Is Spielman Blaming Zimmer For His Downfall?
K. Joudry
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Earlier this week, Rick Spielman appeared on a podcast with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks, and Minnesota’s former GM had some interesting things to say about Mike Zimmer.
Spielman admitted that it was often challenging to bring players in since the team had so many different coordinators during the Zimmer era: “It was constantly like a moving target all the time.” That’s a comment that got some chuckles.
He goes on:
You try to do your best to adapt and the guys that we do have, can you do some things from your scheme to maybe adjust a little bit to their skill set? But when you have the coaching turnover that it is and you’re always trying to marry up the personnel to the scheme, are there ways that some of these coaches – and you see some of them doing some things – that, ‘Hey, I have to adjust my scheme to what the players can do as well.’ Some coaches are saying ‘This is what we run and this is what we have to have and if they don’t fit this then I don’t want them.’
It’s interesting to see Spielman shift some of the onus to the coaches. Sure, the GM needs to marry a player’s talents with scheme, but so too do coaches need to adjust. One wonders if there’s a thinly-veiled shot at Zimmer in those comments. In many ways, he’s right. Nothing is permanent in the NFL. Players get hurt, meaning others need to step up who maybe don’t have the same skill set. Coaches move on, either due to success, failure, or (in rare instances) retirement. The main decision makers – the coach and GM – need to be nimble when it comes to adjusting to the personnel.
Now, in fairness, the Vikings were sometimes the victims of their own success. Kevin Stefanski and Pat Shurmur moved on because they got promotions. That’s only part of the story, though. Norv Turner and John DeFilippo turned out to be bad hires, and you could probably toss Klint Kubiak into that pile. Gary Kubiak did reasonably well, but he opted for retirement. This reality made things challenging for the personnel, and it’s a main reason why the new hire ought to be on offense. Continuity matters.
Another interesting note was when Spielman talked about the defenses in the playoffs, comments that will inevitably bring up some memories of Zimmer. He noted that most teams that are succeeding in the playoff have defenses that can get off the field. That was a consistent issue for the Vikings, especially since the run defense was so poor. That being said, Spielman was clear later on that hiring Zimmer was the right decision at the time it happened.
“I’ve made some mistakes,” Spielman explained, “on quarterbacks.” It was neat to hear him reflect on his mistakes in this regard; it’s not like it was all blame and deflection. The sense one gets is that Spielman was trying to be honest and transparent. It was also neat to see him explain how they recently incorporated virtual reality into their assessment and training.
Last thing. Spielman discussed how the incoming QB class isn’t super clear, so he’s really looking forward to who emerges leading up to the draft. One wonders what that means for the Vikings, who have their own QB situation that needs addressing. Given these comments, it would have been fascinating to see how he handled the #12 pick.
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