In 2015, Kubiak and the Broncos brought the Lombardi Trophy to Denver without any Pro Bowl players on his offense and a quarterback in Peyton Manning whose passer rating was 67.9 on the year. In 2020, he’ll have a better Vikings’ unit across the roster.

For a head coach and offensive coordinator who has developed playbooks for the likes of quarterbacks John Elway, Peyton Manning and Joe Flacco, Gary Kubiak knows talent when he sees it.

In 2015, as head coach of the Denver Broncos (with Vikings offensive line coach Rick Dennison as his OC), the Broncos fielded zero offensive All-Pros or Pro Bowlers in their journey to become Super Bowl Champions.

In fact, Denver had a grand total of only four Pro Bowlers on that team–all on defense–and one All-Pro in linebacker Von Miller.

Kubiak squeezed every bit of juice out of an offense that actually featured two leaders in Peyton Manning (in his last season) and the eternally mediocre Brock Osweiller, as well as a ground game that ran behind an offensive line consisting of no-name NFL journeymen.

Kubiak ran his patented zone-run and heavy tight end scheme with young backs Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson and converted a solid play-action and misdirection parlay using veteran WRs Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas.

Was that Bronco offense exciting and game-breaking? No. That was the 2013 Denver Broncos with a healthy Peyton Manning at the helm, a head coach in John Fox, and a pass-heavy playbook designed by the well-traveled offensive mind of Adam Gase.

The 2013 Broncos were #1 overall in NFL offense, Manning threw 55 touchdowns, but being only an average running team (#15), they got exposed ultimately as an unbalanced offense in Super Bowl 48 by the Seattle Seahawks’ ‘Legion of Boom‘. ‘Exposed’ to the tune of 43-8.

Two seasons later, Gary Kubiak took over head coaching duties for Fox and Wade Phillips replaced Jack Del Rio as Denver’s defensive coordinator. The Broncos went all the way this time, winning the Lombardi Trophy over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.

A Bigger Viking Ship

Now that the 2019 season has ended, the Vikings have packed the Pro Bowl with eight athletes; three of them on offense in QB Kirk Cousins, RB Dalvin Cook and FB C.J. Ham.

They also played half the season without WR Adam Thielen, a Pro Bowler in 2017 and 2018 and Second-Team All-Pro in 2017.

This is what Gary Kubiak now inherits as head man of the Minnesota offense. After a year in which he saw the Vikings’ ground game become elite but also effectively counteracted by strong defenses, it will be his charge to make certain that it remains consistent through the thick and thin.

Kubiak oversaw a 2019 draft that brought several new pieces to the Vikings offense. He will soon have the opportunity to add that collection of athletes in 2020 and forge improvement on a squad that he is now quite familiar with.

For now, Kubiak is aware that this offense has the ability to not only run the ball but to play both the short and vertical passing game. Correcting what failed both during and at the end of 2019 will make the difference in 2020, and Kubiak has a career of experience in options and maneuvers in making it so.

The biggest difference will be that those ‘options and maneuvers’ will not in a consulting fashion. They will be in the film room, the meeting rooms and practice field run by Kubiak himself, not former OC Kevin Stefanski.

The Vikings offensive playbook will change in ways a normal fan would have difficulty deciphering. What will be added is both an element of creative play design tailored to the group of athletes Kubiak–and Rick Dennison–see before them in Spring mini-camp and OTAs.

That group of athletes is already a prime bunch. With a few pieces replaced by better football players, maybe as good as Kubiak may have seen since he was the OC for the John Elway Broncos of the 1990s. No doubt, they are already better than Kubiak’s Super Bowl-winning squad just a few seasons ago.

They just needed the right coach to come along.