NFL Rumors: Hue Jackson Could Join Vikings Staff If Not Hired by Bengals

The Minnesota Vikings reportedly will consider hiring Hue Jackson as the team's offensive coordinator, according to Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune:

Two factors could impact the decision.

The first is that Jackson is reportedly interviewing with the Cincinnati Bengals for their head coaching vacancy, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. The second is that the future of interim offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski remains up in the air:

The fact that Jackson is getting any consideration for a head coaching position is fairly surprising given his 3-36-1 record in parts of three seasons with the Cleveland Browns, though he did go 8-8 as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders in 2011. Nonetheless, the Browns were historically bad in his time in Cleveland and were far better in 2018 after he was fired, going 5-3 down the stretch under Gregg Williams after starting 2-5-1.

It's a bit less surprising that Jackson might receive consideration as an offensive coordinator, however. He spent time as the offensive coordinator for Washington (2003), the Atlanta Falcons (2007) and Bengals (2014-15), leading those offenses to one top-10 finish in yards and two top-10 finishes in points.

Most notably, he got the best out of Andy Dalton in the 2015 campaign, as the Bengals quarterback set career-best marks in completion percentage (66.1), QBR (70.0), passer rating (106.30) and interceptions (seven) while also throwing for 3,250 yards and 25 touchdowns in 13 games, though a fractured thumb cut his season short. 

That Bengals team went 12-4, though they lost in the Wild Card Round to the Pittsburgh Steelers with Dalton out of action.

Minnesota struggled offensively in 2018 despite having talent at the skill positions, finishing 20th in yards (345.6 YPG) and 19th in points (22.5 PPG). That led to the team firing offensive coordinator John DeFilippo in December, promoting quarterbacks coach Stefanski to interim offensive coordinator.

But given the possibility that Stefanski could leave for a job elsewhere—and that the Vikings struggled immensely with their season on the line in Week 17 against the Chicago Bears, losing the game—the team appears to be in the market for a new offensive coordinator, potentially opening the door for Jackson.