time interviewing with the Houston Texans for their current head coach opening.
Following his interview with the Texans, it is believed by the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson that Frazier is “under heavy consideration,” for the head coaching vacancy in Houston along with current Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.
The Texans have interviewed a variety of different candidates during the last few weeks in addition to Frazier including Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady, former Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, and former NFL quarterback Josh McCown.
Set to turn 62-years-old in April, Frazier would immediately be one of the oldest head coaches in the league if he landed the job with Houston. But age clearly doesn’t seem to be a factor in the Texans’ search, especially since the former Minnesota head coach appears to be one of the favorites to fill the opening.
Houston also doesn’t seem to care about Frazier’s lack of success in his previous head coaching stint with the Vikings in which the team won less than 40 percent of their games with him in charge. This is understandable though since there are a number of successful head coaches around the NFL today who struggled during their first opportunity to be a head coach such as Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll.
Why the Vikings should pursue Eric Bieniemy to run their offense
Could the Minnesota Vikings convince Eric Bieniemy to leave the Kansas City Chiefs and become their new offensive coordinator?
When they eventually make their decision, will the Texans decide to go with the former Minnesota head coach to lead their team for the next few seasons?