Despite leading the Minnesota Vikings to an upset over the New Orleans Saints in the 2019 playoffs, Mike Zimmer was almost fired before the 2020 season.
After failing to help the Minnesota Vikings reach the playoffs in 2018 during their first season with Kirk Cousins under center, the heat was on for Mike Zimmer to get his team back to the postseason in 2019.
Luckily for Zimmer, Minnesota was able to put together enough wins to earn the sixth and final spot in the 2019 NFC playoff bracket. The Vikings ended up upsetting the New Orleans Saints in the first round before getting sent home by the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round.
Despite Minnesota pulling off that impressive postseason win over the Saints, Zimmer’s job with the team still wasn’t safe according to a recent report.
Report reveals Minnesota Vikings almost fired Mike Zimmer after 2019 season
Heading into their playoff matchup against New Orleans, oddsmakers were expecting the Vikings to lose by more than a touchdown. But Minnesota went into the Saints’ home building and added another chapter to their increasingly bitter rivalry with Sean Payton and the franchise responsible for Bounty Gate.
The Vikings failed to pull off another upset in their second matchup of the playoffs against the 49ers though. But San Francisco ended up making it all the way to the Super Bowl that season, so it’s not like Minnesota lost to a team they shouldn’t have.
Apparently, that game against the 49ers almost turned out to be Zimmer’s last as the head coach of the Vikings.
According to a recent report from CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, Minnesota’s owners “seriously considered parting ways,” with Zimmer even after the team’s appearance in the 2019 playoffs.
Instead of firing Zimmer, however, the Vikings wound up giving him a multi-year extension before the start of the 2020 season.
Now though, Minnesota’s owners are reportedly expecting the team to make some noise in this year’s playoffs in order to avoid any major changes in 2022, according to La Canfora.
This part isn’t very surprising since the Vikings are currently in their eighth season with Zimmer as their head coach and another year without the playoffs will make for three times in the last four seasons.
We all knew the pressure was going to be on Zimmer this year to get Minnesota back into the postseason. But now it seems like the Vikings might have to at least make it all the way to the NFC Championship this season in order for Zimmer to continue on as the team’s head coach in 2022.