Zim at the Mike: Reading Between the Lines
Joe Oberle
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Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer has never been known to be overly chatty with the media. In fact, his weekly obligations to face them is a grind that only seems to produce less and less copy each day of the week following a game on Sunday until Friday before the next one—the dribs and drabs of verbiage are reduced to single-digit syllable responses. But during the offseason, a refreshed Zim, after a restorative visit to his Kentucky ranch, takes on quite a different manner with the ink-stained wretches. He becomes downright ebullient (for Zimmer, anyway), informative and entertaining in his press row exchanges, he recently did so again when the media caught up with him in Indianapolis for the NFL Combine.
Zimmer (and general manager Rick Spielman, for that matter) held court earlier this week for the national media—as the Vikings, with their quarterback situation, appear to be a lynchpin regarding how other teams’ quarterback situation may get resolved this offseason. He also talked with some local folks. So, here are some of the things we gleaned from the effervescent (perhaps that is too much) Zim in Indy.
On the quarterback situation
“It’s important for myself and Rick [Spielman] and the organization that we pick the right guy that is going to help us continue to move forward. If we don’t do that, then I’ll probably get fired,” Zimmer said.
That was the money quote from Zimmer’s address to the media. There is some truth to it, or could be eventually, but since the team has won often by virtue of its defense and Zimmer built it into a great unit, he might have a little more leeway than that—but not indefinitely. This quarterback decision is huge. Of course, Zimmer smiled just a little when saying it, so he knows he is pretty solid right now. But they have to get it right.
On the three quarterbacks the team had last season
“The question is no different than ‘is Sam Bradford going to stay healthy; is Teddy Bridgewater going to be able to play where he was; is Case Keenum the quarterback who he was last year or who he was three years ago?’ So, you’ve got to gon on your gut, you’ve got to go on what you see, you’ve got to go on his heart. Case has got . . . I said the wrong word a couple times, he’s got a big heart. He’s a great competitor. He studies his rear end off. He works an unbelievable amount of hours.
“But the question is exactly what you are asking, ‘is he this guy or . . .’ and all three of our guys have questions. There is no doubt about it. And it’s our job to do the very best we possibly can to figure who is the right guy, the right fit. The one thing about Rick and I, we sit in there and we argue a bit and say what’s right and what’s wrong. But when we walk out of there, we’re together, the organization is together, and if we decide on whether it’s Case or it’s Teddy or it’s Sam, we’re going to walk out of there and say that’s what it is and we’re going to go.”
Like when Spielman speaks, nothing was revealed, other than the decision they have to make looks to them just like it looks to us: questions with all three players, and (he said earlier) money will be involved in the decision. Zimmer doesn’t want to destroy his team while going after just one player. Sounds more like Case and perhaps Teddy and less like Kirk Cousins to me.
On the use of running Dalvin Cook
“Dalvin is an unbelievable player. Dalvin is a great player. Dalvin will probably get the majority of carries, but we have to be mindful of the fact that it is a 16-game season, hopefully longer than that. And he’s going to take an awful lot of hits, so we have to not put him on a pitch count but we have to understand that this is a long season and we have to be able to get him out in certain situations. Dalvin is a three-down back. Latavius [Murray] can do the same thing, so I think it is good to have that change of pace in there with those guys.”
No mention of Jet. Jerick McKinnonn’s name is the first thing that appears glaringly absent from that response, but then we kind of knew that since McKinnon said he wanted to start somewhere. Zimmer appears to have the right mindset on the use of Cook—it is imperative to do so in order to keep him healthy. But this was also the regime that ran Adrian Peterson into the ground (like every other Vikings staff who coached him), so Cook can still count on the majority of carries—but I believe that will come a little later in the season as Cook shows that he is recovered from the ACL tear. Expect more of Murray early, and the Vikings drafting or signing another change-of-pace back this offseason to replace Jet.
On not allowing Vikings assistant coach Kevin Stefanski to interview with the New York Giants
“I get criticized for blocking guys and stuff like that, but loyalty to me is a big thing,” Zimmer told ESPN1500. “I come in here four years ago and the offense is 29, 27th, 26th but I keep them. So, the first time our offense is pretty good, then I’m supposed to let all my coaches leave? I don’t think that’s right. If I’m going to be loyal to them and not fire them after they don’t have good years, then I don’t think they should not be loyal to me.”
That is an aggressive but seemingly legit statement by Zimmer. As far as I am concerned, if Stefanski is fine with the situation (and perhaps a promise of a promotion after John DeFilippo leaves in is in the discussion), then I am fine with it. It is Zimmer’s job to protect his team and staff for the organization. Can’t argue with the move, and you have to like the typically frontal Zim in responding to it.
On the Philly debacle (as told to KFAN radio)
“They [the Eagles] did a really nice job. They hit every third down. They made plays; we didn’t make plays. In retrospect I think maybe I underestimated the emotional win the week before. Honestly, practice wasn’t real good on Wednesday that week. It was better Thursday; Friday was kind of so-so. But we’d had not-great practices in the past and still won. And then everything kind of snowballed. We go down and score 7-0, and we stop them the first series, and then all of a sudden, it’s bang, bang, bang and right before the end of the half we’re down 31-7 or whatever it was.
“So, it was almost kind of a perfect storm. But I think in the end, I probably underestimated the emotional win we had the week before. I thought it was going to be back to normal as usual for this team. And then when they told me that six teams that had walk-off wins in the playoffs all lost by an average of 24 points, that’s crazy. I probably could have done a better job with that. I don’t know what I could have done different, but I would have addressed it.”
Zimmer is typically straight-forward with the fans and genuinely pretty honest. He admits when he makes a mistake, but he might be less-than-forthcoming (like any coach) when it comes to admitting when he is out-coached. I have contended since the Eagles game that there was some hangover from the Minneapolis Miracle for the team and have since then agreed that Zimmer was out-schemed on that day by Eagles coach Doug Pederson. But now hearing it from Zimmer himself that his team wasn’t mentally prepared for the game sounds more like an excuse than a reason for the loss than when I postulated it.
However, when I know that DeFilippo is now in the Vikings coaching room, I have to believe he and Zim have discussed what went down in the NFC title game. So, for Zimmer to say this now perhaps lends more credence to it. The problem with this idea that the team wasn’t ready is tough for many to swallow (and suddenly I am having a little), because it is nebulous and so hard to quantify. But then that is the human part of this game. And when the head coach buys into it, you have to think there is something to it. I guess I hope there is and don’t want to think that the Vikings players and coaching staff are not up to Super Bowl caliber.
On the year coming up for wide receiver Laquon Treadwell
“Laquon needs to get out of his own way,” Zimmer said. “He’s a guy that works extremely hard, probably doesn’t do things the right way all of the time. We’ll be in training camp and he’ll run the stadium steps at night, which is not helping him for practice the next day. He thinks he’s trying to get better, trying to get better, he’s just going about it the wrong way. So, he needs to get out of his own way.”
Zimmer also told KFAN what Bill Parcells once told him: “First year, benefit of the doubt, second year, show me something, third you’re out.” This is a big offseason for the former Vikings number one draft pick. The team will look hard at finding someone else for the next quarterback to throw the ball to in 2018.
Finally, Zimmer did say this: “I know there’s a lot of rumors and a lot of different things going on out there, but don’t believe everything you hear . . ., unless it’s for me.”
Okay, Zim. We’ll do our best.