Vikings firing Mike Zimmer after this season would be a big mistake

Mike Zimmer has coached the third-most games in franchise history with the third-best winning percentage. To get rid of him now would be taking a huge step backward for the Minnesota Vikings.

After their regular season finale last week, the Minnesota Vikings find themselves as the sixth seed in the NFC playoffs and they will open the playoffs in New Orleans on Sunday against the Saints.

If you follow the noise on Twitter, head coach Mike Zimmer’s job is on the line with plenty of fans calling for him to be fired if the Vikings fail to make a deep run in the playoffs this year. For so many reasons, this position is absurd.

This year, Minnesota finished the regular season with a 10-6 record. With their playoff position set, the Vikings’ Week 17 game against the Chicago Bears had no impact whatsoever and Zimmer used the opportunity to rest most of his starters in preparation for the postseason. The result was a predictable, but close loss for Minnesota.

The frustration of many fans comes from the Vikings’ 2-4 record in the NFC North in 2019, going winless against the Bears and the Green Bay Packers—the team’s two biggest rivals. Minnesota finished the season on a two-game losing streak, at home where they had been undefeated.

With two wins in their final two matchups, there was a chance for the Vikings to possibly win the division and improve their seeding in the playoffs.

So-called fans that are looking to oust Zimmer point to his playoff record of 1-2 and point out it took a miracle for the one win. There is also a lot of criticism this season for the play of the Vikings’ defense.

Only two seasons ago this same defense, with nine of 11 starters intact, was the best in the league. Minnesota finished a surprising 13-3 that year with a backup quarterback leading the offense.

The expectations for the Vikings were ratcheted up following the high-profile signing of Kirk Cousins the following season, only to see the team fall to 8-7-1 and miss the playoffs. While Minnesota has improved this year, the expectations are still very high and for many, the season has already been deemed a failure.

Perhaps these same fans have repressed the recent past before Zimmer took over. In his six years leading the team, the Vikings have reached the playoff three times. Compare that to the previous 12 seasons, with three different head coaches, that only made the postseason four times.

They forget the lean times when it seemed like the coaches had no control over their locker room and dysfunction was the norm.

Zimmer’s regular season record in six seasons is 57-38-1. His winning percentage of 0.599 is third-best among the nine head coaches Minnesota has ever employed.

His 96 games are also third-most in Vikings history, behind only Bud Grant (259) who coached 18 seasons and Dennis Green (159) who coached in 10 seasons. Taking a closer look, Zimmer’s record is actually better than that of Green’s after 96 games, moving ahead of Green with a better record.

The ultimate goal of every NFL team, every season is to win the Super Bowl—something that 31 teams also fail to do every year.

In the history of the Super Bowl, 32 coaches have won it all—with 13 of them winning multiple Super Bowls. The average number of years it takes a coach to win their first Super Bowl is 4.3 seasons.

To make the point perfectly clear, six seasons is not out of line for where Zimmer has brought this Vikings team. Some great coaches, those in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, have taken longer to lead a team to their first Super Bowl win. To remove Zimmer at this point would derail a lot of progress Minnesota has made with him leading the way.

While there have been a number of up and down seasons in his six-year tenure, Zimmer has brought some discipline and stability to the Vikings. It’s obvious he wants to win and is willing to make moves to do just that—especially on the offensive side of the coaching staff.

Yes, this postseason is a huge opportunity for Zimmer to prove he can be successful in the playoffs. Here’s hoping he channels the 1987 Vikings team that almost made it to the Super Bowl by winning two of three playoff games on the road. That included a stop in New Orleans, the same place where Minnesota’s postseason begins this year.