Vikings Coaches

With the consistent recycling of coaches in today's NFL it's tough to maintain continuity on a coaching staff. The Minnesota Vikings escaped from last month's coaching churn mostly unscathed. 7-9 teams don't often have their coaching staff raided. The Vikings did lose two assistants to assistant coaches. Assistant receivers coach Klint Kubiak left to become the receivers coach at the University of Kansas. Assistant defensive line coach Robb Akey left to become the defensive line coach for the Washington Redskins. The Vikings promoted coaching assistant Drew Petzing to assist George Stewart with receivers. Defensive line coach Andre Patterson has to go it alone this year as the Vikings decided not to hire anyone to replace Akey. Coaching continuity is a good thing. That's true only if the coaches are good at what they do. Coaching continuity is especially true for a team as young as this Vikings team.

Here is the 2015 Minnesota Vikings coaching staff:

Head Coach: Mike Zimmer
Offensive Coordinator: Norv Turner
Defensive Coordinator: George Edwards
Special Teams Coordinator: Mike Priefer
Quarterbacks: Scott Turner
Running backs: Kirby Wilson
Receivers: George Stewart
Tight ends: Kevin Stefanski
Offensive line: Jeff Davidson
Defensive line: Andre Patterson
Linebackers: Adam Zimmer
Defensive backs: Jerry Gray
Assistant Offensive line: Hank Fraley
Assistant Receivers: Drew Petzing
Assistant Defensive backs: Jonathan Gannon
Assistant Special Teams: Ryan Ficken
Defensive Assistant: Jeff Howard
Strength and Conditioning: Evan Marcus
Assistant Strength and Conditioning: Jeff Hurd

As long as Mike Zimmer is coaching the Vikings, and I expect that to be a long and successful tenure, the defense is his. It's his baby. Maybe he eventually gives up game day calls but the defense will always be that of his vision. The Vikings are likely in a very good place on offense. Norv Turner is at a point in his career where his next move is retirement. And that is a few years away. Quarterbacks coach Scott Turner is his son. Junior Turner is young and learning on the job. If everything proceeds naturally he might be ready to assume control of the offense when his father is ready for football retirement. That's a smooth transition. That sort of continuity would be beautiful for the maturation of quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

The coaches that I can see leaving for career advancement in the coming years are Mike Priefer, Kirby Wilson, and Jerry Gray. Priefer interviewed for the Chicago Bears head coaching job a couple of years ago. Wilson got some interest for offensive coordinator jobs this offseason. That should continue. Gray would be a rough loss. He's been a defensive coordinator before. If the Vikings secondary continues to show improvement in the coming years, he'll likely get another shot.

The Vikings have a solid group of coaches. It's a nice mix of experienced teachers and young minds.