A month ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who actually knew who Kevin Stefanski was. Now, the interim Vikings offensive coordinator is becoming a household name in the NFL coaching rumor mill.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Stefanski, 36, is scheduled to interview for the Cleveland Browns head coaching job on Monday.
The #Browns are going to interview #Vikings interim OC Kevin Stefanski on Monday, source said. He’s also a candidate for the full-time Minnesota OC job… but his contract is up so he can also field other OC offers as they come in.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 1, 2019
It’s a meteoric rise for Stefanski, who less than a month ago was the quarterbacks coach before being promoted to interim offensive coordinator after John DeFilippo was fired following Minnesota’s Dec. 10 loss to the Seahawks.
His 13 seasons in Minnesota make him the longest-tenured coach with the Vikings, and he has experience coaching running backs, tight ends, quarterbacks and now running an offense, albeit for only three games.
How’d Stefanski do in his limited sample size?
The offense racked up 418 yards (220 rushing yards) in a 41-point outburst over a ragged Dolphins defense, started slow before awakening near the half against Detroit and then got smothered by the Bears.
Take away the Hail Mary touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Kyle Rudolph at the end of the first half against Detroit and the Vikings offense scored just 29 points in the final eight quarters of the season, all while going 10-for-36 on third downs under Stefanski.
Those are facts, not a rip on Stefanski, who is clearly an up-and-coming coaching candidate in the NFL and probably won’t be judged on just three games calling plays.
Former Vikings offensive coordinator, Pat Shurmur, now the head coach of the New York Giants, requested permission to interview Stefanski to be his offensive coordinator in New York last year but had that request denied by Mike Zimmer.
