Mike Zimmer never wanted the Vikings to sign Kirk Cousins

[Kentis]

(Photo by Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports) Mike Zimmer

The Minnesota Vikings head coach was not a fan of the signing in 2018.During Mike Zimmer’s first four years as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, the team was able to experience a bunch of success.
With Zimmer leading the way from 2014 to 2017, the Vikings won 60 percent of their matchups, they captured two NFC North titles, they earned two playoff berths, and they finished the 2017 season one game short of making the Super Bowl.
Then came the 2018 offseason. Minnesota decided to break the bank and sign free-agent quarterback Kirk Cousins to a massive contract. Even though Zimmer put on a smile during Cousins’ introductory press conference, giving a free-agent quarterback a ton of money is not something the Vikings head coach was okay with.
Old comments reveal Mike Zimmer’s true feelings about the Minnesota Vikings 2018 offseasonDuring his press conference at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine, Zimmer was asked numerous questions about Minnesota’s plans at the quarterback position for the upcoming season. The Vikings head coach took time to compliment Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater, and Sam Bradford while also making it clear that he did not want the team to spend a ton of cash on a shiny new signal-caller.

“The thing that I told Rick (Spielman) was, when we sat down in meetings, I said, ‘look, we’ve won this many games in these many years because of this football team.’ Because we’ve played really good on defense for the most part. This year, obviously, we played so much better on offense and we were able to go further than what a lot of people thought we would. So it’s important that we continue to put the pieces in place on defense. 
What I don’t want to do is say, ‘okay, (here) is this one thing – we’re going to do this and we’re going to take away from the rest of the things that have gotten us to this point.’ So that’s the other thing. 
Rob Brzezinski, our cap guy, does an outstanding job of saying, ‘okay, if we do this, then we’re going to have to give up here. If we do this, then we’re going to have to do this. If we do this, we can add here or we can add there.’ So I think all of those things come into play.”

Heading into this press conference, rumors had already begun to swirl about Minnesota having interest in signing Cousins. Judging from Zimmer’s comments, it didn’t sound like he was happy with the Vikings investing a good portion of their salary cap into signing a high-priced quarterback.
Minnesota’s head coach saw what worked well for his team during his first four seasons and he didn’t think spending a lot of money on someone like Cousins was going to help. In fact, based on Zimmer’s comments from above, one can make the assumption that he felt that signing Cousins was going to have a negative impact on the Vikings’ future.
And what do you know? Zimmer was right.
Remember how we mentioned earlier that Minnesota won 60 percent of their games during Zimmer’s first four years with the team? Well, the Vikings have only earned victories in 50 percent of their matchups since they signed Cousins in 2018 and it’s not just a coincidence.
Minnesota has attempted to provide the veteran quarterback with a number of weapons during his tenure with the team while also doing what they can tailor the offense around his strengths. But Cousins still hasn’t been able to take his game to the top level like so many felt he could when he first signed with the Vikings.
Does Zimmer deserve a good amount of blame for Minnesota’s 1-5 start this season? Yes, of course he does, he’s the head coach. But let’s not act like Cousins hasn’t been a gigantic reason for the Vikings’ lack of success this year either.
https://thevikingage.com/2020/10/19/mike-zimmer-minnesota-vikings-kirk-cousins/

[Guest]

So what were the other options at the time? Yeah exactly. I am all for moving on but they can't just yet. Unless they find a taker, they are stuck. They have to draft a new qb and he can sit until Cousins moves on somehow.

[Guest]

And the "Game of Life" blame needle points to:

SPIELMAN

[Guest]

Revisionist history.  Zim has major say in this team's decisions, if he really opposed Kirk it would not have happened.  There just wasn't much of a solid argument for the three guys they had, they swallowed the Cousins choice and have been choking on it ever since.  What boggles the mind is doubling down on him this past off-season.  It's time for Rick and Mike to go.

[Guest]

Maybe Zimmer should have gone to bat for Keenum if that's how he felt. Instead, he threw him under the bus at every turn, including after wins, with the "he lives with a horseshoe up his ass" comment. Zimmer is up to his eyeballs in this situation. Probably more than Spielman.

[Guest]

I aint excusing KC's challenges, but part of the problem was (is) they didnt put enough emphasis/priority on OL to protect any QB.

What if they signed a pro-bowl caliber OG instead of Barr and a S for instance? 

Plus the league has changed since the Vikings won with D and a mediocre offense and small ball. 

Zimmer's window is just about over - unless it all comes together next year for one last hurrah. 

[Guest]

Meh.

Cousins is one member of a team that's in complete disarray right now.  Atlanta was able to score at will...and they were seen as more pathetic than us going into Sunday's game.

The o-line is an ongoing problem, Cook is missing time again, and it looks like Special Teams is the only portion of the team that's doing...decently...with any consistency.

Cousins is having an awful season, but all of the focus on him is as ridiculous as all of the cap hit for him.  There is a whole team to consider, and the whole team is basically broken right now.

[Guest]

This article was a tease - headline suggested that Zimmer had made some RECENT remarks suggesting he was bailing on Cousins, even trying to push the blame from himself. But it's just reinterpretation of comments he made before we even signed Cousins.

If Zimmer or Spielman ever do break ranks and start pointing fingers, it means they realize not only has the iceberg hit but the pumps can't keep up with the flooding...

[Guest]

@Vikergirl said:
So what were the other options at the time? Yeah exactly. I am all for moving on but they can't just yet. Unless they find a taker, they are stuck. They have to draft a new qb and he can sit until Cousins moves on somehow.

This is exactly it. Where the vikes were picking in the first round there were no QB's available. Frankly, there wasnt much available until way late in the draft and you arent going to start a late draft pick on a team that just went to the NFC Championship game. On to Free Agents: Cousins was by far the best choice. Some of you Keenum fans will think he was the better choice but just stop, no he wasnt. Teddy was a HUGE gamble at that time and when you are in your window, which the Vikings were, you dont take a gamble on Teddy. At the time it was the right choice because it was really the only choice. It sucks now, for sure, but if you replay the outcome, it's the same 99/100

[Guest]

@Hawkvike25 said:

@Vikergirl said:
So what were the other options at the time? Yeah exactly. I am all for moving on but they can't just yet. Unless they find a taker, they are stuck. They have to draft a new qb and he can sit until Cousins moves on somehow.

This is exactly it. Where the vikes were picking in the first round there were no QB's available. Frankly, there wasnt much available until way late in the draft and you arent going to start a late draft pick on a team that just went to the NFC Championship game. On to Free Agents: Cousins was by far the best choice. Some of you Keenum fans will think he was the better choice but just stop, no he wasnt. Teddy was a HUGE gamble at that time and when you are in your window, which the Vikings were, you dont take a gamble on Teddy. At the time it was the right choice because it was really the only choice. It sucks now, for sure, but if you replay the outcome, it's the same 99/100

there were plenty of people that argued that cousins game wasnt worth the money,  and in hindsight... they were right.

there was plenty of evidence that much of what we heard at the time has proven true.

Throws interceptions in clutch moments... check

Locks onto recievers... check

Immobile and doesnt escape pressure.... check

Stats built in garbage time against prevent defenses... check

you can get all that from a gamble or bargain QB and that is exactly what we have gotten and there were quite a few at the time that plenty vocal about it.