Mike Zimmer, keep him or curb him?

[Guest]

Something I don't see getting a lot of run here is that Zimmer is a hard ass in a League with more and more Player-friendly Coaches. Could very well be that his style has finally started to wear on the team and would possibly explain why they've been so flat in so many big games the last few years  

[Guest]

I've said it before, I think his message is stale. 

[Guest]

Don't we technically have an in house replacement option for Spielman in George Paton?

I think the perceptions of Zimmer are a mirror image reflection on Spielman. I think Spielman is the one who can't fill this roster out to it's potential (Zim can't get the defense to play to their "full potential"). For every awesome hit we've had in the draft there are holes that are never filled. Offensive line has been a constant hole.  He has some questionable blind spots when it comes to offense and hell of an ability to sell us doing nothing bullshit as fixing the problem. It's frustrating.  This entire roster is his baby. The good and the bad - unlike Zimmer who coaches the new guys he has each season, Rick is the one who builds this year in and year out. Lately he's been so reactive to his misses that we're spinning our tires going nowhere when it comes to overall roster building.

I think Rick is probably lucky to have a coach that can solidly handle running "his" side of the ball. We've already seen the defensive coach who actually couldn't even handle his side of the ball - the offense still looked like shit then - Zimmer replaced that guy.

When you look at all of the Zimmer years together, our struggles have always been because something really important was missing. Usually it's protection. Coaching has always been a strength of this team except on offense. We have cyclically had to dance around bullshit on offense; the Green Bay game was garbage offensively. That's on Rick at this point in his tenure! There is no excuse Stefanski has to scheme around it with Cousins, Diggs, Theilen and Cook. This is on Spielman. 

This team doesn't need to be blown up. This team needs a GM that has a better understanding of complimentary players. There's no cohesion to our roster, and Rick's been here way to long to have this feeling like there isn't really an intended plan unfolding from the top. In fact, we all know that our roster over the past few seasons has been more reactionary fixing missteps than it's all gone as planned. This isn't Zimmer's problem - he's got the team in the playoffs as the 6 seed, despite his QB not being able to take a 5 step drop in the pocket. It's 2019 for godssake...  

If Rick wasn't here, it's not like the draft picks stop. It's not like it's hard to figure out who's BPA and get hyped about picks regardless of who's selecting them. It's not like Zimmer won't be picking players from UDFA workouts (he's pretty good at it). It's not like free agency doesn't happen. It's not like every player we have gets released... I think this roster needs someone else to finish building it.

Maybe Paton could give us the best of both worlds - being able to retain scouting staff? It would be cool if someone else in house had the keys to the top of this... I'd just like a better sense of direction for the overall roster vs seemingly always getting great value at positions where it's contractually convenient while leaving the roster with big holes around star players all of the time.

[Guest]

Sam Bradford called Zimmer his favorite coach he ever played for. There are plenty of NFL players, former and current, that like Z. How many starting QBs has he had to deal with? Listen, I've disagreed with some things he's done and how he is at times, but I still think he's respected. What has plagued this team this year IMO is an inconsistent offensive line and lack of interior pass rush/run on D. They play in a conference where 10 wins (hell, even if they had gotten to 11 wins) is the #6 seed. 

I don't know what the answer is, but I'm not sure its getting rid of Zimmer. 

[Guest]

Word I heard is there is a lot more internal tension around Zimmer right now in the organization than we know about.

[Guest]

@comet52 said:
Word I heard is there is a lot more internal tension around Zimmer right now in the organization than we know about.

As I mentioned a few days ago, if what you say is true and the rumor of the love internally for Stefanski is true....if all of that is really true and the Vikings get blown out, there will be tough decisions to be made. Not sure exactly what will happen in that scenario, but I guess we'll find out. 

[Guest]

As an ownership group, the Wilf's have given Zimmer pretty much all he's needed to succeed over the years.

Facilities, staff, free agents etc..

I wouldn't blame them for moving on and not settling for good (not great).

But they sure as hell better have a plan on who they're running to , not just away from. This is where I don't trust owners to make good decisions. 

Zimm has been a top4 Viking coach of all time imo; Grant, Burns, The Sheriff, Zimsu

Kicking him to the curb? Lets remember Frazier, Meathead, Chilli, Steckel.

[Guest]

I'll put another factoid out there for consumption: for the all talk about former players loving him only Newman has actually followed him anywhere. Just sayin'.