Vikings Hall of Famer Relieved Harbaugh Didn’t Work Out
Dustin Baker
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HarbaughMania gripped Minneapolis one week ago, rife with the possibility the Michigan Wolverines head coach would join the Minnesota Vikings in 2022.
The frenzy of Harbaugh-to-Minnesota was only rivaled by Brett Favre’s addition to the team in 2009, at least in terms of offseason storylines. Anything [at all] related to Harbaugh for the Vikings head coaching search fell out of the sky on January 29 because he was not linked to Minnesota in any way, shape, or form before that.
And fans bought in. Harbaugh has fundamentally fixed football programs at every stop — from Stanford, the San Francisco 49ers, to Michigan. He’s a winner — perhaps a little bit crazy at times — changing cultures and generating success ad nauseam. So, Vikings loyalists wanted that. Visions of a “rebuild” were null and void for a Harbaugh fantasy, chiefly because the man repairs gridiron ills upon arrival. Harbaugh guaranteed immediate and persistent relevance.
One notable former Viking was relieved Minnesota didn’t extend an offer to Harbaugh — and that’s Cris Carter. Harbaugh and Carter don’t have any notable bad blood, but the ex-Vikings wide receiver evidently wasn’t high on the potential fit for Harbaugh with his old team. He tweeted this on Thursday, a day after the Vikings said no thanks to Harbaugh.
Instead, the Vikings pivot to a younger mind for team leadership, presumptively hiring Kevin O’Connell from the Los Angeles Rams. O’Connell will lead the Rams offense in Super Bowl LVI against the little-engine-that-could Cincinnati Bengals. Of course, head coach Sean McVay is the proprietor of Los Angeles’ offense, but O’Connell is considered the astute and up-and-coming understudy. Two notable names have already departed the McVay coaching tree, achieving tremendous success as head coaches — Zac Taylor with the aforementioned Bengals and Matt LaFleur for the Green Bay Packers.
On Carter’s endorsement of “never Harbaugh,” the mini-beef could lie in the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. The Wolverine and Buckeyes formulate NCAA’s most storied rivalry, and Harbaugh is a Wolverine, whereas Carter is a vocal Buckeyes alumnus. Those feuds matter in opinions like this.
O’Connell will become the NFL’s second-youngest coach, assuming no other man or woman younger is hired during this cycle. The last Vikings head coach, Mike Zimmer, was 65 inside his final season, and O’Connell is 36. The 2022 Vikings — for better or worse — will feel markedly different than the 2021 edition because Zimmer pounded the table for defense, while O’Connell does the same for offense. That — and the almost three-decades variance in age.
For Carter, he gets his wish for an organizational change of pace. When the 2021 season was floundering, he posted his discontent on the Vikings two-year bout with mediocrity.
The Vikings will make the O’Connell news official a day or two after the Super Bowl, which occurs on February 13th.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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