Vikings' Hire Assures Similar Design in 2012

On Wednesday, the Minnesota Vikings announced the hiring of former Indianapolis Colts' defensive backs coach, Alan Williams. Willams' addition all but ensures that the Vikings will retain their 4-3 and Cover-2 schemes of 2011. More unsettling, continuing cronyism in hiring notwithstanding, are Williams' initial suggestions that personnel was not the problem for the Vikings' defense in 2011.Williams' hire means that the worst possible scenario--the promotion of the lightly regarded Mike Singletary to defensive coordinator--did not transpire. Because of the manner in which the Vikings' dealt with their defensive coordinator search, however, the result is, at best, unclear.Williams arrives in Minnesota after having served a decade as defensive backs coach for the Colts. Williams' resume thus raises two significant questions. The first is why he languished so long as a position coach? That's an important question in a State recently divorced of a si...