We still don't know the complete details behind Norv Turner's decision to resign as the Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator, but we do have a little clearer picture at least in the hours since Wednesday's shocker.
Turner said it was the "hardest decision" he's ever made. He was also resolved that it had to be done in order to make the Vikings offense work like it needs to work for them to get through the rest of the season and live up to the kind of expectations they set with the Sam Bradford trade and a 5-0 start.
He told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "... it just got to the point where I didn't think it was going to work with me. So I removed myself."
Turner and head coach Mike Zimmer disagreed on the best way to run the offense, according to Albert Breer of The MMQB. It wasn't a huge rift, but they couldn't come to terms on the margins of it, the details of the offensive system that needed to be changed in order to better protect the quarterback, get the running game going again, and score more than 20 points a game.
"We had a lot of challenges," Turner told Breer. "And for a period of time, we were able to hide some problems we had, but it catches up to you. And then we just had a difference of opinion—or what I felt was a difference of opinion—on what we needed to do to give our guys the best chance to fix it."
On the surface, it looks like Turner handled this in a reasonable, sane way. You could make the case that it's better for the Vikings that he leaves now to than to let the disagreement fester and turn ugly. On the other hand, why couldn't he just adapt and stick it out through the end of the season?
Turner hasn't made a decision on whether or not he'll coach again -- he's only 64 -- but I'd be surprised if some team doesn't lure him back to coaching with the right circumstances.
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