Quote: @StickyBun said:
This team plays hard regardless. I don't think Zimmer has lost the team. But we need a HC with better strategic and gameday planning. He's gone thru a lot of offensive coordinators in his tenure and I'm sure they'd each tell you a side of Zimmer some don't see. The bottom line is this team should be better and have a strong identity heading into his 8th season.
The OC thing isn't a valid criticism of Zimmer IMO... Turner resigned, but the Vikings offense wasn't very explosive during his time here... Shurmur (who took over after Norv) and Stefanski were great, but they were so good they both left for HC jobs... how is that Zimmer's fault? DeFelippo was a bad hire, the offense sucked with him so Zimmer made a mistake there? Kubiak came back from retirement to help out a good friend in Zimmer and retired again and the offense went to his son. Nothing bad there...
As far as our record, I wasn't surprised by the loss yesterday. Our entire starting DL was out and the Vikings were in the game until the very end. They had two costly turnovers (Cousins pick and Cook fumble) that set up the 49ers inside 5 and inside the 20 yard line. Without those, I think the Vikings could have won the game.
My expectations haven't changed this season. I figured we were a fringe playoff team (not a Super Bowl contender) if things fell right... right now at 5-6, we are a fringe playoff team holding on to the 7th seed. If you thought this team was winning a Super Bowl after last year, I don't know what to say. It was about taking another step from a retooling year in 2020. We might still do that, but the Vikings need to win their next 3 games now.