The Vikings 9th Head Coach is...

[psjordan]

I wouldn't say the Pats would NEVER trade Mallett, but I guarantee you if they do they will get more than he is worth. And they would then draft Carr in the 4th round and he'd end up a star.

I'm fine NOT trading for any players, and only trading to move up or move down in the draft. Would love to know how much input/influence Zimmer will have on draft day.

[King James]

Now If we can get Norv Turner as the OC I would be ecstatic!!

[PotGoblin]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... rv-turner/

[Pondering Her Percy]

WOW what a relief and I am beyond happy right now to get Zimmer. As many of you knew, he was my #1 choice for a while now.

I do find it funny that there were a decent amount that didn't like Frazier being fired and some were very negative about who we were going to get for a HC. Granted, Zimmer isn't "proven" yet but at the same time....Spielman deserves a lot of credit for this. He has been very patient throughout this process and in the end, by the sounds of it, he has made a great hire. Zimmer is very well known throughout the league and there hasn't been a negative thing said about the guy. Not from fans nor players.

I mean I've heard everything from "We're going to get the worst coach" to "I have no faith in Spielman to make the right hire". I don't want to sit here and say he is a proven head coach because he is not yet. But this also shows that the negativity in this situation, in the end, was not needed. I would imagine that about 99% of people like this move that Spielman has made.

[SkyFire]

Awesome!!! This hiring is great and is a huge upgrade over our previous two coaches. I believe that hiring Zimmer is the first step in our rebuilding process. Although we have a lot of work to do, I think Zimmer will at least greatly improve our defense, and hopefully we can get Norv Turner over here. At that point we would be pretty set with coaching and we could really get down to business in searching around for some young players that we can build our team around. Overall I am ecstatic about the hiring. Now that I think about it he's just what we need. Emotionally he's the opposite of Frazier, but thats great. I cant tell you how many times i was so frustrated seeing Frazier stand on the sidelines with a completely blank face the entire darn game. Zimmer is a very different coach from what we've had in the past, but that's what we need, a change.

[Mothman]

Only a pessimist would say that.

Touché.

I'm still chuckling at "Geez loweez James"...

[CbusVikesFan]

I want everyone to youtube "Lift Me Up" by Five Finger Death Punch (if you're not familiar, its hard rock, great lyrics) and this will describe how I feel right now!!! Should be the Vikings theme song, 2014.


Got the guy I wanted!!! I think the Vikings are headed in the right direction. WOOT!WOOT!

[psjordan]

I didn't share the pessimism about Frazier that permeates the board

I get that, and I'm fine with it. And this is not directed at you, but for instance Frazier's latest quote (when asked about Josh Freeman) is so typically head-scratching for me it drives me nuts, and I'm pointing all this out to say how tired I was of his approach to things and how Zimmer provides hope for improvement, as I don't believe he is Frazier-like in the least.

from http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... h/related/

“[W]e made a decision to try to figure out where Christian Ponder was and also take a look at Matt Cassel as well, as we tried to determine and get some questions answered at our quarterback position,” Frazier said. “Josh got caught up in the shuffle of that. It probably wasn’t the fairest situation for him, made it difficult for him, made it difficult for all of us as we were trying to evaluate quarterbacks in an NFL season. That’s not a wise thing. But nothing to do with Josh. He prepared and worked as hard as he could to get on the field. It just didn’t work out.”

Seriously? Let me pick this apart:
“[W]e made a decision to try to figure out where Christian Ponder was" ... "as we tried to determine and get some questions answered at our quarterback position"
Hey coach, by the time you picked up Josh Freeman, Ponder had 30 starts under his belt. That wasn't enough to find out "where he was"? What questions remained? You just signed a FA QB and you did NOT know where you stood with your starter, like if he was going to be The Man moving forward? C'mon man.

"and also take a look at Matt Cassel as well"
Matt was in the first year of a two year contract, veteran fodder who could probably give you chances to win games here and there. You really needed to "take a look" at him? For what?

“Josh got caught up in the shuffle of that"
OK. Seriously, as a veteran of many years in the NFL, I find it hard to believe this struck you as a weird outcome of bringing in Freeman. Be that as it may, if Josh was truly "caught up in the shuffle", why in the world start him against NY after two weeks? And you SERIOUSLY picked up a FA QB in the middle of the season and claim you had [unanswered] questions about Ponder? I would say signing Freeman indicated all questions about Ponder had been fully answered. There is simply no other reason to make such an unconventional signing at QB.

"we were trying to evaluate quarterbacks in an NFL season. That’s not a wise thing"
True (to put it kindly), but that wasn't apparent at any point in Ponder's prior 30 games, or Cassell's recent career?

"[Josh] prepared and worked as hard as he could to get on the field. It just didn’t work out.”
Why not? If he truly prepared and worked that hard - something the players themselves dispute BTW, shouldn't he have gotten some minutes if he was any good - or if you coached him up to be good? I just LOVE the "it just didn't work out" reasoning, as if aliens were at the helm of the fates here.

IMO they were hopelessly lost at the QB position and had absolutely zero clue how to turn Freeman into a productive player. He is young and he certainly has been productive at times in his career. I think our old staff simply did not have a clue how to proceed with him. THAT would have been a more honest answer for Frazier to give IMO.

And for the life of me I cannot figure out where "we put the best players on the field each week and Josh wasn't one of them" logic may have gone off to. I am betting Zimmer has more of that take on things than the dancing "it didn't work out" crap. And before anyone goes to the "that doesn't help win games", oh I beg to differ, in a HUGE way. It's called accountability.

ps, this got VERY long and I wasn't going to post it but my "keystrokes and minutes" counter pretty much dictated I couldn't delete it at this point.

[Mothman]

WOW what a relief and I am beyond happy right now to get Zimmer. As many of you knew, he was my #1 choice for a while now.

I do find it funny that there were a decent amount that didn't like Frazier being fired and some were very negative about who we were going to get for a HC. Granted, Zimmer isn't "proven" yet but at the same time....Spielman deserves a lot of credit for this. He has been very patient throughout this process and in the end, by the sounds of it, he has made a great hire. Zimmer is very well known throughout the league and there hasn't been a negative thing said about the guy. Not from fans nor players.

You just described Leslie Frazier when he was hired.

I mean I've heard everything from "We're going to get the worst coach" to "I have no faith in Spielman to make the right hire". I don't want to sit here and say he is a proven head coach because he is not yet. But this also shows that the negativity in this situation, in the end, was not needed. I would imagine that about 99% of people like this move that Spielman has made.

Many of that same 99% will turn on Zimmer liked rabid dogs if the Vikings aren't a good team over the next few years.

Time will tell if Spielman deserves credit for a great hire here or not.

[SkyFire]

Does anyone know how many years are on Zimmer's contract?

[CbusVikesFan]

Results. Mike Zimmer has this innate quality to take what he is given and make it better. I hope that he has a good amount of control in the draft. Should be good folks, hold on to your Helga hats!

[Bigwehrm]

I am ecstatic also about this hire. So what kind of timeline do you think is possible for a turnaround? Im thinking next year about 7-9 and then somewhere in that 9-7 to 10-6 in year two and by year 3 we should have damn near full implementation of his schemes and player and be looking at competing for a trip to the Holy Land Super Bowl. That is if his schemes and player acquisition skills are worth a damn. I think by year 3 we should have an idea if we are headed in the right direction or if we are pissing up a rope.

[Pondering Her Percy]

You just described Leslie Frazier when he was hired.

....there's a big difference though, Mike Zimmer is the COMPLETE opposite of Leslie Frazier.

[Captain]

..... pissing up a rope.

That's a new one. How does one piss up a rope?

[CbusVikesFan]

This is a nice lil snippet from Bengals.com. Zim's top five games as a DC. Look out cheeseheads!!!
http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Z ... d5dcd82c0f