Vikings Fire Offensive Coordinator John DeFilippo

Ian Rapoport is reporting that sources say the Minnesota Vikings have fired offensive coordinator John DeFilippo. The news comes less than 24 hours after an offensive performance in which the Vikings scored 7 points on an effort that included 208 passing yards and a total of 77 rushing yards.

Rapoport also shared that quarterbacks coach Kevin Stefanski is expected to replace DeFilippo with offensive playcalling duties. Moments after these tweets, the Vikings confirmed that Stefanski would serve as interim offensive coordinator after the release of DeFilippo.

The team, which has only scored  a total of 17 points in the last two weeks, has been struggling to find a solid offensive footing in recent weeks. Coming into the game against the Seahawks, Coach Zimmer had clearly stated that he wanted to see the offense try to run the ball more as a basis on which to build the offense. There was a clear uptick in the number of running attempts in Monday night's game, however the results were not particularly impressive, with 5 different rushers amassing a total of 77 yards with no score on the ground. The running game didn't really open up opportunities through the air either, with the passing game being limited through a majority of the outing.

Adam Thielen defended DeFilippo after the game, telling the Pioneer Press "The players have got to make the plays. It doesn't matter what play is called, you have to run that play and you have to be successful on it. It just comes down to execution, all 11 players doing the right thing."

The Vikings have seen a total of three games this season where the offense scored 10 or less points (vs. Bills, Patriots, and Seahawks); while they have seen eight games where the team scored 23 or more points in a game. Three of those eight games saw the team score more than 27 points (vs. Packers, Rams, and Cardinals).

While there were changes at key positions (quarterback, offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, namely), these stats compare to the 2017 season as follows: Two game where 10 or less points was scored, and 11 games where the team scored 23 or more points, with six games scoring over 27 points.