Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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The 59-year-old Kubiak last week was non-committal on his future with the Vikings.
"Well, I've enjoyed it. I'm kind of a year-to-year at this stage of my life, I think, as a football coach," Kubiak said when asked about his future. "But I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed working with the players; I love calling games.
"That's the way I grew up. It's interesting. I'll tell you, I've had my opportunity to be a head coach and I enjoyed that, but it was really fun to be one of the guys again, if that makes any sense," Kubiak added. "Back in that room, teaching and being one of the fellas, so I appreciate Zim' and [Vikings General Manager] Rick [Spielman] giving me a chance to do that, I've enjoyed it."
Kubiak heavily influenced the Vikings offense during his first season in Minnesota before making it his own in 2020.
The Vikings offense ranked fourth overall in yards per game (393.3) and finished 11th overall in points at 26.9 per game in 2020.
Zimmer said he is a big fan of the roots of Kubiak's system, which includes zone runs and deep shots down the field on play-action passes.
"Let's not deal with what-ifs yet. Let's wait and see what happens, then we can figure all that stuff out," Zimmer said. "But I will say this: I love the scheme that we're running offensively, I love the wide zone offense, I love the play-action passes. All those things.
"A coach told me one time that your offense should be what your quarterback is best at. And that's what I feel Kirk [Cousins] is best at," Zimmer added. "Those kinds of things are what makes him really good. So to me, that is really important."
Maalouf was in charge of Minnesota's special teams for the past two seasons, but that phase struggled with inconsistencies, especially in 2020.
"I really don't want to get into the specifics too much on that," Zimmer said. "We obviously didn't play very well. A lot of those playing who probably should have been playing on special teams were playing on defense.
"We're going to shore up that area," Zimmer added. "That will be a major emphasis as well."
The Vikings ranked last in the NFL with just 4.3 yards per punt return, with a long of 13 by Chad Beebe in Week 17. Minnesota also allowed a kickoff return for a score in Week 9, made a change at long snapper halfway through the season and struggled in the kicking game.
Dan Bailey made just 15 of 22 field goals (a career-low 68.2 percent), and hit on 37 of 43 extra points.
Zimmer said he will take some time to decide who the next special teams coordinator will be. Assistant special teams coach Ryan Ficken has held that role for eight seasons and has been with the Vikings 14 seasons overall.
"I have to take some time to evaluate who's available, who's not available, guys here in the building," Zimmer said. "We'll go from there and do it like we always do."
As for Co-Defensive Coordinators Andre Patterson and Adam Zimmer, the Vikings Head Coach said he liked how that arrangement worked during the 2020 season.
"It was fine. I do a lot of that work over there anyway," Zimmer said. "We didn't play as good defensively as we wanted to. But those guys helped me an awful lot – Andre and Adam both."