Not long before the Denver Broncos dispatched Vance Joseph as head coach, rumblings began to surface in the Mile High City that Gary Kubiak had the itch to get back into coaching. After a stint in the Broncos’ front office as a senior personnel advisor, Kubiak apparently got bored and wanted to get back into the competitive game.

At age 54, Kubiak resigned from his position as head coach in Denver, not even a year after hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, citing health concerns. He needed some R & R, while also having that burning desire to stay involved with football.

Putting him initially into a scouting role from home, before eventually promoting him to the senior role in the front office, the Broncos were able to kill a couple birds with one stone. They were able to keep Kubiak in the very organization in which he’d helped win three World Championships, while capitalizing on his eye for talent.

It was a win/win, as Kubiak got to slowly work his way back to health and get his ‘coaching’ legs back under him, although the Broncos likely expected that when he returned to his life-long trade, it'd be on their sideline.

In his Thursday press conference in Minnesota, the now 57-year-old Kubiak detailed what he did for the Broncos after stepping down in early 2017.

“You know, what I really did, two years ago I worked from home, actually,” Kubiak said. “I worked from my farm, evaluated all the college players. Last year I was back in the building, I was in the building full time. I watched practice every day, I evaluated all the college players coming out in this year’s draft, so I’m kind of way ahead from that standpoint. I was involved that way on a daily basis.”

When the Broncos fired Joseph, and before Vic Fangio was hired, the buzz was that whomever John Elway hired to be the 17th head coach in franchise history, that next guy would be saddled with Kubiak as his offensive coordinator. On Black Monday, just hours after Joseph was jettisoned, Elway stood at the podium at Dove Valley and acknowledged that Kubiak wanted to get back into coaching and that the Broncos were looking to find him a role “on the offensive side”.

Although Fangio would not commit to the marriage, when he was introduced, he did say in regards to the prospect of Kubiak being his offensive coordinator, “If Gary’s interested, I’m interested.”

Soon after, though, Fangio met with Kubiak to discuss the possible union. Alas, Kubiak’s offensive vision didn’t jive with Fangio’s. Based on what we’ve learned since, Kubiak's adamant condition to bring in “his guys” (Rick Dennison and Brian Pariani) to coach underneath him was a sticking point for Fangio. Fangio wanted control over his staff to flesh out his vision.

The Broncos allowed Kubiak to interview elsewhere. But the divorce was official. Gary Kubiak was out in Denver.

It didn’t take long for Kubiak to find work, as he was hired by the Minnesota Vikings as assistant head coach/offensive advisor. The Broncos subsequently hired Rich Scangarello as OC, while also getting Mike Munchak to coach the offensive line. Sure enough, Dennison and Pariani followed Kubiak to Minnesota, where they've been hired as offensive assistants.

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We’ve never really heard it from Kubiak himself what his thought process was that led to his departure from his native franchise. The wheel he set in motion was momentous, and there’s no telling what type of ramifications — good or bad — might come of it.

“After doing the personnel for a couple of years in Denver, I knew I wanted to do some more,” Kubiak said via Tim Yotter of VikingUpdate/247Sports. “When I stepped away from football a couple of years ago, I kept working, but I found myself wanting to do some more and more. As things went on, they had their direction there. John [Elway] made a great hire in Vic [Fangio]. What a tremendously qualified man in their direction. So we talked a little bit, and I made a decision. Hey, I’m going to get out there and go a little bit longer and try to win a few more games.”

Although his split with the Broncos did come somewhat late in the game, Kubiak was an offensive mind with bona-fides well in demand around the league. So why the Vikings?

“I’ve known Zim [Mike Zimmer] for a long time, I respect him as a person, I respect him as a coach and I respect how he tries to win,” Kubiak said.

One question many Broncos fans have wondered over is why Kubiak didn’t simply return to his job as head coach in Denver. After all, Elway reportedly did everything short of beg Kubiak not to resign, so if he was burning to coach again, and clearly the man likes control and to do things his own way, surely the Broncos’ vacancy would have been attractive? Or at least, that’s the thought.

“Yeah, I wanted to be smart,” Kubiak said. “I knew I didn’t want to come back and be a head coach. I knew I wasn’t going back in that direction, but I did want to be involved. I missed it. Heck, when I was involved with the personnel, let’s face it, I didn’t get a lot of calls from people to ask me to come work in personnel, but people asked me to stay involved with coaching. This gives me an opportunity at this stage in my career to still be involved.”

Kubiak will be helping Vikings’ OC Kevin Stefanski. The play-calling will be Stefanski’s wheelhouse, though it sounds like Kubiak will be on the head-set from the booth communicating in-game, as well as drawing up game-plans.

This all gives Broncos Country a deeper context to the Kubiak divorce. It was sort of puzzling, and for some fans very discouraging. But at the end of the day, as much as Kubiak’s done for the organization, he’s also put them through a lot of drama.

And he’s old guard. On the offensive side of the ball, let’s face it. Since Kubiak’s philosophies have arrived at Dove Valley, the Broncos have been one of the worst offenses in the league, including the year they won the Super Bowl.

It’s time for a new outlook, and new blood. Enter Rich Scangarello, who will utilize the same West Coast/Zone offense Kubiak does as a kind of foundation, while building something that looks entirely different from the ground up, similar to hybrid scheme the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, among others, have ginned up.

The winds of change blew through Dove Valley and that’s a good thing. Before he left, Kubiak did do one last potentially great service for the Broncos. He helped pave the way to Joe Flacco and the means to upgrade the quarterback position.

Only time will tell whether that particular move will pay dividends for the team.