Mike Zimmer took a shot at former Vikings wide receiver Mike Wallace at Wednesday morning’s NFL Coaches Breakfast.
Vikings coach Mike Zimmer had nothing but nice things to say about Mike Wallace immediately after the season, praising the former Vikings receiver for his work ethic and saying he “loved” him.
Well that was then, this is now.
Since Zimmer made those comments, Wallace has not only left the Vikings to sign with Baltimore, he has also been accused of taking shots at Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater and the Vikings’ offensive coaching staff.
Wallace clarified his remarks on Bridgewater, saying he never meant to slam the QB and that the two are still friends, but Zimmer apparently isn’t ready to let the whole thing go.
Wednesday morning at the NFL Coaches Breakfast, Zimmer was asked whether the Vikings need to sign another receiver now that Wallace is gone. That led to this telling response:
Zimmer: "We had WR here that was making a lot of $ that didn’t do what we needed. I don’t know that it’s a necessity to go sign another WR."
— Brian Murphy (@murphmedia_) March 23, 2016
When it comes to Zimmer and Wallace, the love train appears to have left the station and disappeared on down the tracks.
Could it be Zimmer never liked Wallace and was only saying nice things about him to keep him happy while the team was still in the process of trying to get him to return on a smaller contract?
Indications are that there was some tension last season between Wallace and certain members of the coaching staff, particularly QB coach Scott Turner, who was a key part of the Vikings’ move to abandon 7-step drops and go to the short passing attack that largely eliminated Wallace from the game plan.
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Wallace clearly was not happy when he left the Vikings, and now that Wallace is officially a former Viking, Mike Zimmer no longer feels any obligation to hide his own irritation over how things played out with Wallace.
The bottom line is that, for whatever reason, Wallace did not come close to earning his money in 2015. It’s also true that beyond Stefon Diggs the Vikings currently have no receivers on their roster who put even the smallest amount of fear into defenses. And that’s an issue, whether Zimmer wants to acknowledge it or not.
Update: Later in the same event, Zimmer said he “loves” Wallace and enjoyed his time with the receiver. It’s all good!