Apt Pupil: Stefanski Outfoxes Zimmer in Minnesota
We opined on Sunday morning the Minnesota Vikings could topple the Cleveland Browns if they stopped the run.
They didn’t, and they lost, 14-7.
The Browns gouged the Vikings for 184 yards on the ground – the seventh-most allowed in a game by a Mike Zimmer-led Vikings team during his Minnesota tenure. On Sunday, and in the six other games when an opponent rushed for more yards than that, the Vikings have lost under Zimmer. Per his brand of football, the Vikings cannot win when the opposition runs roughshod with its tailbacks. In fact, that’s what Zimmer prefers to do with others. That is – his team conducts the run-heavy operations, laying the framework for victory.
But not in Week 4. In his return to Minnesota, facing his old boss – Kevin Stefanski outfoxed Zimmer, dropping the Vikings to a lowly 1-3 standing for the 2021 season.
It’s time to panic.
Indeed, Minnesota could rattle off victories over the also-lowly Detroit Lions next week and find a way to domesticate the Carolina Panthers. However, those what-ifs are now mandatory – if the Vikings want to reach the postseason. And, the team must reach the postseason to keep the current leadership employed beyond 2021.
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At home, Zimmer’s Vikings are dominant. This mentality led many onlookers of the Vikings to believe they’d take care of business against Cleveland, evening up the 2021 record to 2-2. Yet, after one fabulous offensive drive, the Vikings offense stunk. As in – rancid smelling.
Stefanski simply found ways to frustrate Kirk Cousins. Those two were linked at the hip in Minnesota for two seasons, so Stefanski knew and knows how to unnerve the Vikings signal-caller. It worked to perfection, outsmarting Zimmer at virtually every step of the way.
Cleveland brought pressure upfront, one game after it seemed the Vikings offensive line was hitting stride. Nope. Rashod Hill struggled. Ezra Cleveland wasn’t very good. The offensive line looked like every other offensive line from 2018, 2019, and 2020 after the first drive.
It is not supernatural the Browns beat the Vikings. They’re a playoff-bound, perhaps Super Bowl-contending football team. The agonizing attributes to the loss were the home factor and the Stefanski-over-Zimmer dynamic. Minnesota rarely loses at home with fans, but they looked like offensive imbeciles on Sunday. Why? Because Stefanski used his double-agent cap to make it work. Why didn’t Zimmer turn the tables and find ways to irritate Stefanski?
For now, the Vikings and Browns are trending in different paths. The Vikings head coach must win ballgames – like now – to save his job. The Browns head coach is sizing up homefield advantage. These are vastly different gigs.
In a tell-all season, the Zimmer Vikings lost because of too many penalties, poor offensive gameplanning, and no ability to stop the run (Zimmer is supposed to be good at stopping the run).
The Vikings require immediate wins beginning in Week 5. Otherwise, Minneapolis will become Hot Seat Central – especially after Stefanski, the could-have-been successor to Zimmer, outclassed his former employer.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
