Extending Mike Zimmer’s contract was a horrible mistake, and now the Minnesota Vikings are paying for it.
After falling to 0–3 and losing to the Tennessee Titans 31–30, the Minnesota Vikings are looking to have one tough season ahead of them. It would be the first time the team started 0–3 since 2013. In that season, the team went 5–10–1, and head coach Leslie Frazier was fired before Mike Zimmer joined the team.
Some people are blaming the record on Cousins’ abysmal start to the season. His completion percentage and QBR are the lowest they have been since the 2013 season when he played for the Washington Redski — I mean, the Washington Football Team. Also, given the schedule thus far, having only 5 touchdowns and 6 interceptions is not a good look for him and his contract extension.
Others blame it on the defense. Currently, they are 30th in yards allowed per game, 30th in passing yards allowed per game, 26th in rushing yards allowed per game, and 31st in points allowed. That’s abysmal.
But many are now turning on Mike Zimmer, the head coach. People are blaming him for the Vikings losses. He conveniently received a contract extension, too. However, some people, including me, feel like maybe that was a mistake.
Defenders of his would say, “He’s the 3rd winningest coach in the history of the franchise! He’s never had a losing season (even though he did in his first year)! How can you possibly suggest firing him, you armchair coach?” And to that, I reply, “Because he’ll always be good, but never great.” This is why we’re paying for extending him, and why we will be in the future.
His two playoff wins come from strokes of luck.
Every other year, you can expect the Minnesota Vikings to make the playoffs under Mike Zimmer. In 2014, 2016, and 2018, they had 8–8 seasons on average. In 2015, 2017, and 2019, we made the playoffs. He is 2–3 in playoff games, and his 2 playoff games came from flukes.
In the 2017 season, the Vikings played the New Orleans Saints at home. At the half, they were winning 17–0. After that, the Saints were dominating the Vikings, and they caught back up and were leading with just seconds left in the game.
It took the Minneapolis Miracle to win the game. If that Saints defender made the tackle instead of whiffing it, we would have lost. But since we won, we got the honor to travel to Philadelphia. And what happened there? After our first drive, we couldn’t get any more points. We were squashed by an Eagles team playing a 2nd-string quarterback, the final score being 38–7.
Last season, we played the Saints again in the playoffs. We were leading at halftime, 13–10. Once again, the lack of offense meant that the Saints got back in it and tied the game. It had to be settled in overtime, where Cousins threw the game winning touchdown to Kyle Rudolph. (Legend has it that to this day, Saints fans are still complaining that there should have been Offensive PI called on that play.)
And then look at how we did against the 49ers the next game. It was 13–10, 49ers. The offense didn’t score a single point in the second half. RBs Cook and Mattison barely got a combined 21 yards in ten attempts. We relied on Cousins again, and he couldn’t get the job done. The 27–10 score made it look closer than it actually ever was. It felt like it should’ve been 42–10.
The third loss against the Seattle Seahawks was kind of a sad ending to the season in 2015, and maybe not Zimmer’s fault. But come on. Sure, Walsh should have made that 27-yard field goal to win it, but he was the only one scoring in the first place. (The final score was 10–9 for crying out loud!) Perhaps the offense could have done its job and scored the team some points. Maybe Teddy Bridgewater could have thrown a touchdown.
In any case, if you have a 2–3 record, and one win comes from a miracle while the other is an OT win where people question the non-call for pass interference on Rudolph, that’s not good. Again, the loss in the 2015 playoffs could arguably not be his fault; however, if you can’t get your team to score a touchdown on offense, what are you doing?
His old style of run hard, play tough defense is outdated in today’s league.
Mike Zimmer is a defensive-minded coach. So far, the Vikings defense are in the bottom five in almost every category though.
With that being said, Zimmer’s strategy of running the ball, passing off of play action, and relying on the defense is outdated in today’s league. If you were in the ’70s, ’80s, or even the ’90s, that would work; just ask the Steel Curtain, the ’85 Bears, or our Purple People Eaters in the ‘70s.
However, the game has massively changed now. The league is now favoring the offense and protecting players much more than they did back in Zimmer’s heyday with the Cowboys as a defensive backs coach in ’95.
It’s no longer about playing smashmouth football. It’s about having mobile QBs like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson who can keep you in games with their feet, especially in those games that are shootouts. And let’s face it, Kirk Cousins is not a mobile QB. He never has been, and he never will be.
Again, the game now heavily favors powerful defenses over hard-nose tacklers in the defense. Cornerbacks are arguably more important now than they may have ever been. In this department, the Vikings fail.
Xavier Rhodes fell off a cliff after his All-Pro 2017 season. Since he’s been traded to the Colts, he’s been good again. (Figures.) Trae Waynes was good, but never great like Rhodes was at one point in time.
As far as our prospects go, I think Mike Hughes might be a bust. He hasn’t done much since his rookie season. Holton Hill is hot and cold, and he gets into more trouble than he’s worth. Jeff Gladney, our 31st pick out of round 1, hasn’t done good so far this season. He gives receivers too much space. I don’t know if it’s because he’s afraid to play too much defense that it could draw a penalty or what.
At the end of the day, this team is 0–3 because the old ways that used to win teams championships is obsolete. Zimmer is stuck in the ’90s where he played a small part in the Dallas Cowboys winning a Super Bowl.
Zimmer can’t run keep a lead late to save his life.
Good teams adjust and play hard until the end. They don’t try to be conservative unless they’re ahead by two touchdowns with two minutes left in the game. But if you’re going to run the ball and rely on the defense, you better be good at game management. If you have the lead, it’s essential that you run out the clock. Mike Zimmer can’t do that well.
There are a couple of examples of this. One is the Week 9 game against the Kansas City Chiefs last season. Mahomes was out, and backup Matt Moore was in. Instead of pressing down the gas pedal or running out the clock when appropriate, we try to do both at once.
On our last drive before the Chiefs got the ball to win the game, we didn’t even try to run the ball once. Instead, we called three consecutive pass plays. Only one of them was a complete pass; we lost seven yards on that play.
At least if you run, you can run the clock down to the two-minute warning, and you can make them use at least one timeout. Instead, they had two timeouts left to use. The running wasn’t that great in the game, but at least try!
A better example of this is against the Tennessee Titans this past week. We had a 17–9 lead going into the half. Then the defense decides to leave the receivers five yards of space throughout the second half. (I’m talking to you, Jeff Gladney, *cough* *cough*.) The game turns into a shootout, and suddenly the Titans are up 25–24. They decide to go for two to get up to 27, and they fail.
So what does Mike Zimmer do? On the following drive, when Minnesota gets a touchdown, he decides to go for two, because why not? Yeah, that would mean the Titans would need 7 to tie the game if it were successful. But at that point, just take the extra point! Why go for two in that situation? If he took the extra point, it could have been 31–31 and gone into OT.
And then there’s that challenge flag he threw for some reason at the ten-minute mark of the third quarter. I don’t know what he saw, but there was no way that was going to be turned around. He wastes another timeout later in the 4th quarter because the team didn’t line up in time. I bet those two timeouts could have been handy in the end, right Zimmer?
They would have because the defense couldn’t get it done and prevent any more scoring. The Titans scored in all but one possession in the second half, totaling up to 22 points.
Again, Cousins had to try and play hero ball, and that last drive turned into a joke. A controversial roughing the passer call to give you 15 free yards and get you near midfield, and you do that? That fumble on second down and the Hail Mary interception on fourth down was the perfect ending to a horrible game on Zimmer’s part. The Vikings should have won that game.
He rarely takes any responsibility when the team loses. Instead, he throws players under the bus.
This has been the biggest piece of criticism that I’ve heard about Mike Zimmer. And I have to say, I agree.
After the loss to the Titans (which he had a hand in), he took the opportunity to throw the team under the bus in the post-game press conference.
When the interviewer mentioned Justin Jefferson’s record setting debut and Dalvin Cook’s career day, he made a small compliment on Jefferson’s play and went straight to pointing out Cook’s one slip up in the game, saying, “I wish Dalvin wouldn’t have fumbled the ball on the one play.”
Really, bro?! How the hell are you going to skip over the fact that he broke his personal record of most yards in a single game, and then point out the one thing he did wrong? Yeah, the Titans got a field goal from it. So what? It was in the first quarter!
And then he has the nerve to criticize the defensive backs like Harrison Smith for “trying to make plays that they shouldn’t be trying to make.” “Harrison Smith made an unbelievable interception. But he was the backside safety. The frontside safety should have been there.”
So let me get this straight; if you would have had it your way, Smith wouldn’t have been in position to make the interception? If it weren’t for his instincts and sniffing out the ball, one, you wouldn’t have the interception.
Two, you wouldn’t have had the chance to get a drive, which by the way Zim, led to a touchdown. The score could have been 31–23 if Smith did what you wanted him to do instead of doing what he does best.
Throughout the whole interview
Conclusion
I know this might come off as emotional, but I don’t care. This man is supposed to be a defensive-minded coach. And in this 0–3 season, his defense is only ahead of the Seattle Seahawks (who would be 0–3 without Russell Wilson) and the choke kings in the Atlanta Falcons in total yards allowed per game. There are no excuses as to why we shouldn’t have at least a 2–1 record if not a 3–0 one.
Under Zimmer, we’ve had years where we could have made it back to the Super Bowl and even won one. But under him, the team has never risen to the occasion. We can blame Kirk Cousins all we want for holding the team back. We can also blame Xavier Rhodes, Stefon Diggs, the O-Line, the offensive coordinators of the past, or any other facet of the team for our lack of success in the postseason.
Heck, we can blame General Manager Rick Spielman for this mess. After all, he was more interested in getting as many 7th rounders as possible rather than getting some good picks. He should be on the hot seat, too. But he is supposed to find the talent. Mike Zimmer is supposed to cultivate it and utilize the team’s strengths against opponents.
But the truth of the matter is, he isn’t good at doing that. It only took until this week for us to use Jefferson. And on a team whose goal is to rely on the defense more, picks like Hughes and Gladney are not looking good.
Today’s NFL relies on offensive firepower and a defense’s backfield. It is becoming less and less about pounding the rock and having a mean D-line. Zimmer’s way of forming a team is outdated. More and more, I believe it was a mistake to extend Mike Zimmer’s contract, and now we’re seeing why.
