15 interesting facts about the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers
By Dustin Baker
Mike Zimmer Statistics and Facts
10. A Zimmer-led Vikings team has never finished a season worse than 11th in total defense.
In his maiden voyage as head coach six years ago, Zimmer’s Vikings finished 11th in the NFL via points allowed. Since then, the rankings are as follows: 5th (2015), 6th (2016), 1st (2017), 9th (2018), and 5th (2019).
It’s nearly a shoo-in that the Minnesota Vikings will have a formidable defense with Zimmer as boss. This is part of the reason Vikings loyalists that are “nervous” about his reconditioned 2020 defense should check the tapes of yesteryear.
11. Vikings games under Zimmer are usually not closely-contested affairs.
Generally speaking, the Vikings either win decisively or lose decisively during the last six years. Since 2014, the Vikings have played in 17 games where the final score margin was within three points. This is the seventh-fewest in the NFL.
12. Defer the football to start the game and score to start the second half!
Under Mike Zimmer, the Vikings have a win-loss of 18-2 (.900) when they receive the ball to begin the second half and score on that drive. This means they win 90 percent of the time in such situations. And, it doesn’t matter if that score is a touchdown or field goal.