By all appearances, Mike Zimmer is preparing to coach his final game as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Despite a career winning percentage of .559, Zimmer isn’t expected to keep his job. This comes after two consecutive years of missing the playoffs, which simply won’t cut it in the NFL.
You won’t find many analysts saying Zimmer is a bad coach. Even Cris Collinsworth mentioned during the Sunday Night Football broadcast, the Vikings may hire a new coach, but they won’t find a better one. Keep in mind, Zimmer isn’t a fan of Pro Football Focus, who Collinsworth is a major proponent of. Basically, there’s no bias here. Collinsworth is just spitting facts in his mind.
Still, no matter what happens, if Zimmer is ultimately fired this offseason, he appears to have no regrets during his tenure in the Twin Cities.
Earlier this week when speaking with Paul Allen, the team’s radio broadcaster, Zimmer opened up about his current job status, and what he’s accomplished in purple.
“Regardless of anything that goes on after the season, I can stand proud,’’ Zimmer said on “Xs and Os with Mike Zimmer,’’ the weekly segment he does with Allen that is broadcast on KFAN Radio and is available on Vikings.com. “When I walk into a stadium like Lambeau (Field) or I walk into U.S. Bank Stadium and I say to myself, ‘A billion people would love to be sitting here right now and doing this job.”’
Mike Zimmer on future with Vikings
Mike Zimmer’s inability to reach playoffs in 2020-21 could spell the end
Zimmer has been fired before, he’s not a rookie at this in any sense. But the Vikings gig was his first opportunity as a head coach. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will be his last, despite being 65 years old.
While he could never get past the NFC Conference Championship game in his eight seasons in the North Star State, Zimmer also never lead a team that finished with worse than 7-9. Unfortunately, he’s now essentially done that two years in a row. The NFL is a results-based business and the Vikings want to at the very least get back to the playoffs.
Zimmer says he hasn’t heard anything from ownership quite yet regarding his job status. Which, may be considered a bad omen. Either way, he’ll find out his fate soon enough.
