Vikings could have had Jim Harbaugh, or Pete Carroll, or Mike Tomlin, or ...

Pete Carroll was on the phone. We had been talking almost daily for weeks, as the Vikings searched for a coach to replace Jerry Burns, who retired at the end of the 1991 season.

To the Vikings' old guard, Carroll was Burns' obvious replacement, although Burns himself was thought to favor longtime NFL assistant Tom Moore, who would later become famous as Peyton Manning's mentor in Indianapolis.

Carroll was a former Vikings assistant and a favorite of Bud Grant's. Carroll would later become a head coach with the Jets, Patriots and Seahawks, and become the third coach to ever win a college national championship (USC) and a Super Bowl (Seattle).

In early January 1992, Carroll said, "Hey, I appreciate the conversations, but I'm not getting the job.'' The Vikings' new guard, led by team president Roger Headrick, hired Denny Green.

This week brought stunning changes in the world of high-level football coaching. Carroll and Bill Belichick were ousted. Nick Saban retired. Jim Harbaugh won a national title and positioned himself to leave for the NFL. Mike Tomlin produced another playoff team and for the 17th straight year avoided a losing record.

Four coaches with Vikings connections were among those making news, and each makes you wonder if the team has any regrets about these decisions:

Hiring Kevin O'Connell over Jim Harbaugh. Vikings ownership and management grew weary of general manager Rick Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer. Harbaugh went through his interview with the Vikings as if he were about to be offered the job. His presumption turned off the Vikings' decision-makers. Harbaugh was stunned when the Vikings chose O'Connell, who lacked his head-coaching experience.

O'Connell won 13 games his first season despite a bad defense and seven games his second season because of a wave of injuries.

O'Connell remains promising. Harbaugh is a great coach.

Harbaugh turned Stanford around, then took a previously struggling 49ers team to three straight conference title games and one Super Bowl, which he came within one completion of winning. Monday, he won the college football title with Michigan.

The Vikings chose a clean slate over a loaded résumé. Harbaugh would have made them uncomfortable, but he would have won, and probably won big.

Keeping Zimmer, losing Kevin Stefanski. In the real world, this would have been unfair. The Vikings weren't going to fire a successful head coach — which Zimmer was — and replace him with an inexperienced offensive coordinator.

As a thought experiment, it's fascinating. If the Vikings had replaced Zimmer with Stefanski before Stefanski left for the Browns' head coaching job, the Vikings would have avoided the inevitable Zimmer slide and would have hired someone who has many of O'Connell's best characteristics.

Stefanski could be the NFL coach of the year for 2023.

Keeping Brad Childress, losing Tomlin. The Vikings weren't going to fire their head coach after one season to hire the young and inexperienced defensive coordinator of a 6-10 team. But if they had, Tomlin might still be coaching them. He might have won the Super Bowl in the 2009 season. He might have produced a winning record every season.

Green over Carroll. Carroll is going to the Hall of Fame. Green is not, but he built an offense that capitalized on the arrival of Randy Moss and went to two NFC title games in three seasons. Carroll would have caused team ownership fewer headaches than Green. He also might not have been ready to be a head coach. He sometimes let his emotions get the best of him on the sideline when he was with the Jets. By the time he reached USC, he was ready to win big.

The Vikings have hired a variety of successful coaches. Some, like Leslie Frazier and Mike Tice, won in the short term with mediocre or bad rosters. Green, Childress and Zimmer took the team to a combined four NFC title games.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can ask what would have happened if they had hired one or two coaches who have become legends.