Kubiak: from friend to foe
Broncos will face a familiar offense on Sunday in Minnesota
For only the fifth time during an NFL career now in its 32nd season, Gary Kubiak will be a Broncos opponent on Sunday.
The former Broncos player, assistant coach, head coach and personnel advisor is now the Minnesota Vikings’ assistant head coach/offensive advisor, joining the club in January when new coach Vic Fangio decided to go his own direction offensively. Kubiak was San Francisco’s quarterbacks coach in 1994 (42-19 win over the Broncos) and faced the Broncos three times as Houston’s coach — wins of 31-17 in 2007 and 31-15 in ’12 sandwiching a 24-23 loss in ’10.
Kubiak wasn’t talking to the media this week – he declined an interview request from The Denver Post – leaving others to discuss him facing a team that employed him for 23 years.
“A player’s coach and a great coach,” Broncos cornerback Chris Harris said. “He’s going to do whatever he can to get that team prepared.”
There are five Broncos remaining on the roster from Kubiak’s 2015 Super Bowl team: Harris, outside linebacker Von Miller, defensive end Derek Wolfe, inside linebacker Todd Davis and kicker Brandon McManus. Linebacker Corey Nelson is on injured reserve.
“In the team meeting, he was great about the direction he wanted to go and the message he wanted to get across,” McManus said.
What many thought Broncos general manager John Elway needed to do in January was find a way to keep Kubiak with the organization. He was Elway’s backup at quarterback from 1983-91, an assistant under coach Mike Shanahan from 1995-2005 and was coach and personnel advisor for two years apiece (2015-18).
In 2016, Kubiak missed one game because of what the team called a “complex migraine,” and he resigned a day after the season ended because of health concerns.
When coach Vance Joseph was fired after two years and an 11-21 record, Kubiak was not a candidate to replace him. But when Fangio was hired, many incorrectly connected the dots and believed Kubiak serving as offensive coordinator was a fait accompli.
Wrong. Fangio and Kubiak met, but given broad latitude by Elway to choose his play-caller, Fangio stayed in the Shanahan Offensive Tree and hired Rich Scangarello, previously Kyle Shanahan’s quarterbacks coach in San Francisco.
“We had said that we would talk and that was the extent of it,” Fangio said this week.
Kubiak quickly re-surfaced with Minnesota. Also hired were Rick Dennison (offensive line/ run game coordinator), Brian Pariani (tight ends) and his Gary’s son, Klint (quarterbacks). Dennison and Pariani are longtime Kubiak lieutenants.
In a conference call with the Denver media on Tuesday, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said Kubiak did not make a demand to hire his gang of assistants.
“Gary was never one of those guys that said, ‘If I’m going to do this, I have to have this or I have to have that,’” Zimmer said. “He wasn’t like that at all. I just felt like it was best for us because those guys had been together before and it would be the best transition and go smoother for it to work out that way.”
The Vikings’ offense is working out. They enter Sunday’s game against Denver ranked eighth in yards (384.4), third in rushing (153.0), ninth in scoring (26.2) and are 7-3, one game behind Green Bay in the NFC North.
Kevin Stefanski calls the plays, but make no mistake, the system has Kubiak’s hands on it. The Vikings are committed to the run game. They put quarterback Kirk Cousins on the move. They use play action. And they take shots downfield.
“It’s been great having (Kubiak) around,” Stefanski told the Twin Cities media on Thursday. “He’s been invaluable to me in my first year doing this (and) having somebody I can bounce ideas off of during the week and during the game.”
Kubiak will be stationed in the Vikings coaches’ box for the game.
“He helps Kevin with down and distance and play-calls and Kevin will communicate with him on, ‘Do you like this call or that call?’ and he’ll give his opinions,” Zimmer said. “The things that Gary’s been able to talk about, things that happened in the past and things he’s seen and gone through, I think it’s helped (Stefanski) a lot.”
Kubiak’s swath of NFL experience was on full display during his two-year stay leading the Broncos. Six of the Broncos’ 2016 draft picks, who played for Kubiak as rookies, remain with the team.
“Coach Kub was the man,” safety Justin Simmons said. “I just remember it being a culture that I was really happy to be a part of even if it was for the one year.”
Harris faced Kubiak’s Houston offense and watched it in practice and games for two years in Denver. He knows what to expect.
“I’ve kind of got an understanding of what he likes to do,” Harris said.