Mike Zimmer’s Anger And Pettiness Don’t Make Him Wrong
Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
Mike Zimmer was never the warmest guy. It takes all of 30 seconds of a mic’d up session to recognize how the former Vikings’ head coach approaches the game of football. From the hard knock school of Bill Parcells, Zimmer was a grouchy, aggressive, and combative head coach. When it worked, it really worked. When it didn’t, it didn’t.
The end of the Zimmer and Rick Spielman era in Minnesota was a tumultuous one. Nearly two years past the exhaustion of the fan base, the front office and head coach duo was finally let go at the end of the 2021 season. As rumors and details leaked post dismissal, most of the hits were flying at Zimmer. While players were willing to criticize the culture and Spielman went on every sports podcast he could find, Zimmer chose to not say a word.
Until now.
On the precipice of his return to the NFL as a defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys, Zimmer had a conversation with the Star Tribune’s Mark Craig and gave a lot of transparency while taking aim at his former partner.
“‘The first round, Rick tried to trade up for Justin Fields, who hasn’t done anything,’ Zimmer says.”
“‘When he picked Mond, I walked out of the room,’ Zimmer says. ‘I left the building. I didn’t even talk to him on the phone.’ The two spoke the next morning. ‘Rick said, ‘You mad at me?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think you took four backups when we had guys there I thought were starters,’ Zimmer says. ‘From that time on, it just kind of got worse between us. And I’m not saying nothing was my fault. I’m sure there were plenty of things that were my fault.'”
Other highlights from the article included:
- He said “hell no, they got me fired” when asked if he wanted to address the team after being let go.
- He hasn’t watched a single Vikings game over the last two years.
- He never fit with Kirk Cousins and laments how his big contract took away from the rest of the roster.
- He regrets the team meeting he held late in ’21 where he defended his career to a room of taken-aback players.
- He was hurt by criticism from people like Eric Kendricks, Terence Newman, and Paul Allen after his firing.
For many, the odd choice to blast the organization two years past his exit will only cement his status as a villain. There is, however, an argument to be made that Mike Zimmer’s anger(not his behavior) was and is valid.
Head coaches are particular. They have their schemes and they know what they need to succeed. When in good partnership with a general manager, the GM is able to listen to and assess the coaches needs and evaluate the best fits for the team. This is, of course, partnered with the GM‘s job of protecting the future, but it all starts with what the coach needs. Early on for the Vikings, this partnership worked perfectly.
Then came Kirk.
The season after taking his defensive led football team to the NFC championship with a backup quarterback, the organization went out and signed Kirk Cousins. Not only was Cousins not the right fit for Zimmer, but he also provided an albatross on the salary cap that eventually would lead to roster changes that would affect Zimmer’s defense.
All of this could have still gone smoothly had Spielman done the crucial thing necessary when signing a high-priced quarterback. You have to hit your draft picks. Spielmans draft debacle from the moment they signed Kirk through his ugly last year put the team in a situation that very few coaches could have climbed out of. From 2018 through 2021 in rounds 1 through 4 Speilman’s selections yielded two stars in Justin jefferson and Christian Darrisaw, two decent starters in Brian O’Neill and Cam Bynum, and two underwhelming players that are still on the team in Garrett Bradbury and DJ Wonnum. In Rounds 5-7 the rest of the picks only resulted in two players who are still on the team, Josh Metellus and Blake Brandel. It’s in abysmal record at the exact wrong time.
On top of the draft situation the funniest part of all the Zimmer hate towards the end, may have just been the numbers. The way the town talked about the coach it was as though he would prefer to run on first and second down and then punt the ball. Despite going through a new coordinator on a near yearly basis, Zimmer’s last two seasons the offense put up 26.9 and 25.0 points per game respectively. Both of those numbers are better than either of the numbers new head coach Kevin O’Connell has provided in his first two seasons.(24.9 and 20.2)
There is a real argument to be made that Rick Spielmans decisions changed the team, and Mike Zimmer did his best on the field(while doing less than that off it.)
No one here is insisting Zimmer would be an easy guy to hang out with. We’re not even saying he didn’t deserve to get fired. We are saying that despite the pettiness put out in Mark Craig’s interview there is some validity to Mike Zimmer’s claims point of view. Any of the rest of us would struggle if forced into a similar situation. We may not act like little children throwing a tantrum, but at the very least we can understand the desire to.
Up Next