Just before Kevin O’Connell signed on the dotted line, Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh felt like a shoo-in to develop into the Minnesota Vikings next skipper.
Tweets like this from February implied the Harbaugh-Vikings marriage was all but a performed offer as Minnesota looked for its up coming chief right after the dismissal of Mike Zimmer.
And while Harbaugh interviewed with Vikings brass for the improved aspect of a working day in February, the two events hardly ever arrived to a offer, and Harbaugh boarded a airplane back to Ann Arbor, exactly where he’d later on signal a deal extension with the Wolverines. In some means, the charade felt like a ruse. Minnesota opted for O’Connell and his Super Bowl-profitable resume from the Los Angeles Rams. HarbaughMania stayed on the ash heap of Vikings what-if heritage.
But the allure of interviewing with the Vikings was quite true for Harbaugh, whose staff kicked off the 2022 collegiate season by eviscerating the Colorado Rams (51-7) on Saturday. By way of Professional Football Chat, Harbaugh told ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski this weekend about the Vikings adventure, “I don’t apologize for having a glance. And the just one that does not get printed is I don’t apologize for seeking to be at Michigan. Look to reduce off that final component of it. And which is where by [I’m] at, satisfied as can be.”
Harbaugh also opined about not successful a Tremendous Bowl a 10 years ago, “One of the factors that was really kind of driving me is, you know, we were being in San Francisco, we obtained that close to winning the Super Bowl. That’s normally been a issue. There is unfinished business there.”
The San Francisco 49ers were a whisker away from knocking off the Baltimore Ravens in 2012 in the course of Tremendous Bowl XLVII, a Ravens team showcasing former Vikings Bryant McKinnie and Matt Birk. San Franciso never ever returned to the massive recreation, and Harbaugh landed with Michigan in 2015.
Even though the actual motive Harbaugh did not come to be the Vikings head coach may well in no way be known, it is a secure wager to believe he was “too a lot like the old way.” Minnesota ended up hiring Kevin O’Connell, philosophically and stylistically quite substantially the anti-Harbaugh. O’Connell is even-keeled when Harbaugh is, effectively, not.
In addition, Harbaugh could have been pegged as a continuation of the Zimmer period. In the course of the general supervisor and head coaching lookup, the Vikings created it clear that they wished collaboration and lifestyle around hardnosed-ism and nostalgia.
The Vikings get an early glance at their selection to employ O’Connell in excess of Harbaugh in one particular 7 days when the 2022 standard season kicks off, hosting the Environmentally friendly Bay Packers in Week 1. The Packers are favored by two details.
Harbaugh is the NFL’s fifth-most effective mentor of all-time per earn share (.695)
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his day-to-day YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs each individual Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Mentioned guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Product, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doorways (the band).
