Zimmer is on HOT SEAT!!!

[Dames]

Trubiskey looking serviceable against these bad teams late in the season is fantastic news for the Vikings. It probably means one more year of them trying to make Turdbiscuit work as a starter.

Absolutely. He's doing just enough to make them think he's improving. He's playing more like he was last year. Their D carried them, but he made enough plays to look competent... but he's just not good. Lock him in fools.

[Dames]

Cowboys are off. Their execution sucked. The Bears did do a good job of limiting their running game, but the Bear pass rush has really cooled and their DBs take a lot of chances IMHO. It's a good defense, but not as good as last year, especially in creating rush pressure. The last game the Bears had this season where they did get a lot of rush pressure was probably their win against the Vikings. Since then, pretty average.

On offense, two things stand out about the Bears lately. The first is Trubisky's willingness to take off and run. He's doing it a lot more, and that seems to be catching defenses by surprise. He did that all the time last year and while he's not a great runner, his ability to use his feet to extend drives is something the Bears weren't taking advantage of earlier this year and now are, and it's making a big difference. The second thing that stands out to me about the Bear offense as of late is Trubisky is really winging it. He's throwing some very questionable balls and making some questionable decisions that are paying off. I counted at least 5 passes he threw against the Cowboys that could have ended in disaster, but he managed to complete or at least avoid being picked. As long as he avoids the disaster outcome, he'll look better, but he seems willing to take more chances.

The Bears have a tough finishing schedule but I could see them win out and be in a position to make the playoffs in the final week if the Vikings collapse. It would take a Vikings collapse for that to happen, and I don't see the Vikings collapsing, but if the stars align, that final game in Minnesota could be for a wildcard spot.

That's a pretty fair assessment. No doubt the Cowboys made them look better than they are. They weren't getting a lot of pressure on Dak from what I recall. You're spot on with Trubisky and how he's playing lately. He's getting away with things. (Of course, teams are getting away with things vs our lame defense lately, so I hope it doesn't come down to that last game.) You're probably right that Trubisky (and Nagy) probably feels like he has nothing to lose and is playing more loose. He's a better QB when he's willing to take off. Some games, firing into those tight windows will backfire though.

I still think it's unlikely they'll win out, but they play GB next week, so getting another win next week would be just fine with me. Hopefully KC lights them up the following week.

[S197]

Has there ever been a HC that dropped down to a coordinator position on the same team?

I wonder if Zimmer would be open to just being the DC. He could cite health reasons to save face (his health has declined since taking over). There's no shame in being a great defensive mind. Or he could be the defensive version of whatever Kubiak is. I honestly think he has too much on his plate right now.

[StumpHunter]

Has there ever been a HC that dropped down to a coordinator position on the same team?

I wonder if Zimmer would be open to just being the DC. He could cite health reasons to save face (his health has declined since taking over). There's no shame in being a great defensive mind. Or he could be the defensive version of whatever Kubiak is. I honestly think he has too much on his plate right now.

His biggest issue now is that his defense is struggling. Why would you want him as the DC?

As I said earlier, his problem is that teams have figured him out schematically. I think the he still has the team, and is getting them to play hard for him, he has just been figured out on defense.

[mansquatch]

I feel I need to remind people that we just lost a game in arguably the hardest stadium within which to win a prime time game. the most likely outcome of MNF was a loss. Yeah, we needed the W, but that game was a far cry from losing to say OAK or even the Broncos the week before. IMO, that loss was the most excusable of all four losses. IMO, the KC loss was a lot worse. Getting diced up by Matt Moore is a lot more emabarassing than getting beat up by the Seahawks.

There is a real chance this team finishes 12-4. In just about any other year that record equals a playoff bye week. Since the NFC is top heavy and the Packers are playing a super soft schedule we might end up the 6 seed. It sucks, but it is what it is. We are not the 6th best team in the NFC right now. I'd say we are #3 or #4, maybe higher if we play at home.

If you want to get mad, get mad about the fact that the NFL Schedulers gave us the shaft by making us play our two toughest divisional road games in September. In fact we had all our Divisional road games by week 6. None of the other NFC Playoff Teams had to overcome that hurdle.The Saints didn't have a divisional road game until week 10! SF didn't have one until week 6. GB only had to play @ Chicago in week 1, since then they haven't played on the road in the division. This is why I keep saying there is still a lot of football left. Sure the odds look against us, but one of those top 4 NFC teams will likely see the luster fall off it's rose. We've been on the outside looking in all season in part because of our early road schedule.

Don't lose hope yet...

[J. Kapp 11]

I feel I need to remind people that we just lost a game in arguably the hardest stadium within which to win a prime time game. the most likely outcome of MNF was a loss. Yeah, we needed the W, but that game was a far cry from losing to say OAK or even the Broncos the week before. IMO, that loss was the most excusable of all four losses. IMO, the KC loss was a lot worse. Getting diced up by Matt Moore is a lot more emabarassing than getting beat up by the Seahawks.

There is a real chance this team finishes 12-4. In just about any other year that record equals a playoff bye week. Since the NFC is top heavy and the Packers are playing a super soft schedule we might end up the 6 seed. It sucks, but it is what it is. We are not the 6th best team in the NFC right now. I'd say we are #3 or #4, maybe higher if we play at home.

If you want to get mad, get mad about the fact that the NFL Schedulers gave us the shaft by making us play our two toughest divisional road games in September. In fact we had all our Divisional road games by week 6. None of the other NFC Playoff Teams had to overcome that hurdle.The Saints didn't have a divisional road game until week 10! SF didn't have one until week 6. GB only had to play @ Chicago in week 1, since then they haven't played on the road in the division. This is why I keep saying there is still a lot of football left. Sure the odds look against us, but one of those top 4 NFC teams will likely see the luster fall off it's rose. We've been on the outside looking in all season in part because of our early road schedule.

Don't lose hope yet...

How dare you be positive?

This is Vikings Message Board, where all true Vikings fans vow to set TCO Performance Center on fire whenever an opponent gets a first down or Kirk Cousins throws an incomplete pass.

[CharVike]

I feel I need to remind people that we just lost a game in arguably the hardest stadium within which to win a prime time game. the most likely outcome of MNF was a loss. Yeah, we needed the W, but that game was a far cry from losing to say OAK or even the Broncos the week before. IMO, that loss was the most excusable of all four losses. IMO, the KC loss was a lot worse. Getting diced up by Matt Moore is a lot more emabarassing than getting beat up by the Seahawks.

There is a real chance this team finishes 12-4. In just about any other year that record equals a playoff bye week. Since the NFC is top heavy and the Packers are playing a super soft schedule we might end up the 6 seed. It sucks, but it is what it is. We are not the 6th best team in the NFC right now. I'd say we are #3 or #4, maybe higher if we play at home.

If you want to get mad, get mad about the fact that the NFL Schedulers gave us the shaft by making us play our two toughest divisional road games in September. In fact we had all our Divisional road games by week 6. None of the other NFC Playoff Teams had to overcome that hurdle.The Saints didn't have a divisional road game until week 10! SF didn't have one until week 6. GB only had to play @ Chicago in week 1, since then they haven't played on the road in the division. This is why I keep saying there is still a lot of football left. Sure the odds look against us, but one of those top 4 NFC teams will likely see the luster fall off it's rose. We've been on the outside looking in all season in part because of our early road schedule.

Don't lose hope yet...

How dare you be positive?

This is Vikings Message Board, where all true Vikings fans vow to set TCO Performance Center on fire whenever an opponent gets a first down or Kirk Cousins throws an incomplete pass.

I give you guys credit for being positive. It's not easy to do. Some have said we can be 12-4 and not even win the division which is almost unheard of. Even if we are at 10-6 by no means is that a horrible season and we could be in the playoffs. I get in a bad habit of just writing us off myself. There's still a 1/4 season left. That's a lot of time. Many things can change. It's easy to point out the negatives especially after a tough loss. We still have a hard road in front of us. After the Lions the other 3 will be tough. Luckily we are at home. Hitting the road is a ####. We will play hard. I would like 4 straight wins but that's probably to high. I'm going to try and level off some. There are knowledgeable posters here. What's cool is you get different views from people that know our team well. They now pro football well. And it's not easy to figure out or make sense of these days.

[Purple Domination]

This thread is dumb. The OP’s “HOT SEAT” is predicated around a hypothetical situation where the Vikings’ defense collapses and Zimmer misses the playoffs. We are 8-4. Yes, the defense isn’t up to 2017 snuff, but we are 8-4. Let’s wait until a collapse actually happens before we declare Zimmer on the HOT SEAT.

[CharVike]

This thread is dumb. The OP’s “HOT SEAT” is predicated around a hypothetical situation where the Vikings’ defense collapses and Zimmer misses the playoffs. We are 8-4. Yes, the defense isn’t up to 2017 snuff, but we are 8-4. Let’s wait until a collapse actually happens before we declare Zimmer on the HOT SEAT.

The thing is it's no longer a hypothetical situation. Our D has collapsed compared to what it was a few years ago. As another pointed out it collapsed starting with the 2nd half of the miracle game. Basically it's the same group of guys that are playing now. This isn't a bunch of mid 20 year olds with the arrow pointing up. People were concerned about Rhodes coming into this year and some indicated that more time was needed to complete the evaluation. The evaluation is complete at this point. He's no longer a shut down guy. Zim needs to do something now. We have a game were we can implement the changes and then evaluate the progress. 8-4 is a dam good record there is no denying that. But IMO this D needs to have some focus on it. If we start playing better on that side we can do some damage.

[fiestavike]

I feel I need to remind people that we just lost a game in arguably the hardest stadium within which to win a prime time game. the most likely outcome of MNF was a loss. Yeah, we needed the W, but that game was a far cry from losing to say OAK or even the Broncos the week before. IMO, that loss was the most excusable of all four losses. IMO, the KC loss was a lot worse. Getting diced up by Matt Moore is a lot more emabarassing than getting beat up by the Seahawks.

There is a real chance this team finishes 12-4. In just about any other year that record equals a playoff bye week. Since the NFC is top heavy and the Packers are playing a super soft schedule we might end up the 6 seed. It sucks, but it is what it is. We are not the 6th best team in the NFC right now. I'd say we are #3 or #4, maybe higher if we play at home.

If you want to get mad, get mad about the fact that the NFL Schedulers gave us the shaft by making us play our two toughest divisional road games in September. In fact we had all our Divisional road games by week 6. None of the other NFC Playoff Teams had to overcome that hurdle.The Saints didn't have a divisional road game until week 10! SF didn't have one until week 6. GB only had to play @ Chicago in week 1, since then they haven't played on the road in the division. This is why I keep saying there is still a lot of football left. Sure the odds look against us, but one of those top 4 NFC teams will likely see the luster fall off it's rose. We've been on the outside looking in all season in part because of our early road schedule.

Don't lose hope yet...

I don't think anything has changed. The Vikings are a better than average team, they are likely a double digit win team and a playoff team, but they remain a team that is going to lose to the best teams the league has to offer. That is, one and done in the playoffs. As the offense has improved the defense has fallen off, but unless both can get hot, and quick, the Vikings are finished this year.

[S197]

Has there ever been a HC that dropped down to a coordinator position on the same team?

I wonder if Zimmer would be open to just being the DC. He could cite health reasons to save face (his health has declined since taking over). There's no shame in being a great defensive mind. Or he could be the defensive version of whatever Kubiak is. I honestly think he has too much on his plate right now.

His biggest issue now is that his defense is struggling. Why would you want him as the DC?

As I said earlier, his problem is that teams have figured him out schematically. I think the he still has the team, and is getting them to play hard for him, he has just been figured out on defense.

Because as a HC you can’t devote 100% of your energy to the defense. Zimmer’s body of work as a DC is strong, I think he can get back into form if he was able to focus his efforts. These next 4 weeks will be telling, the Vikings yet again control their playoff destiny with the biggest games at home. If they flop for the second year in a row, I think changes will be made. As they should.