Pagac finally fired ... as coordinator

After being in limbo since the end of the season and seeing other candidates brought into Winter Park to interview for his position, the Vikings officially released Fred Pagac as the team's defensive coordinator. But, in a strange twist, reports claim he has been offered his old job as linebackers coach.

The Vikings have yet to fill their defensive coordinator position, but have finally taken the first step in the process – officially relieving Fred Pagac of his coaching duties as the team’s defensive coordinator.

Pagac was officially relieved of his defensive coordinator duties over the weekend and, according to the Pioneer Press, was offered his old job as linebackers coach.

Pagac was in a strange state of limbo for the past couple of weeks, as the Vikings began the process of interviewing candidates for his job while he was still technically holding the position.

While it isn’t strange that Pagac was officially fired by the Vikings as their defensive coordinator, what is a bit confusing is that he has been offered his old job as linebackers coach. In 2011, when Pagac was promoted to defensive coordinator, former 49ers head coach Mike Singletary was hired to coach the Vikings linebackers. If Pagac opts to accept his old linebackers coach position, it would seemingly put Singletary in the limbo spot. While Singletary is viewed as being in the mix for the defensive coordinator position, he has yet to be offered the job. If Pagac accepts his demotion, Singletary becomes the odd man out for now.

With coaching vacancies being filled quickly in recent days, the Vikings appear to be a bit behind the curve. Whether Singletary is viewed as being the answer or not, the Vikings' strange offseason coaching carousel continues.

MONDAY NOTES

Vikings fans celebrated the loss of the Packers Sunday much in the same way members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins perform a macabre celebration when the last undefeated team goes down each year.

Green Bay’s loss continued the 20-plus year trend of at least one road team coming away with a win during the first two rounds of the playoffs. Heading into the final game of the 2011 divisional round, the home teams had won all seven games. The Packers would have made it an eight-game sweep, but the Giants' upset win kept the streak intact. Since moving to the 12-team playoff format in 1990, there has yet to be a season in which the home teams won all of the games in the wild card and divisional rounds. Thanks to the Packers, the streak lives on.

Eli Manning finds himself in some pretty elite company – as in by himself. He became the only quarterback to post wins over both Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs at Lambeau Field. While Manning’s name isn’t always mentioned among the elite quarterbacks in the NFL, Packers fans can attest to his ability to break hearts in the postseason.

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John Holler has been writing about the Vikings for more than a decade for Viking Update. Follow Viking Update on Twitter and discuss this topic on our message boards. To become a subscriber to the Viking Update web site or magazine, click here.

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