After Mike Zimmer offered Gary Kubiak the team’s play-calling duties, Kubiak took some time before agreeing.
“I just said, ‘Coach, do you mind if I go back home and mow some grass for a couple days or something to think about it?’” Kubiak, 58, said, via Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune. “I told him two days, and I think I called him in about a day and a half. I was just really excited to do it.”
It becomes the fourth coordinator job for Kubiak in a decorated career that saw him win a Super Bowl as head coach of the Broncos.
Kubiak is the fifth offensive play-caller for the Vikings since Zimmer became head coach in 2014. Kubiak replaces Kevin Stefanski, who left to become head coach of the Browns.
Zimmer predicted some changes in the team’s passing game with Kubiak in charge of the offense, but the scheme and terminology will remain largely the same.
The Vikings scored more than 400 points last season, the eighth-most in the NFL.
“I get here; we put a system in place; we go to work; we do a job throughout the course of the year,” Kubiak said. “And then one thing changed: One guy got a head coaching job. For me, it’s very familiar. I didn’t have to go back to work a month ago and, say, start over with a new group of coaches. We’re way ahead. We can go back to work and try to make up some more ground here. I think all those things together added a little fuel to the fire, so to speak. It made it easier for me to say, ‘Zim, I appreciate the opportunity, and I’m looking forward to it.’”