Mike Zimmer has ultra-concerning comments on Minnesota’s run defense

Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer didn’t seem to be bothered by his team giving up over 180 rushing yards to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, and that’s a problem.

Heading into their Week 4 matchup, the Minnesota Vikings knew they were about to face a talented Cleveland Browns offensive backfield led by Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.

Despite the Vikings’ efforts to improve their run defense this past offseason, Chubb, Hunt, and the rest of the Browns’ offense gashed Minnesota for 184 yards on the ground on Sunday.

Cleveland’s rushing performance definitely played a significant role in the Vikings suffering their third loss of the season this past weekend. However, Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer didn’t seem bothered by the Browns having zero trouble at all on Sunday when it came to running the football.

Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer not worried about team’s run defense vs. Cleveland Browns

Following the loss to Cleveland, Zimmer took some questions from the local Twin Cities media in his weekly post-game press conference.

The Vikings head coach was asked about his defense not being able to stop the run on Sunday, and his answer was a bit shocking.

"“Did we get pushed around today? Probably, but I’m telling you now, [the Browns] know how to run the football, and those two backs run hard.I’m not discouraged one bit about the lack of stopping the run. At the end of the day, they scored one touchdown against us. I still believe, offensively, we can look like we did a week ago, and two weeks ago as well.”"

Since just about everyone in the room was surprised by Zimmer saying he wasn’t discouraged about Minnesota’s run defense, he was then asked why his defense’s inability to stop the run this season isn’t something that currently worries him. His answer to this wasn’t any less surprising than his initial comments.

"“My experience. I feel fine about it. It’ll be fine. You guys worry so much about stats and not about how things look and how things are. Now, we gave up a 30-yard run on [3-and-20] in the two-minute drill. I’m disgusted about that, yeah. But for the most part, there was a lot of good things that happened today.”"

So how many rushing yards would it take for Zimmer to be worried about the Vikings’ run defense? 300? 400?

Zimmer is acting like it took the Browns 100 plays to rush for 184 yards on Sunday when they only needed 38 attempts, giving them an average of 4.8 yards per carry. How is that not concerning?

Through the first four games of the current season, Minnesota is allowing the third-most rushing yards per attempt to their opponents. So despite the Vikings spending a bunch of money on defensive tackles Dalvin Tomlinson and Michael Pierce this year, the team’s run defense has actually worsened since last season.

But don’t show those numbers to Zimmer, because he’ll just accuse you of worrying too much about stats.