Courtesy of Vikings Ryan Ficken leaves the Vikings for the special teams coordinator position with the Los Angeles Rams.
The Minnesota Vikings will need to rehire at least two of their coordinators this offseason under a new regime.
Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak accepted a job as the Denver Broncos‘ quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported, while special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken will take over the same role with the Los Angeles Chargers.
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Ficken Dramatically Improved Special Teams in Minnesota
Ficken was promoted to special teams coordinator after 14 years as an assistant in Minnesota. He endured the highs and lows of the team’s special teams plays under three different coaches before taking over following the Vikings deciding not to retain Marwan Maalouf last offseason.
At the time of Ficken’s promotion, Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen, a former special teams star turned Pro Bowl talent, touted his approval of the decision.
Ficken can be credited with turning around the Vikings’ 31st ranked special teams unit from 2020. Under Ficken’s direction, Minnesota improved its special teams play dramatically, rising to the No. 13 rank in Football Outsider’s special teams DVOA.
C.J Ham replied to the announcement on Twitter, saying the Chargers “got a real good one.”
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Kubiak Polarizing Among Fans
Kubiak was hired as the Vikings’ offensive coordinator following his father, Gary Kubiak, retiring from the position after the 2020 season.
Klint was put into an awkward predicament with many analysts speculating that Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman’s job laid on his shoulders.
“Coach Mike Zimmer will be under pressure to win next year, and a bad season could result in everyone getting fired. That’s a lot of extra pressure on a new offensive coordinator,” Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio wrote in January 2020.
However, under Klint, the Vikings offense produced and managed to keep the team competitive with the defense’s shortcomings. Poor decision-making, either by Klint or Zimmer, overshadowed the production Kubiak engineered for the team.
Klint saw many highs and lows in his first season of play-calling. He was the highest-graded offensive play-caller by Pro Football Focus through the first three weeks. However, the offense lacked consistency throughout the season and failed to put teams away.
Klint was the team’s quarterbacks coach for two seasons before being promoted to offensive coordinator and has the longest established rapport with quarterback Kirk Cousins.
He attested that Cousins’ mastery of the playbook allowed the offense to open up more as the season progressed.
“I think we’ve evolved it a little bit just because he can handle so much,” Kubiak said of Cousins in an October 14 press conference. “He can handle a lot. He can probably handle even more than we’re giving him. He’s been so dialed in and can’t say enough about his leadership this year.”
However, success did not follow as Cousins fizzled out in the season’s final six games when he averaged a 96.7 passer rating and threw 12 touchdowns and five interceptions, compared to his 21-2 touchdown-interception ratio through the first 11 games of the season.