Vikings absent, but Minnesota connections have a big weekend in the playoffs

Minnesotans no longer wearing purple or maroon had quite the colorful weekend in the NFL.

A personal look at our Minnesota connections:

• Leslie Frazier is the Buffalo Bills assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. On Saturday, his defense provided the impetus for the Bills' 17-3 divisional playoff victory over Baltimore.

Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was considered to be a popular candidate for NFL head coaching vacancies. On Saturday, his offense produced 10 points. Frazier's defense produced seven.

Daboll benefits from a first-round quarterback, Josh Allen, who has played well, and an expensive trade for star receiver Stefon Diggs. Frazier has fewer name players to work with.

Daboll appears to be an excellent coach.

As of Sunday morning, I was asking why Frazier isn't a head coaching candidate.

Minutes later, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Frazier is a candidate for the Houston job.

Frazier is a key factor in the Bills' rise. He has head coaching experience. And that experience is probably more impressive than anyone wants to remember.

How about this for a line on your résumé: "I took a team quarterbacked by Christian Ponder to the playoffs, and in my only playoff game I was forced to start a backup quarterback at Lambeau Field."

Frazier went 10-6 with an average roster in 2012 before being victimized by Ponder's implosion in 2013 and getting fired.

In Houston, he would work for a misguided organization under fire from current and former players, but he could become a reason for quarterback DeShaun Watson to want to stay.

• Diggs caught eight passes for 106 yards and the Bills' only offensive touchdown.

Should he have forced his way out of Minnesota? Let's just say it turned out well for him. He's the best offensive player on a team with a chance to go to the Super Bowl.

In his first season in Buffalo, he surpassed his career high for catches by 25, and his career best for yards by 405, and is going to a conference title game for the first time.

The Vikings have produced one receiving season of more than Diggs' 1,535 this season — Randy Moss' 1,632 in 2013.

The Vikings scrambled to get good value for Diggs, thanks to the Eagles not taking Justin Jefferson in the draft, but let's be clear: Stefon Diggs won the Stefon Diggs trade.

• Long before he became the Chiefs offensive coordinator, Eric Bieniemy was the Vikings running backs coach who drove Adrian Peterson batty with his detailed critiques.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Bieniemy has the best résumé of any NFL head coaching candidate. He won a ring 11 months ago and on Sunday called plays that allowed Chad Henne to run out the clock on another playoff victory after Patrick Mahomes left with a concussion.

Andy Reid's former assistants hired as head coaches include Doug Pederson and John Harbaugh, who have won Super Bowls, and playoff coaches such as Matt Nagy, Sean McDermott and Ron Rivera.

That teams aren't fighting over Bieniemy is embarrassing for the NFL.

• Kevin Stefanski, offensive coordinator for the 2019 Vikings, might win the NFL Coach of the Year award for his work with the Browns, who were eliminated on Sunday.

• Mahomes is the son of former Twins pitcher Pat Mahomes. As a Twins beat writer, Mahomes was one of the first players I met and spoke with in the spring of 1993. He was one of the Twins' most polite players, and I will forever regret that editors removed this line when he left the team for the birth of his son:

"The child will become the best player in the NFL."

• Former Gophers Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tyler Johnson had cameos in the Bucs' 30-20 victory over New Orleans, with Johnson making a spectacular fourth-quarter catch and Winfield forcing a fumble that Tampa Bay turned into the tying touchdown.

But the main takeaway from the game was that the 2020 Minnesota Vikings won at Lambeau Field, home of the NFC champions.