The Minnesota Vikings have struggled a bit this year, but there is no reason to think their head coach won’t be back next season.
After head coach Mike Zimmer led them to their second NFC North title in two years and a spot in the NFC Championship last season, expectations for 2018 were set pretty high for the Minnesota Vikings.
With their success last year combined with the adding Kirk Cousins and Sheldon Richardson to their roster, everything was basically lining up to be a “Super Bowl or Bust” type of season for the Vikings in 2018.
10 games into the year though, things haven’t exactly gone according to plan for Minnesota. The Vikings are currently 5-4-1 and sitting in the No. 6 spot in the NFC playoff standings.
Minnesota Vikings
Obviously, it hasn’t been the type of season that Minnesota and their fans were hoping for. And while there is still plenty of time for the Vikings to get hot and go on a magical run, it doesn’t seem like this year is going to end with the franchise capturing their first-ever Super Bowl win.
In an effort to find a scapegoat for the disappointments of Minnesota’s current season, there are some out there who believe that Zimmer deserves to be on the so-called “hot seat”.
Okay, well that’s cool. But then what’s the plan then for after the head coach is shown the door? Are the Vikings going to hire three different head coaches over the next 12 years like the last time they made the mistake of firing a successful coach too early in 2001?
Is the turnaround of Minnesota’s defense under Zimmer just going to be brushed to the side? The Vikings went from having the NFL’s absolute defense in 2013 to having a top-five group over the past five seasons.
Some people have unrealistic expectations when it comes to success in the league. Zimmer has already accomplished a lot during his time in Minnesota and there is no reason to think that the team won’t achieve even more with him as their head coach.
There are very few coaches around the NFL that have had to deal with even half of what Zimmer has as the Vikings’ head coach (Peterson suspension, Bridgewater injury, Sparano passing). Yet, he has still been able to get the absolute best out his players and win more than 60 percent of his games in Minnesota.
Including this season, the Vikings have 64.7 winning percentage with Zimmer as their head coach since 2015.
Former Minnesota head coach Bud Grant had a similar win percentage during his first few seasons with the team. All Grant did was go on to lead the Vikings to four appearances in the Super Bowl.
The well-known phrase “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone” fits well for those who currently believe Zimmer’s job should be on the line.
The same people that want the coach gone right now would also be claiming the Vikings should have never fired him when the team ends up playing even worse two years after his dismissal.
So let’s chill out on suggesting that Zimmer’s seat should be hot this season. Because it really couldn’t be any colder at this point in time.