3 coaching candidates that would be disastrous hires for Vikings

That new car smell is in the air as the Minnesota Vikings are prepared to hand the keys over to a new general manager and head coach. Of course, that smell would quickly fade away if they hire the sort of people capable of driving the vehicle off a cliff.

They must get this right.

Zygi and Mark Wilf are already hard at work conducting interviews in hopes of finding the right GM to lead the team into the future. Once they’ve locked in that position, the GM will oversee the coaching hire to ensure the right chemistry is there for the two positions to work together in unison.

There have been several head coaching candidates that have either already interviewed for the job, or they’ve scheduled to come in at a later date. Today, we’ll look at the three candidates that would be disastrous hires as the new head coach for the Vikings.

List

3 pending free agents that should be no-brainer returns for Vikings

Dallas Cowboys DC Dan Quinn

Why not just keep Mike Zimmer at this point?

It would be baffling if the Vikings went through all of this drama of firing Zimmer just to replace him with Dan Quinn. No offense to Quinn, but the Dallas Cowboys defense was one of the most overhyped units in the league this season.

Micah Parsons was an absolute destroyer, and Trevon Diggs stole interceptions like Deebo did chains in the movie “Friday.” But both the run and pass defense ranked in the bottom-half of the league this season.

And they got run into the ground and absolutely blew it against the San Francisco 49ers on Super Wild Card Weekend.

I also hate to keep bringing this up, but that 28-3 comeback loss to the New England Patriots at Super Bowl LI was brutal. If I’m the Vikings, I don’t want that kind of bad luck hanging over this venture into what the team hopes to be a brighter future. No thank you!

Dallas Cowboys OC Kellen Moore

Kellen Moore has been an offensive coordinator now for three seasons, and he’s already being looked at as a possible head coaching candidate. I’m not trying to rain on the Moore parade, but that would be another mistake hire for the Vikings.

This is the type of decision you make when you like the new car smell too much.

Not every coach is going to be the next Sean McVay, and even he had more experience as an assistant in some capacity than Moore. The Vikings would essentially be treating this whole thing as a science experiment if they go in this direction.

I’m not so sure they want to do that with the team in win-now mode and quarterback Kirk Cousins’ contract coming due in 2023. There isn’t time to be playing around with a guy with only four years of NFL coaching experience. Moore could be an interesting option down the road, but for right now, he just needs more time (no pun intended).

Los Angeles Rams OC Kevin O’Connell

Kevin O’Connell is another one of those coaching candidates that doesn’t necessarily have the experience as some of the other options out there. That doesn’t mean he can’t do a great job, but it’s also a dangerous dice roll for a Vikings team that can’t afford to mess this hire up.

He’s only been an offensive coordinator in the NFL for three years, and the last two years have been spent on a Los Angeles Rams team armed to the teeth with talent. Sure, there’s a lot of talent in Minnesota as well, but it’s a completely different ballgame when you’re the one running the show.

The Vikings don’t have time for O’Connell to learn how to be a head coach on the fly. There’s too much at stake for this team in the coming years.

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