Vikings Voice Questions the Need for a New O-Line Coach
Maybe the growth from Ed Ingram is the byproduct of operating within a contract year. Or, perhaps, there’s superior coaching in Houston, at least along the offensive line.
Vikings voice Will Ragatz — he writes for Sports Illustrated — responded to a clip of Ingram demolishing a Colts linebacker, declaring, “Not sure how you can look at the Vikings’ offensive line play this season, see what Ed Ingram has done in Houston, and make the case to bring OL coach Chris Kuper back in 2026.”
Vikings Voice Calls for a New Coach
Mr. Ragatz isn’t alone in questioning whether Minnesota would be wise to explore replacing Chris Kuper, who has been the team’s o-line coach since Kevin O’Connell took over.
Consider what Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk had to say on November 24th: “The sooner the Vikings admit and address their flaws the sooner they can be something other than an every-other-year contender to go one-and-done. Special teams coordinator. OL coach. Front office. Lots of bad drafts picks. Lots of bad moves. Absentee ownership doesn’t help.”
Now, some precision.
The Florio text block doesn’t explicitly say to fire Coach Kuper. Rather, the Vikings’ o-line coach gets listed among the many ills that imperil Minnesota’s season. One may step away with an implication, but that’s precisely that: an implication rather than an outright prescription about the way to proceed.
Nevertheless, there are football analysts out there — operating at both a league level and covering the team specifically — explicitly bringing Kuper’s coaching abilities into question.
As it relates to Ingram, there’s good reason to be somewhat confused.
Per PFF, Ingram is the NFL’s 6th-best guard, a massive step ahead of what he did in Minnesota. At best, Ingram came in at 38th as a Viking, finishing off the 2023 season with an uninspiring 59.5 grade. He’s now earning a sizzling 79.9 grade. The 85.4 run blocking grade is elite; the 62.0 pass blocking grade is just okay but passable.
The 2nd-Round selection was one of the poster boys for draft failure with the Vikings (alongside Lewis Cine, Andrew Booth, and several others). Seeing him shine in the run game and be pretty good in the passing game was always the expectation, but that never came to fruition for Ingram. Or, at least, not while working as a Viking. He has been excellent with the Texans.
Replacing Ed Ingram meant signing Will Fries, the former Colt who is coming off an injury that stole the majority of his 2024 season. Landing Fries came at the cost of close to $88 million across five seasons.
Fries finds himself at 41st in the guard rankings, earning a 59.8 grade. At least once in Seattle, Fries got absolutely cooked, leading to Leonard Williams walloping Minnesota’s overwhelmed passer.
Contributing to the concern about Minnesota’s offensive line is the failure of Christian Darrisaw to climb up to elite (injuries haven’t helped) while Brian O’Neill has taken a step back. Working in the Vikings’ favor is that Donovan Jackson looks strong and Blake Brandel has been impressive.
Essentially, the Vikings’ o-line has been a mixed bag when the expectation was dominance.
At 4-8, the Vikings are going nowhere in 2025. Whether they can do something promising in 2026 remains to be seen. Seeing the o-line improve would obviously be a huge boost for the future version of the Vikings.
Chris Kuper, a former NFL offensive lineman before becoming a coach, will be someone to monitor. His job status is being doubted.
