Mike Zimmer
Mike Zimmer should be terminated after fostering back-to-back losing seasons for the Minnesota Vikings, right?
Not so fast.
According to NFL.com’s Ian Rapaport, the decision by Vikings brass to fire or retain Zimmer was up in the air as of Sunday, January 2. Most onlookers of the Vikings have simply assumed Zimmer would get the ax because of two consecutive losing seasons. But Rapaport told a different side of the story:
“After a down year in 2020, the Vikings entered the season needing to improve. Instead, it’s been a roller-coaster of emotions, with the latest blow coming with Kirk Cousins testing positive for COVID-19 and missing Week 17. Mike Zimmer appears to be one of the coaches whose fate has not yet been decided, per sources informed of his situation. Winning out and making the playoffs would go a long way toward solidifying his status. Miss the playoffs — for the fifth time in eight seasons — and it would be a decision left to Minnesota’s ownership.”
Of course, getting bludgeoned at Lambeau Field does not help one’s case for job security, but Zimmer is still employed as the Vikings skipper as of noon on Monday. Minnesota will miss the playoffs again, only the fifth time in the Super Bowl era that the Vikings have conducted losing seasons in succession.
Make no mistake – the team is at crossroads, pondering the future of Zimmer, general manager Rick Spielman, and quarterback Kirk Cousins. But deeming Zimmer as the casualty is a bit premature. There is a school of thought that suggests the Vikings could trade Cousins – he has the infamous $45 million cap hit in 2022 – and hand Zimmer back some flexibility to rebuild his beloved defense without a quarterback sopping up all the cap space. The Zimmer-Cousins pairing is faulty. It’s not working. Minnesota missed the postseason in three of four seasons. What Cousins does on the field does not jell with a Zimmer system. What a Zimmer system wants to do does not jell with Cousins’ talents.
In the end, the Zimmer defense plunged toward the bottom of the NFL after scraping the top of the league from 2014 to 2019. Cousins is not good enough to drag a team toward prosperity with a terrible defense. Few quarterbacks not named Mahomes or Rodgers are.
However, until you see the cellphone notification detailing Zimmer’s exodus, the situation is still fluid, per Rapaport. Perhaps the Wilfs enjoy Zimmer and dislike Cousins. Trading the expensive guy and remaking the team of the vein of 2017 version – before Cousins – might be viable.
The decision boils down to how much Spielman and the Wilfs attribute the team’s failures to Zimmer or Cousins. If they believe it’s “more Cousins” or “more Zimmer,” both men need not depart.
If this week passes – and then Black Monday does, too – with no termination of Zimmer, you can bet hefty money Cousins will be traded.
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).