Minnesota Vikings HC Mike Zimmer has weird motivational techniques

Whether it is printing t-shirts or a stuffed animal version of The Walking Dead, Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer has a strange motivation style.

There is no denying that Mike Zimmer is one heck of a head coach. He has been a major factor in the complete turnaround of a Minnesota Vikings franchise which appeared to be circling the drain.

Zimmer’s tough attitude and strict player accountability have meant success for many players who underachieved in the past or struggled to find a role with the team. In fact, many fans have already been making comparisons for the current Vikings head coach to legendary Minnesota figure Bud Grant.

There is one thing that makes Zimmer a bit different though. Sometimes, he does odd motivational things that seem like a great idea, but are either a bit disturbing or may motivate the opposing team instead.

One notable example was the “Beat Green Bay” shirts handed out to the team. While pushing your team to beat a division rival is always a good thing, it also created bulletin board material for a team that was controlling the NFC North in recent history. It was also the game where the Vikings got manhandled and lost by 17 points in week 11 of the 2015 season.

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T-shirts were one thing, but now Zimmer wanted to send a message to his team before the week 7 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Star Tribune reported that after the bye week, the head coach scattered stuffed cat plush toys around the locker room and hung a sign saying “Fat Cats Get Slaughtered.”

Of course, this is a play on the idiom “Pigs get fat. Hogs get slaughtered” which is popular in business circles. It means that the bigger something gets, the bigger the target will be on it. However, Zimmer went with cats instead of pigs…for an unknown reason.

The stuffed cats did get slaughtered. At some point, their throats were cut and red blood-like paint was smeared across them. But sadly the team also felt the pain of their first loss of the 2016 season just a couple of days later.

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Mike Zimmer is a great head coach so far for the Minnesota Vikings. He has done so much to make this team a real contender for a postseason push and developed talent that ensures the franchise will be good for a long, long time. However, he may want to reconsider some of his ideas when it comes to locker room motivation in the future.

**UPDATE**: Mike Zimmer disputes the reports saying he did not personally slit the throats of the toys and bloody them.

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