please for the love of god let this be zimmers last year

The reality of the NFL now is you need to be a great offensive team with a decent defense. I'm not sure if Mike will ever find a way to fit in. I agree his game management leaves alot to be desired. Tonight he got cute with going for it on a 4th and 1 at their 45. I normally would have liked it. Except as you say empty backfield and the pass goes to Treadwell. I really was surprised when they snapped it. Wrong time to play catchup with the good offensive minds.

treadwell needs to be less involved.and yes i feel your pain. i never did buy the superbowl hype for this season. Too many new ingredients at key spots. 

The 4th and 1 with nobody in the backfield to keep the defense honest meant the DB's could camp on the receivers. His clock management when the game isn't already decided int he halfs is pathetic. How he has not gotten better in 5 years is alarming. OUr team identity is ball control and defense in an era that scores 24+ points easily. 

@"Mike Olson" said: The 4th and 1 with nobody in the backfield to keep the defense honest meant the DB's could camp on the receivers. His clock management when the game isn't already decided int he halfs is pathetic. How he has not gotten better in 5 years is alarming. OUr team identity is ball control and defense in an era that scores 24+ points easily. 

It's almost like they panicked on the opening drive in the second half when that was not the time to make an extremely risky decision after you already gave them a momentum crushing fumble and touchdown to end the first half. Plenty of time left. Punt it away and let your defense go to work. 

@"Mike Olson" said: He is a terrible head coach. 

He cannot manage a clock to save his life and he makes stupid egotistical decisions on his D even when he haw multiple starters out. 4th and 1 and you go for it with an empty backfield in your own half of the field? Oh what's that? It was flips call? No you are the coach call a time out and get it right. 

This guy is a good D coordinator. He is not a head coach. 

frustrating call on 4th down i agree. we also needed to hurry up much earlier down 3 scores. def bad coaching on those. BUT

Zimmer is the 3rd best head coach in team history.  We were kicking their ass until Thielen dropped the ball with us going in again and they turned it into a TD.

We throw a pick 6 but worse they blew us off the lines on the second half. they are as good a team as us talent wise.  Im not terribly down on this team. 

I know some will point to Adam's fumble as the game changer and it did have a negative effect on the outcome.  But I think this game was lost on the 4th and 1.  It was stupid decision and not worth the risk.  Giving Brees and Co. a short field like that was downright stupid and don't even get me started on the play call with the empty backfield.  Just fucking stupid.

I don't think this will be Zim's last year and I don't really think it should be. I'm a Zim supporter.
But like Mike said, his clock management is terrible. He's also bad on challenges. It's frustrating.

wow.  over react much? 

Went for it on 4th down to get the TD.  Good call?  He won the challenge.  It was a gutsy call.  didn't work so armchair QBs will second guess it.  Guess what, Billicheck did a similar thing.  Even further back.  So what.  That didn't lose the game.  The fumble and momentum swing.  The pick six.  That is what lost the game. 

@"greediron" said:8 wow.  over react much? 

Went for it on 4th down to get the TD.  Good call?  He won the challenge.  It was a gutsy call.  didn't work so armchair QBs will second guess it.  Guess what, Billicheck did a similar thing.  Even further back.  So what.  That didn't lose the game.  The fumble and momentum swing.  The pick six.  That is what lost the game. 

It's what we do. I will say what was hard about it was I thought nobody's buying you're going for it. Ok try to draw them offsides when it doesn't work you call time or just take the 5 yard penalty. When they snapped it I was surprised. When they threw it to Treadwell I was more so. When Brees took the opportunity to bury us that was the only thing I wasn't surprised at. So maybe this is why it hurt. Oh well move on.

I don't think Zimmer is going anywhere. I was ticked off that he said there was no issue with clock management though in the presser.

I agree that Zimmer has proven to be outclassed by "top level" coaches in key games, but when the hell is Saint Ricky gonna start feeling the heat?

Jaysus Christmas, this dude has had 100% control of BOTH College and NFL scouting since he was named VICE PRESIDENT OF PLAYER PERSONNEL in the Spring (or early Summer) of 2006. 

Since L'il Ricky came aboard, there have been :

3 Head Coaches
5 Offensive Coordinators
5 Defensive Coordinators 
17 ( yes, SEVENTEEN) starting QB's
3 Home stadiums
2 Training camp locations 
Literally HUNDREDS of players and assitant coaches

And.... A grand total of TWO playoff wins (both, btw, with mercenary F/A QB's, despite spending 5 draft picks including THREE FIRST ROUND PICKS on QB's between April 2011 and September 2016). 

Just to put that pathetic total of playoff wins in perspective, the Jacksonville Jaguars EQUALLED that total in the span of 2 WEEKS this past January. The Rex Ryan/Mark Sanchez Jets DOUBLED that playoff win total over the course of 2 years, all 4 of those victories on the ROAD.

Is it ALWAYS everybody elses fault except the guy that's "buying the groceries"!?

I understand that the Midwest Middle School contingent that rules this board will attack me for having the AUDACITY to state FACTS, but numbers don't lie.

At SOME point the Wilfs are going to realize the common denominator for this current LOSING stretch of Vikings history and FINALLY cut ties with this unbelievably over-rated personnel "guru" (cough-yak-erp). 

I have no doubt that the Vikings will make the playoffs this year. I also have no doubt that they will, once AGAIN, shit the bed, whether it be on the road or at home. The only question remaining is : Will they find yet ANOTHER unique way to lose a close game, or will they simply get steamrolled? I'm guessing that they will reach into their apparently inexhaustible bag of tricks-to-fuck-over-their-fans, and come up with yet ANOTHER doozy of a finish. 

12 men in a huddle? Perfect kicker missing a FG? The original "Hail Mary" play? Ridiculous, soul-crushing, head-scratching interception or fumble? Running out of bounds instead of going down and running crucial time off the clock? Dropping a game winning reception or interception? Your guess is as good as mine. I'll go with the ol' crucial fumble/interception being the scapegoat that once again saves Ricky's ass. 

Wash, rinse, repeat. Vikings tease their fans, then choke and serve up endless excuses why they fail while OTHER teams succeed. 

People are over-reacting because they know the end result.  If the Vikings would have lost, while playing more conservative, we'd have seen posts about how "Zimmers so out of touch and way too conservative, we need a young aggressive HC like Pederson, someone who's not afraid to make the ballsy calls".
This game came down to the two turnovers by Thielen and Diggs.  We played a great game given the players we were missing, but we just didn't have the horses to overcome those two crucial turnovers.

@"medaille" said:

People are over-reacting because they know the end result.  If the Vikings would have lost, while playing more conservative, we'd have seen posts about how "Zimmers so out of touch and way too conservative, we need a young aggressive HC like Pederson, someone who's not afraid to make the ballsy calls". This game came down to the two turnovers by Thielen and Diggs.  We played a great game given the players we were missing, but we just didn't have the horses to overcome those two crucial turnovers.

This. 

Vikings were the better team. You could see it. Really thought we were going to go up big as we headed for the end zone before the half, set to get the ball again after the half. They couldn't stop us and Brees was largely ineffective.

Thielen's fumble changed everything.

It gave them the lead and the momentum. And for whatever reason, our defense with a lead and our defense from behind are two totally different defenses.

@"MaroonBells" said: Vikings were the better team. You could see it. Really thought we were going to go up big as we headed for the end zone before the half, set to get the ball again after the half. They couldn't stop us and Brees was largely ineffective.

Thielen's fumble changed everything.

It gave them the lead and the momentum. And for whatever reason, our defense with a lead and our defense from behind are two totally different defenses.

I really don't put this loss on the defense. I would say it was more about how conservative the play calling on offense was after that fumble. That and the lack of urgency. Treadwell was the only one trying to get the team to hurry up. The defense can only do so much when they have to stay on the field so long. 

@"MaroonBells" said: Vikings were the better team. You could see it. Really thought we were going to go up big as we headed for the end zone before the half, set to get the ball again after the half. They couldn't stop us and Brees was largely ineffective.

Thielen's fumble changed everything.

It gave them the lead and the momentum. And for whatever reason, our defense with a lead and our defense from behind are two totally different defenses.

And for those saying the Game has passed Zim by, what was Brees stat line in the first half?  Less than 100 yards a touch and his first int.  Yeah, that turnover hurt bad.  Then Diggs stopping was the nail.

We had the game in control, Brees wasn't throwing deep. Then a turnover took away our points and gave them points.  Huge swing.

deep breath everyone... this is hardly a game to be making knee jerk decisions on,  down 6 starters and to have some uncharacteristic breaks going against us... this was one of those games that has to happen a few times a year to remind us that we are Vikings fans.

and it gives njvike a chance to come back and piss and moan about spielman (hard to do after a win right?)

@"JimmyinSD" said: deep breath everyone... this is hardly a game to be making knee jerk decisions on,  down 6 starters and to have some uncharacteristic breaks going against us... this was one of those games that has to happen a few times a year to remind us that we are Vikings fans.

and it gives njvike a chance to come back and piss and moan about spielman (hard to do after a win right?)

Al least we know the headhunters are alive and well...

I've been critical of Zimmer for plenty of things. Too conservative, the game has passed him by, he is a defensive coordinator not really a head coach, can't manage the clock, etc.  But the Vikings were without a lot of key players against a really good Saints team.  Still, we were winning and driving at the end of the first half and we were getting the ball back to start the second half. Then the fumble. And later a pick 6.
Knowing it is the Saints, he goes for it on fourth and goal on the first drive. That's not conservative.  It was the right call. They mixed the run and pass well. (The early challenge was silly and costs us a T.O. and a challenge.) Going for it on 4th and one around midfield was risky, but not incompetent.  I doubt it was Zim's call to go empty backfield.
The reality is that our front 4 could hardly pressure Brees. Their O-line is really good.  And our O-line could not really protect Cousins.  Whether that is because of injuries (Reiff, Easton, Compton) or talent hardly matters. The Saints have a great QB, great RBs, a great receiver, and have really good Offensive and defensive lines.  That and the turnovers is why they won. 
Zimmer did not lose this game. The players did.

Ugh.  So frustrating to see the over-reactions here.  A somewhat close loss to one of the best teams in the NFL while down 6 starters is not the end of the world, nor a good reason to blow everything up and start over.  I think Zim has proven to be a great coach who has led this team through some very difficult circumstances (losing starting QBs and RBs and basically half the O-line almost every single year, for instance) and has still managed to have quite a bit of success through all of the adversity.  He has also built one of the best rosters in the NFL and his players seem to love playing for him.

If this goddamn team can ever manage to have just a little bit of luck in the health department under Zimmer, I really think we'll make some serious noise, even more than we have the past couple of years.  By the way, it's just crazy that we haven't had a QB start every game for 2 consecutive years since the early 70s with Tarkenton; that blew me away.  Contrast that to teams like the Packers, Patriots, Steelers, Saints, etc.  Pretty amazing that the Vikings have been as successful as they have been over the years with so much constant turmoil and turnover at the most important position on the field.

Do some of you not remember the Tice, Childress, Frazier years?  Denny had one bad season and we ran him out of town.  How did that turn out for us?  Zim has proven for decades now to be an excellent coach.  Now we just need some consistency and patience.  Blowing everything up is the absolute wrong answer and is what shitty teams do over and over again.