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BwareDWare94

An Emotionless, Hopefully Objective Look at Mike Zimmer and Whether He Should Return to the Vikings

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Please pardon the TL;DR title Mike Zimmer is my favorite coach in the NFL. I was ecstatic when the Vikings hired him 5 years ago. I'm thrilled that he has lasted so long with the franchise. But after a disaster of a fifth season under the direction of Zimmer, I'm forced to ponder whether or not he is still the best guy for the job in Minnesota. My loyalty says Yes. He's phenomenal as a defensive coach. The Zfense (just give me this one--I can't believe it's never been called the Zfense) employs many of my favorite defensive concepts: A-gap blitzes, disguising the coverages by showing blitz, press coverage, to name a few. He is phenomenal with defensive backs. He's openly disciplinary. He is passionate and fiery and set in his ways. That last part is exactly why he may not be the best man for the job anymore. The hot-headed disciplinarian who doesn't shy away from publicly chastising those around him is pretty much a long-gone coaching technique. It's hard to keep an entire staff and 50some players in your corner when you conduct yourself like Zimmer does. Personally I think people need to expect to be held to such a high standard in this particular profession, but the softies will always melt under a coach like Zimmer and then shrink in big moments. What I'm basically saying is I feel as though a certain number of guys quit on Mike Zimmer this year. They began to quit in Philadelphia last January. It reared its ugly head throughout this season. From today to New England to Seattle to Buffalo all the way back in week 3. Things weren't going perfectly and guys shut down. All of that being said, when one looks at the sheer number of disastrous things Mike Zimmer has had to deal with since becoming coach in Minnesota, one can only marvel at the fact that the Vikings even had two successful seasons. Zimmer inherited a mess. Leslie Frazier fucked this defense up terribly, and Spielman missed badly on Christian Ponder. Then when Minnesota seemed to have found a promising young QB (albeit he was extremely overrated by the media) in Teddy Bridgewater, Teddy's knee randomly explodes before his third season. Cue Sam Bradford playing marginally well for a season, then a brilliant week 1 performance the following year and then his knee gives out. Cue Case Keenum staying hydrated with Holy Water and playing with Russell Wilson-esque good luck. But stud rookie RB Dalvin Cook tears his ACL one quarter into the season.  Then Cousins.

We finally have a QB. Things are looking up. Then our offensive line coach, one of the best in the league, dies unexpectedly (RIP Tony Sparano). Then our best interior lineman suffers a freak neck injury and is out for the season. Joe Berger, our other guard, had also retired. Two new guards, no stud center to start the season. Both tackles get hurt. Stud center comes back, but the guard play around him is so atrocious that he looks bad all year. The only good thing about our OL this year was rookie RT Bryan O'Neill. Everson Griffin has his mental health issues, misses 5 games. Linval Joseph, Anthony Barr, Eric Kendricks, Xavier Rhodes, Trae Waynes, and Andrew Sendejo all miss multiple games with injuries. Stud first round CB Mike Hughes tears his ACL about a quarter of the way into the season. For the second year in a row, we lose our first round pick to an ACL tear only a few games into the season. How many offensive coordinators has Zimmer had?

Bad kicking throughout his tenure, including from historically good Dan Bailey.

And that's not everything. Jesus Christ. I'm not sure any Head Coach has had to steer the ship through more utter disaster than Mike Zimmer has over the past 5 years.

So my loyalties want Mike Zimmer back--it's a miracle we've even had 2 playoff seasons with all this going on, and all this bad fortune was completely out of his control. It's not like he had a hand in any of it. Until his players started quitting. My gut says that at this point it's too much to overcome, and both Minnesota and Mike Zimmer need to turn over a new leaf. I won't be upset if Mike returns. I'll support him as long as he's here. That being said, I feel as though an objective look at this situation may warrant change.

What do the rest of you think?

Edited by Vin

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Someone who knows how to fix the text, please do.

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Kirk Cousins is a lot better than mediocre at best. Come on.

And I don't think it's either dumb or smart to fire Zimmer. The success is undeniable, even if it it's relative to the circumstances. But are the players all-in anymore? That's the question.

Edited by BwareDWare94

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There’s an element of sensationalist media ... but headlines today are calling the Cousins deal a “disaster” and that his signing is a “bust”.

Where’s the disconnect between that and your stance on him /his play. 

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Well, I watched him all year and he was never the cause of a loss. And his play was very good in most games. 

The media would rather put up the most eye-grabbing headline than actually evaluate the situation.

Our OL sucked. Our playcalling sucked. What's the scouting report on Kirk Cousins? One of the best play-action QBs in the game. What did Flip do for 13 games? Abandon the run after barely trying it. 

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Him and Aaron weren't that far off statistically and they were/are saying mostly the same things about him. I mean... The guy threw 2 INT all season and both were right at Jimmy Graham's chest and off his hands. Now... I wouldn't say Aaron or his new contract are a bust or that we should move on from him (lol some fans). But he needs to play better. 

It is kinda of crazy that 4500 yards, 25 TD, and 2 INT isn't good enough .... But it isn't good enough, all things considered. 

I didn't watch as much Cousins as you did, but my guess is a lot of the same applies.

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The coaching and supporting cast of the Vikings is 1000x better than the Packers. Throw Rodgers onto that Vikings team and they win the Super Bowl. Throw Kirk on the Packers and they're a bottom 5 team.

  • Upvote 1

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I disagree. Diggs and Thielen each had over 100 catches, almost 2500 yards between them, and 9 touchdowns apiece.

Realistically, can Aaron Rodgers produce significantly more than that if he's constantly running for his life, getting hit constantly, and has no running game?

Sometimes it doesn't matter how much better one player is than another at the quarterback position. A very, very bad offensive line can sabotage a team's success no matter the quarterback.

No running game and terrible pass protection any time you play a great defensive front= limited success. Blame Flip for Minnesota's failures this year, if anyone. It's important to establish a rhythm and identity in the running game no matter how much struggle you have initially. Flip abandoned it almost every week even though we have Dalvin Cook and LaTavius Murray. The guy is a dumbass that sabotaged this season in Minnesota, plain and simple.

Aaron Rodgers would not win a Super Bowl with this year's Vikings team. Last year's? Yes. This season's? No.

 

Edited by BwareDWare94

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Why hire Flip in the first place if you want a balanced offense. The guy has always heavily favored passing the ball. 

 

In 2015 we had an offensive line made up of: Joe Thomas, Alex, Mack, Joel Bitonio, John Greco and Mitchell Schwartz. We had Crowell, and Duke Johnson running the ball both averaging nearly 4ypc. 

 

We had McCown or Manziel to throw the ball. Would a reasonable guy try to build an elite run heavy game or would he try to throw the ball more than double the amount of runs? I’ll let you guess which one he tried. 

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