Vikings offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak joins Broncos staff

At least one more part of the NFC North is headed to Denver.

Klint Kubiak, who spent the past three seasons as a Vikings assistant coach, is expected to join the Broncos staff under new head coach Nathaniel Hackett. He'll become the Broncos quarterbacks coach and passing-game coordinator under Hackett, the former Packers offensive coordinator. The Broncos announced the move Wednesday.

The Vikings will have a different offensive play caller for the seventh straight season. The last coach to call offensive plays in back-to-back seasons for the Vikings was Norv Turner from 2014 through 2016.

Kubiak, who turns 35 this month, took over the play-calling headset last season for the first time, replacing retired coach and father Gary Kubiak. After the season, the younger Kubiak lamented the offense's inconsistency as the Vikings regressed to average in points scored (14th) and yards gained (12th).

Quarterback Kirk Cousins and the offense varied wildly play to play and game to game. While producing 400-plus yards in seven games and fielding one of the NFL's most explosive offenses (63 plays of 20-plus; tied for fourth), the Vikings also committed three-and-out drives more frequently than anyone outside of the Houston Texans. They finished ranking 26th on third downs and missed the playoffs.

Kubiak returns to Denver to coach quarterbacks, a position he first taught at the NFL level with the Broncos from 2016 through 2018 while working alongside his father and then offensive coaches Greg Knapp, Mike McCoy and Bill Musgrave.

The Vikings had "pretty much everyone" under contract for 2022, said co-owner Mark Wilf, after firing general manager Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer, but they've allowed at least some to seek other opportunities. Kubiak, who also interviewed for the Panthers' coordinator job last month, is the first assistant headed elsewhere as the team zeroed in on Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell as its new head coach.

Will Kubiak be coaching Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers? Broncos general manager George Paton, the longtime former Vikings assistant GM, has an opening at quarterback and just hired Hackett, whom Rodgers has praised.

Revolving door of Vikings OCs

2021: Klint Kubiak
2020: Gary Kubiak
2019: Kevin Stefanski
2018: John DeFilippo
2017: Pat Shurmur
2014-16: Norv Turner