Monday night’s loss was the last straw for Vikings offensive coordinator John DeFilippo.
The Vikings announced Tuesday morning that DeFilippo has been fired and Kevin Stefanski will take the reins of the offense for the rest of the season.
“The Minnesota Vikings have relieved John DeFilippo from his duties as Offensive Coordinator,” the team’s statement said. “Vikings Quarterbacks Coach Kevin Stefanski has been elevated to Interim Offensive Coordinator and will take over play-calling duties.”
It’s been a long and frustrating season for the Vikings’ offense, which came into the season thinking the arrival of Kirk Cousins would result in an improvement over last season’s results, only to see the offense go in the wrong direction this year.
Last season’s offense was called by Pat Shurmur, who is now the head coach of the Giants. Shurmur wanted to hire Stefanski as his offensive coordinator, but Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer blocked the move and held Stefanski to his contract in Minnesota.
Whether Stefanski can get things turned around over the final weeks of the season remains to be seen, but if the Vikings win their last three games they’re in the playoffs, and if Stefanski can get the offense rolling in January, he’ll suddenly be one of the hottest assistant coaches in the NFL.
