Minnesota Vikings running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu did some play-calling in the past when he was the offensive coordinator for UCLA.
After a promising start to the season with Klint Kubiak calling the plays, the offense of the Minnesota Vikings hasn’t come close to looking lethal during their last few games.
During the first three weeks of the 2021 campaign, the Vikings averaged 425 total yards and 29 points per matchup. In their five games since then, Minnesota saw their total yards average dip to 305, and their points per game average dropped to just 21.4.
It seems like something happened after that Week 3 win over the Seattle Seahawks because the Vikings offense hasn’t ever been the same since. Kubiak’s play-calling has definitely taken a turn for the worst, and after the last few weeks, it’s difficult to be optimistic about Minnesota’s offense getting back to how they performed earlier in the season.
Should the Minnesota Vikings take away play-calling duties from Klint Kubiak?
Kubiak is not only a first-time offensive coordinator this year, but he’s also a first-time offensive play-caller as well. The Vikings thought he was capable of running an offense, but it’s beginning to become more and more clear that he’s not.
But Minnesota’s problem is that they don’t have many options to replace Kubiak as their offensive play-caller.
Vikings running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu is really the only member of the team’s staff who has done some offensive play-calling during his coaching career. When Polamalu was the UCLA offensive coordinator in 2016, he had the opportunity to call the plays.
UCLA’s offense wasn’t super explosive when the Minnesota running backs coach was calling the plays (96th in scoring). But at the very least, Polamalu has actual experience when it comes to running an offense (USC offensive coordinator from 2010-2012 too), which is something Kubiak wasn’t able to say until a few weeks ago.
So should the Vikings hand over their offensive play-calling duties to Polamalu sooner than later and see if he can make a difference? Or should they give Kubiak a few more chances to redeem himself before they decide to pull the plug on him running their offense?