Mike Zimmer has one person to blame for Saturday’s loss to Denver

Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer put his team at a disadvantage in their preseason game against the Denver Broncos on Saturday.

Following his team’s 33-6 preseason loss to the Denver Broncos on Saturday, Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer opened up his postgame press conference by saying his guys had a “really poor performance today.”

Well, the Vikings opening up their 2021 preseason with a 27-point loss might have been the result of Zimmer’s decision to sit 30 players for the matchup, including the majority of the guys that are expected to be starters this year.

Minnesota trotted out second and third-stringers against a Broncos team that opened up the game with six of their 11 offensive starters on offense consisting of players that are projected to be in the starting lineup for the regular season including quarterback Drew Lock, wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, and tight end Noah Fant.

Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer has himself to blame for the preseason loss to the Denver Broncos

With Zimmer having his backups going against some of Denver’s top players on offense, it wasn’t surprising at all when the Broncos averaged almost 12 yards per play and scored 14 points during their first three offensive drives of the matchup.

It’s completely fine for Zimmer to want his players to perform better than they did on Saturday. But he shouldn’t act all doom and gloom after putting his guys in a position to fail.

If Zimmer doesn’t want to play his starters, then that is okay. But what did he really expect to happen against Denver after deciding to keep most of Minnesota’s top players out of action?

Instead, Zimmer acted like the Vikings’ blowout loss to the Broncos on Saturday happened during the regular season with Minnesota having all of their projected 2021 starters on the field.

Zimmer can be frustrated at the poor performance of punter Britton Colquitt, he can be disappointed in the latest terrible performance from guard Dakota Dozier, and he can be mad after the pick-six that was thrown by Minnesota quarterback Jake Browning.

But if he’s going to hold those guys accountable for their play out on the field on Saturday, then the Vikings head coach also has to hold himself accountable for putting his team in an unfavorable position against Denver.