3 Vikings coaches find jobs with new teams

With the Minnesota Vikings (apparently) having made the decision to make Kevin O’Connell the tenth head coach in franchise history, some of the coaches from Mike Zimmer’s staff that remained with the team are finding jobs in new locales.

Most notable among them is the team’s offensive coordinator in 2021, Klint Kubiak. After just one year as the team’s OC, having taken over from his father, Gary, Kubiak has been hired as the passing game coordinator for the Denver Broncos. Kubiak will join new head coach Nathaniel Hackett in designing the new offense in Denver for whoever might be their quarterback in 2022.

Another coordinator, special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken, has moved on to the same position with the Los Angeles Chargers. Ficken did a solid job as the special teams coach this past season, and will now be charged with helping to turn around a special teams unit that has also been plagued with problems in recent years.

One of Zimmer’s former coaches is moving on to a division rival, as Andrew Janocko has agreed to be the new quarterbacks coach of the Chicago Bears. Janocko served in that same capacity with the Vikings this past season and had been with the Vikings for the past seven seasons, serving in various different coaching capacities during that time. He will now get an opportunity to help Justin Field recover from whatever the hell that was Matt Nagy did to him in his rookie season.

Because these are lateral moves, the Vikings could have prevented these moves from happening. However, with a new coach (apparently) on the way in and likely already having people in mind for these different jobs, it wouldn’t serve any real purpose to prevent these coaches from continuing their careers in different locations.

Best of luck to Klint Kubiak, Ryan Ficken, and Andrew Janocko going forward. . .except, of course, for when their teams play the Vikings.