Minnesota Vikings To Interview Pat Shurmur

With the departure of running backs coach Kirby Wilson to the Cleveland Browns, the Minnesota Vikings have a vacancy on their coaching staff. They're bringing someone in for an interview, but on the surface, it doesn't appear that he's a fit for the position.

According to numerous sources, including 1500 ESPN in the Twin Cities, the Vikings are set to bring Pat Shurmur in for an interview. Shurmur has been an NFL coach for fifteen years, but has not spent any of those seasons coaching running backs, which makes the Vikings' interest in him a bit curious.

Shurmur's calling card over the years has been with quarterbacks. He served as the quarterbacks coach of the Philadelphia Eagles under Andy Reid from 2002 to 2008, having spent the three years prior to that as the team's tight ends coach. He then moved on to be the offensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams in 2009 and 2010, and then went on to be the head coach of the Cleveland Browns for two years, compiling a record of 9-23. After being fired by the Browns after the 2012 season, he returned to Philadelphia to be the offensive coordinator for Chip Kelly. He held that job until the last game of this past season, when he served as the Eagles' interim head coach following Kelly's firing.

Again, I'm not sure where Shurmut might fit into Mike Zimmer's staff, but at first blush it doesn't appear he's here to talk about the running back coach position. Perhaps he's coming in as some sort of a "passing game coordinator" or something along those lines.

Shurmur will be interviewing with the Vikings on Friday. He has drawn interest from several other teams, including the Los Angeles Rams. Hopefully by Friday afternoon we'll know more about this whole situation and what the Vikings' interest in Shurmur is.