Minnesota Vikings News and Links, 1/1

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everybody! It's the first day of 2014, and the NFL playoffs will be underway in just a couple of days. The Minnesota Vikings coaching search will continue as well, and we'll have coverage of all of it as this off-season moves forward.

Since the last time we brought you an Open Thread. . .

-SB Nation put together their first "official" NFL Mock Draft of the off-season, and I think the player they've selected for Minnesota is going to have people divided.

-Arif has started what is probably going to be the longest post in DN history about all the potential coaching candidates. Keep an eye on it.

-One of those candidates is Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, who will interview with the team next week.

-It was a great year for us in 2013, and 2014 is going to be even better.

-Arif also doesn't like what Star-Tribune columnist Jim Souhan had to say about the team recently.

-We took a look at where head coaches come from. . .what their previous jobs were, anyway.

-The Minnesota Vikings had a couple of record-setters in 2013.

The rules of the Open Thread are the same as they've ever been, ladies and gentlemen. . .no politics, no religion, no feeding of the trolls, and keep the bad language to a minimum/use the spoiler tags if you feel that you absolutely must curse.

Here's your first musical selection for 2014.

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for the first day of 2014, ladies and gentlemen! Not sure how much we'll be adding over the course of the day today, but we hope that you enjoy your day and the Open Thread if you partake.