PHILADELPHIA – Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur won't be holding that title for much longer, as he's soon expected to accept the New York Giants head coaching job.
Shurmur said after the Vikings' 38-7 NFC Championship Game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles that he intended to fly back to Minneapolis and conduct exit interviews with players on Monday, which will be one of his last days at Winter Park.
"We have an outstanding team," Shurmur said from Lincoln Financial Field. "We have a lot of good, young players. We've got veteran players that are in the prime of their career."
"This team is going to be good," Shurmur added. "Our team is going to be good for a very long time."
Shurmur declined to discuss the Giants job, saying there's "another time and place for that."
That place likely will be East Rutherford, N.J., where the Giants headquarters is located. He's getting another shot as a head coach after improving a Vikings offense that ranked 23rd in points and 28th in total yards in 2016 to 10th in points and 11th in yards in 2017. Shurmur had a 9-23 record as the Cleveland Browns head coach during the 2011 and '12 seasons.
But the Vikings offense he controlled faltered greatly after a successful opening touchdown drive — Minnesota's only score of the game. Quarterback Case Keenum didn't lead the offense into Eagles territory again until late in the first half, when a protection scheme put tight end David Morgan in a tough spot and led to a sack and lost fumble.
"My focus was on this game," Shurmur said. "Just like last week the focus was on the Saints game. All the other stuff that's been happening has obviously been pretty well-documented. You just kind of let that kind of be on the back burner."
