2020 Vikings Small News Thread (News of players with no threads)

[pacofunk64]

Same. Teddy seems like a GREAT dude, but he's a terrible QB.

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Nah Teddy isn't terrible but just average. Maybe even below average. He can't throw down the field and that really limits an offense. Great backup QB or to bridge a gap but like Case, you should not rely to be your starter.

[VCU4LIFEGOVIKS]

Nah Teddy isn't terrible but just average. Maybe even below average. He can't throw down the field and that really limits an offense. Great backup QB or to bridge a gap but like Case, you should not rely to be your starter.

Great kid but definitely a below average NFL QB in my book. I'd personally consider him a solid backup QB but that's about it.

[vikingsfan0845]

Broncos hired George Paton as their GM. It’ll be interesting to see how many members of the FO follow him to Denver.


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[pacofunk64]

Broncos hired George Paton as their GM. It’ll be interesting to see how many members of the FO follow him to Denver.


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Sounds like a pretty big loss but hopefully one that we are well prepared fill. Patton has interviewed and declined GM positions the past several years so we knew it was likely just a matter of time.

Like do everything in our power to keep Rob B.

[VCU4LIFEGOVIKS]

GARY KUBIAK
Jan 21, 2021, 4:33 PM ET

Vikings OC Gary Kubiak is retiring at the age of 59.

Coaching nearly continuously in the NFL since 1994, Kubiak originally retired due to health issues following the 2016 season. He returned as an instrumental advisor to then Vikings OC Kevin Stefanski in 2019 before being convinced to replace Stefanski in 2020. All in all, Kubiak has spent 36 years in the league, including 10 as a head coach. A Mike Shanahan disciple, Kubiak had Shanahan-type success with the way he designed zone run games and managed quarterbacks. He was criticized for being a little too old fashioned in Minnesota, but he was working under coach Mike Zimmer's orders, while the approach was largely successful. Kubiak's second retirement means Zimmer will be moving onto his sixth offensive coordinator in six years. Vikings QBs coach/Gary's son Klint Kubiak is apparently the initial favorite to take over.

Let's see what ya got, Klint

[vikingsfan0845]

GARY KUBIAK
Jan 21, 2021, 4:33 PM ET



Let's see what ya got, Klint

I hope Klint gets the job. Hoping he continues to the run same offense as his dad but with a little bit of a modern touch to it. Whatever that might be lol My only concern is going to be how much freedom Zim will give him, which I doubt will be much. That's my only gripe with Zimmer is that he appears to be too controlling on how much we should be running the ball. Hopefully this is the year we pass a little bit more.

[goingfor28]

7th new OC in 7 years incoming. Jeez.

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[VCU4LIFEGOVIKS]

I hope Klint gets the job. Hoping he continues to the run same offense as his dad but with a little bit of a modern touch to it. Whatever that might be lol My only concern is going to be how much freedom Zim will give him, which I doubt will be much. That's my only gripe with Zimmer is that he appears to be too controlling on how much we should be running the ball. Hopefully this is the year we pass a little bit more.

That's probably my major gripe with Zimmer too. He appears to be a micro manager that is obsessed with running the ball which makes the offense very predictable at times. I feel like in so many games the offense looks stagnant for the first three quarters and then when we have to open things up because we are behind it looks great. Zimmer really needs to be open to other ideas when it comes to the offense. It would be one thing if his coaching philosophy had won the Vikings a Super Bowl or even actually got us to one but it hasn't done much outside of some wins against the Saints in the playoffs. He really needs to let go of some control and let/trust the experts he's hired do their jobs. The sign of a good leader is to know when to trust your employees to do their jobs. Why hire someone if you can't trust them to do what's best for your company.

[VCU4LIFEGOVIKS]

7th new OC in 7 years incoming. Jeez.

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Definitely not a good look. At some point the front office has to take a look at the one constant in the situation and address it.

[iliketurtles24]

0 super bowls.

[vikingsfan0845]

Definitely not a good look. At some point the front office has to take a look at the one constant in the situation and address it.

I don't think you can blame that on Zimmer. Shurmur and Stefanski were very successful here and took HC jobs. Kubiak was successful. Not much you can do when the guy wants to retire again. John DeFilippo is the only OC who bombed out.

[mngopher35]

That's probably my major gripe with Zimmer too. He appears to be a micro manager that is obsessed with running the ball which makes the offense very predictable at times. I feel like in so many games the offense looks stagnant for the first three quarters and then when we have to open things up because we are behind it looks great. Zimmer really needs to be open to other ideas when it comes to the offense. It would be one thing if his coaching philosophy had won the Vikings a Super Bowl or even actually got us to one but it hasn't done much outside of some wins against the Saints in the playoffs. He really needs to let go of some control and let/trust the experts he's hired do their jobs. The sign of a good leader is to know when to trust your employees to do their jobs. Why hire someone if you can't trust them to do what's best for your company.

I covered this in a post that focused on our approach this season and the early season issues relying on Kirk to riding Cook hard and our turnaround. Look even further though and we see that the time we made the playoffs with Kirk Cousins in the two years prior we also relied heavily on the run game while relying on him to manage moreso (team had 466 passes compared to 606 when we missed). A lot of this has to do with our personnel and the way that the team is currently designed and what is effective for us. I would agree this is an issue... If it wasn't the main reason for us having success. Just because it isn't winning super bowls doesn't mean throwing more is better, that leads to not even making the playoffs. If we had an improved QB, better oline and our running game weren't as strong then sure it would make more sense but we have a statue who is behind a below average pass blocking line and a high level running game.

I think Stefanski was very good here. Mayber Zimmer did step in at some point this year with Kubiak but as I noted when we really force fed Dalvin our season turned around from earlier on relying less on him and a bit more on the passing game. I think the context matters here and it actually points to this approach leading to our success.

[pacofunk64]

Definitely not a good look. At some point the front office has to take a look at the one constant in the situation and address it.

I don't think you can blame that on Zimmer. Shurmur and Stefanski were very successful here and took HC jobs. Kubiak was successful. Not much you can do when the guy wants to retire again. John DeFilippo is the only OC who bombed out.

This in part is why they say teams should hire offensive minded coaches now. Less chance of losing an OC but generally the HC is the one calling the shots. Defensive coaches aren't as in demand but it shows that with our great defenses since Zim we haven't lost anyone outside of Edwards and that was just last year.

Klint Kubiak, who I think will get the OC job, will unfortunately have great success and then leave (not unfortunate that we'll be good on offense). Because he is young, comes from a good coach line with his dad.

[VCU4LIFEGOVIKS]

I covered this in a post that focused on our approach this season and the early season issues relying on Kirk to riding Cook hard and our turnaround. Look even further though and we see that the time we made the playoffs with Kirk Cousins in the two years prior we also relied heavily on the run game while relying on him to manage moreso (team had 466 passes compared to 606 when we missed). A lot of this has to do with our personnel and the way that the team is currently designed and what is effective for us. I would agree this is an issue... If it wasn't the main reason for us having success. Just because it isn't winning super bowls doesn't mean throwing more is better, that leads to not even making the playoffs. If we had an improved QB, better oline and our running game weren't as strong then sure it would make more sense but we have a statue who is behind a below average pass blocking line and a high level running game.

I think Stefanski was very good here. Mayber Zimmer did step in at some point this year with Kubiak but as I noted when we really force fed Dalvin our season turned around from earlier on relying less on him and a bit more on the passing game. I think the context matters here and it actually points to this approach leading to our success.

I think we may view success differently. For me success isn't making the playoffs and winning one game at most and then getting destroyed in the next game by being underprepared, out coached and out played. I view success by Super Bowls. So I would not consider Mike Zimmer and the Vikings successful.

Let me ask you this, what would you do to make this team more successful? Would it be to keep doing what we have been doing? Seems like a lot of people here believe that will work.

I personally think Stefanski is a great coach and he showed it this year. I believe he was hindered by Zimmer when it comes to offensive play calling and that he should probably be our HC. Just like we should have fired Childress and kept Tomlin.

[vikingsfan0845]

I covered this in a post that focused on our approach this season and the early season issues relying on Kirk to riding Cook hard and our turnaround. Look even further though and we see that the time we made the playoffs with Kirk Cousins in the two years prior we also relied heavily on the run game while relying on him to manage moreso (team had 466 passes compared to 606 when we missed). A lot of this has to do with our personnel and the way that the team is currently designed and what is effective for us. I would agree this is an issue... If it wasn't the main reason for us having success. Just because it isn't winning super bowls doesn't mean throwing more is better, that leads to not even making the playoffs. If we had an improved QB, better oline and our running game weren't as strong then sure it would make more sense but we have a statue who is behind a below average pass blocking line and a high level running game.

I think Stefanski was very good here. Mayber Zimmer did step in at some point this year with Kubiak but as I noted when we really force fed Dalvin our season turned around from earlier on relying less on him and a bit more on the passing game. I think the context matters here and it actually points to this approach leading to our success.

While you're completely right about our OL and the pass protection issues, I still think we need to throw more. It's already been proven throwing the ball is more efficient and leads to more points. I don't have any problem being a team that relies on defense and a tough running game to win games. Zimmer is a defensive guru so I trust what his mind thinks is a good way to attack defenses. But regardless, to get ahead in games, you're better off throwing the football. The Vikings have never lost a game under Zimmer when leading going into the 4th quarter. He has a great record when scoring 21+ points on offense. We have multiple play makers in the passing game, including Cook. To me, our offense would be most effective running a ton of play action. We were only 14th in play action attempts last year. We should be top 5. Play action is already proven to be effective regardless of how effective your run game is so you have to think the Vikings could be/should be one of the best in the NFL every year running play action. Play action had the highest EPA of all offensive plays in 2020. It's becoming the most valuable play. And with Cousins, he's actually not a statue. He's actually kinda mobile and he's really good rolling out. I started to notice in the 2nd half of 2020 Cousins was starting to get better in the pocket and he was even running more. Cousins had a 4 week stretch from week 12 to week 15 where he ran for 97 yards. That's more than he ran for the entire 2019 season. 4 runs of 10 yards or more. He threw 9 TDs in those games. 3 of the 4 we scored 24+ and the only game we didn't was the Dan Bailey debacle. So while our bread and butter will be the wide zone runs with Cook, I think implementing more play action and allowing Cousins to roll out more will help take this offense to another level. Plus with play action your causing the defense to hesitate a moment, which should only help out our OL more and rolling out Cousins eliminates dealing with pressure from coming up the middle, which is our OL's biggest weakness. So basically lets keep the same philosophy we've been going with but throw in a lot more action.