Now isn’t the time for the Minnesota Vikings to fire Mike Zimmer.
Following their team’s incredibly disappointing loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, some Minnesota Vikings fans are hoping that Mike Zimmer is shown the door before they return for their next game against the Green Bay Packers in Week 8.
Sunday’s loss has left the Vikings with a 1-5 record and easily their worst start to a season since Zimmer was hired to be the team’s head coach in 2014.
Changes are obviously in order for Minnesota and some could happen sooner than later (perhaps during the bye week). But the Vikings firing a head coach who has led them to the divisional round of the playoffs twice since 2017 is not a decision they should be making during the middle of a season.
It’s clear that this year is going to be a tough one for Minnesota and a return to the playoffs is pretty much non-existent after this week’s loss to the Falcons. For the remainder of the season, the Vikings ownership needs to see how Zimmer responds in his current situation.
Can he get Minnesota back to at least being competitive each week or is the rest of the team’s schedule just going to look similar to how they performed on Sunday?
Whatever happens, the Vikings should at least allow Zimmer to continue as their head coach for the rest of the season and there are multiple reasons to explain why.
Firing Zimmer won’t solve anything
When a head coach gets fired during the middle of the season, it usually has to do with them losing support from the players in their locker room or the team literally has no other choice.
Look at the two head coaches who have already been fired in the NFL this season. The Houston Texans decided to let go of Bill O’Brien after there was a lot of reported turmoil between him and the top players on his roster. The Atlanta Falcons fired Dan Quinn following an 0-5 start after he was given multiple chances to turn the franchise around and get things back on track.
Neither of these scenarios is similar to what Mike Zimmer is currently experiencing with the Vikings. Zimmer was just given a contract extension from Minnesota this summer and the majority of his players would run through a wall for their head coach.
For those who want the Vikings to fire their head coach right now, it needs to be made known that a mid-season firing isn’t going to solve anything for the franchise.
Minnesota isn’t going to get some sort of spark and go on a magical run to defy the odds and make the playoffs. Since 2000, no NFL team has gone on to make the postseason after firing their head coach during the middle of the year.
So at the very least, the Vikings should allow Zimmer to focus on the development of his young players and get them ready to contend in 2021.
Zimmer isn’t to blame for a lot of Minnesota’s struggles
Mike Zimmer is the head coach of the Vikings, so ultimately he’s going to get a bunch of the blame for the team’s poor start to the season. It’s just part of the job he signed up for.
But when looking closer at Minnesota’s struggles this year, there several things that have gone wrong that have been completely out of Zimmer’s control.
The Vikings head coach is not in charge of the team’s offensive play-calling and he never has been. Minnesota thought they would be fine with Gary Kubiak taking over as the team’s offensive coordinator this year, but it looks this is a decision the team shouldn’t have made this past offseason.
Kubiak has just called some questionable plays for the Vikings all year long and he’s definitely not the offensive play-caller he used to be when he helped lead the Denver Broncos to a pair of Super Bowl wins.
Zimmer also isn’t the guy telling Kirk Cousins to make terrible decisions this season. Cousins already has 10 interceptions in just six games this year and his decision-making has regressed significantly compared to 2019.
People will point to Zimmer’s defense giving up at least 30 points in four of their six matchups this season. But it’s incredibly difficult for any defense in the NFL to succeed when that team’s offense can’t possess the ball for more than 20 minutes per game.
There’s only so much Zimmer can do to set Minnesota up for success and right now, he’s not getting much help from his players or the guys on his coaching staff.
Zimmer has earned at least one more year to prove his worth
Minnesota’s ownership just gave Mike Zimmer a three-year extension this summer. So it’s hard to imagine the Vikings owners losing their faith in Zimmer less than four months after extending his contract with the team.
Everyone involved with the organization was well aware of the potential for this season to be a difficult one before it started. Zimmer would never admit it to the public, but even he likely knew that this season was going to be hard for Minnesota to succeed.
The turnover on their roster and coaching staff this past offseason has obviously had a bigger impact on the Vikings this year than most had predicted. Combine this with Minnesota’s lack of on-field coaching time during the offseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the team was already heading into an uphill battle when they took the field for their very first game this year.
Zimmer has led the Vikings to success in the past and there’s no reason to think that he can’t do it again. Some of the best current head coaches in NFL like Andy Reid, Pete Carroll, and John Harbaugh have all had a year or two where their team just plain stinks.
This clearly looks like it’s going to be a season full of stink for Minnesota and it’s up to Zimmer to prove that he can be the guy to get his team on the right path to succeed once again in 2021.