What if Tomlin does leave?
Mike Tomlin may not be as big an underdog for the Pittsburgh Steelers job as many believe. So that begs the question: What if the Vikings do lose their talented, young defensive coordinator?
There are some veteran coaches out there. But I think the Vikings have two solid in-house candidates, Karl Dunbar and Fred Pagac.
Dunbar coached the defensive line, and he has the utmost respect of one of the team's key players, Kevin Williams. His unit performed very well last season, although they struggled with sacks.
Pagac, meanwhile, has one advantage on Dunbar: He has been a defensive coordinator. Although he has been a linebackers coach for all six of his NFL seasons, Pagac was the defensive coordinator at Ohio State from 1996 to 2000, and he worked with linebackers for 14 seasons before that. Among the players he's helped develop: Chris Spielman, Mike Vrabel, Mike Doss, Pepper Johnson, Nate Clements and Shawn Springs.
There are some veteran coaches out there. But I think the Vikings have two solid in-house candidates, Karl Dunbar and Fred Pagac.
Dunbar coached the defensive line, and he has the utmost respect of one of the team's key players, Kevin Williams. His unit performed very well last season, although they struggled with sacks.
Pagac, meanwhile, has one advantage on Dunbar: He has been a defensive coordinator. Although he has been a linebackers coach for all six of his NFL seasons, Pagac was the defensive coordinator at Ohio State from 1996 to 2000, and he worked with linebackers for 14 seasons before that. Among the players he's helped develop: Chris Spielman, Mike Vrabel, Mike Doss, Pepper Johnson, Nate Clements and Shawn Springs.
posted by Unknown at 10:22 AM
1 Comments:
I believe you should ask that question again after next year when the Vikings finish 7-9 and out of the playoffs.
Mike Tomlin has the same number of years of experience calling plays in the NFL as Brad Childress (1). And Tomlin made the big improvement while instilling an entirely new defensive scheme while Childress handcuffed and demoralized his side of the ball while instilling his new scheme.
Teams are going to want to see if Tomlin can work his magic again and fix the 2 glaring problems that showed in his defense. If he can get the secondary to give up less yards per catch thereby reducing the total passing yardage, he will have addressed one concern. The other is getting some pressure from the outside to pressure the quarterback so he doesn't have to send in linebackers all the time. When the linebackers are rushing the passer, big holes arise. An outside pass rush fixes this. If Tomlin can get any improvement in these areas he is assured of a head job next year.
And if Childress continues his ways (which he undoubtedly will) the Wilfs will be in a position to make the move you suggested here.
By the way, those of you clamoring for a "big play wide reciever" as being what we need... I wouldn't trade the Viking WR crew for New England's and look where they are.... There are some good recievers on this club who are not being allowed to make the plays they are capable of making due to Childress. Travis Taylor is a good possession receiver. Bethel Johnson is fast enough to keep safties honest. We had Marcus Robinson for goal line situations and jump balls but he expressed an honest opinion so we can't keep him around. Jason Carter is capapble of making plays (we saw some of this in the pre-season) and if Billy McMullen can get a little more courage across the middle, he's a solid player. And let's not forget one of the best possession receiving TE's in the league with Jermaine Wiggins and the single best blocking TE in Kliensasser. With the All-World offensive line (except for the right guard who happens to be another Eagle reject/Childress sycophant and is therefore untouchable) and Chester Taylor and Tony Richardson we have enough talent to make a good offensive showing.
Let Childress screw this up again next year then the Vikings can elevate Tomlin.
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