Former Vikings head coach interviews for open job in AFC West

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Chargers completed an interview for their head-coaching vacancy with former Minnesota Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier.

Almost a decade to the day that his tenure as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings came to an end in 2013, Leslie Frazier is still attempting to get a second shot at being an NFL head coach.

The Los Angeles Chargers are one of more than a handful of teams around the league in need of a new head coach for the 2024 season, and on Sunday, they announced that they had completed an interview with Frazier for their current opening.

Heading into the 2023 season, the Chargers had high expectations, with quarterback Justin Herbert leading the way. But things went terribly wrong for Los Angeles, and before eventually finishing with a 5-12 record, they decided to fire Brandon Staley as their head coach with three games still left on their 2023 schedule.

Does former Minnesota Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier have any shot at get the Los Angeles Chargers job?

Ever since the Chargers announced the firing of Staley back in December, there has been one person consistently mentioned as the favorite to fill the opening, and his name is not Leslie Frazier.

Current Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is someone who has been viewed as the top target for Los Angeles's head-coaching vacancy.

In fact, the Chargers will reportedly be the first NFL team to interview Harbaugh for a head coach job this offseason, according to a recent report from ESPN.

With this expected to happen in the near future, how much of a chance does Frazier have to become the next head coach for Los Angeles?

Well, first, things would probably have to fall apart with Harbaugh. He might be the favorite, but remember that something similar was assumed when he interviewed with the Vikings in 2022, and he wound up not getting the job.

Then the Chargers would have to be fine with hiring another defensive-minded head coach despite just signing Herbert to a very lucrative contract.

The chances of all of this happening don't seem very high, meaning Frazier's next opportunity to be an NFL head coach won't be coming with Los Angeles.

Frazier originally took over as Minnesota's interim head coach after Brad Childress was fired midway through the 2010 season. He ended up doing enough during a short amount of time that the Vikings wound up just removing the interim tag in 2011, and they made him their new head coach.

Minnesota went 3-13 in his first season in 2011, 10-6 with a first-round playoff exit in year two, and then a disappointing 5-10-1 record finish in 2013 resulted in the Vikings firing Frazier as their head coach.

Since his time with Minnesota, the 64-year-old coach has spent time on the coaching staffs of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Baltimore Ravens, and Buffalo Bills.