The Mike Zimmer Era In One Word: Gutless
Ben Lyso
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The Vikings were down late in the third and Holton Hill was getting chewed out.
Given Hill’s performance, you might think veteran leaders Harrison Smith or Anthony Harris were giving him an earful for missing a coverage assignment.
Given the team was down by three scores and the defense was looking lifeless, you might think a member of the coaching staff was so eloquently imploring him to get his head in the game.
In reality, Holton Hill was getting chewed out by opposing quarterback Phillip Rivers.
The previous play resulted in a flag on Hill, and the notoriously hotheaded veteran quarterback made sure to let Hill know his thoughts.
The next play, Rivers scrambled to the left and came face-to-face with Hill. This could have been a moment of revenge for Hill; lowering a shoulder or giving Rivers a forceful push out of bounds could have sent a powerful “you can’t intimidate me,” type of statement.
Instead, Rivers lowered his shoulder into an astoundingly apathetic Hill, and once again ran back to the huddle while jawing at the seemingly defeated cornerback.
That exchange was a perfect microcosm for the game, the season, and head coach Mike Zimmer’s tenure as a whole: Gutless.
Year after year the Vikings perform like they are sleepwalking in the biggest moments of the season.
There’s no fight. No innovation. No “Fuck You” attitude.
Zimmer is set in his ways — so much so that he is frequently outcoached — and his lack of innovation or inclination to change game plans on the fly lead to extremely uninspired performances from his players.
Take week 17, 2018. The Vikings needed a win at home against the Bears to clinch a playoff berth. The team played like they already made vacation plans, allowing 169 rushing yards en route to a 24-10 embarrassment.
Take week 16, 2019. The Packers came to town for Monday Night Football with the division title very much still up for grabs. Green Bay nearly tripled the Vikings’ total yardage and locked up the division with a 23-10 victory.
Take the 2017 NFC Championship game. After going up 7-0 and forcing an Eagles punt, Case Keenum threw a pick six. From that point, the Eagles scored 31 unanswered points, barreling over an apathetic, un-inspired, and un-original team performance.
Has Zimmer had quality wins under pressure? Sure, one doesn’t need to look much further than last seasons’ Wild Card game.
But the negative high-stakes performances vastly outweigh the positive, and this week is another scarlet letter on Zimmer’s resume.
After getting absolutely shredded by the Packers last week, the Vikings needed a win against the Colts to stay in the playoff hunt. While it is still very early, teams that start 0-2 only have a 12.1% chance of making the playoffs.
Pre-game, things were looking good; the Colts had a number of injuries to their pass catchers, thereby lightening the load for an inexperienced Vikings secondary.
Or so we thought.
Despite the limited receiving corps, Phillip Rivers had his way with the Vikings defense, throwing for a blistering 76% completion rate.
Colts’ tight end, Mo Alie-Cox, had 111 receiving yards. If you’ve never heard of him before, don’t worry, no one else had either. Going into this game, the third-year player had only 246 career receiving yards, meaning the Vikings allowed him to rack up nearly half of his career yardage in this one game.
The Vikings were apathetic, they were lackluster, and the coaching staff made no attempts or adjustments to contain the run or limit the pass.
And after all of that, you would think Zimmer would give a rousing post-game speech to liven the mood and inspire confidence in his troops, right? After all, he is a self-described no-nonsense, “do-your-job” type of coach, right?
Nope.
After the game he told the team, “We can’t start winning until we stop losing.”
What was that word again? Oh yeah, gutless.
At this point I think people need to wake up to the fact that we need a change.
I have been a staunch Zimmer supporter for years, but it’s time to realize that while Zimmer has been a fantastic coach and will no doubt go down in Vikings lore, his outdated, un-inspired systems and perpetual ineptitude in crucial games has to stop.
Honestly, how many more times are people going to make excuses for this type of performance?
There’s a difference between getting beaten – and getting beaten while showing absolutely no heart, innovation, or accountability.
We cannot continue to stick to a run-heavy philosophy with a bottom-tier offensive line. We cannot continue to pay over $30 million a year to a quarterback while disgruntling and shipping out All-Star wide receivers. We cannot continue to allow a so-called “defensive guru” be completely out-coached and outscored time and time again in the biggest moments.
We cannot continue with gutless, perpetual mediocrity.
Changes need to be made, lest the Vikings are happy with staying in football purgatory.