Rick and Zimmer both gone

[halfgiz]

Rappport sais Rick and Zimmer gone.
Reported on Good Morning Football

[halfgiz]

A little surprised about Rick getting the boot too.

[Texas Vike]

Rappport sais Rick and Zimmer gone.
Reported on Good Morning Football

Pelissero tweeted that Rick was fired. Rapp added that Zimmer too. Word travels fast these days.

[StumpHunter]

Great news for this franchise. We can finally move forward, for good or for bad, out of this slump of mediocrity that has been going on for the past decade +.

Wonder if this means they have a guy in mind who wants to be a HC and GM? Harbaugh anyone?

[TSonn]

BYEEEE! Thanks for 2017 and a couple nice victories over GB.

[fiestavike]

I'm a little surprised. I thought they would fire Zim but keep Spielman and Cousins and let them work to find a coach who Kirk would like to play for and mirrored his personality a little more. This is a good sign that they will be moving on from Cousins soon too, which is the best news of the whole situation to me.

[FullWood]

Rick firing is definitely surprising. I know he is responsible for Zimmer coming here but Rick has done and brought in some good pieces for this team.

[VikingLord]

Two shoes that now need to drop:

- Evidence of who the Vikings are targeting to replace Spielman. This can be a pool of candidates, but hopefully the Wilfs are already ahead of the game.
- Ideally, no moves are made on players until both a GM and head coach are hired. However, I hope once that happens the GM and coach clean house of the overpaid, under-producing vets on this team. Way too many of them.

[halfgiz]

Great news for this franchise. We can finally move forward, for good or for bad, out of this slump of mediocrity that has been going on for the past decade +.

Wonder if this means they have a guy in mind who wants to be a HC and GM? Harbaugh anyone?

I have heard Josh McDaniels name mentioned. I’m not sure how I feel about that though.

[makila]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/330 ... k-spielman

The Vikings have fired both coach Mike Zimmer and GM Rick Spielman, signaling a regime change in Minnesota, according to ESPN and multiple reports.

Zimmer, 65, was hired by Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf in 2014 after he spent six seasons as the defensive coordinator with the Cincinnati Bengals (2008-13). He held the same position with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 and Dallas Cowboys from 2000-06. Zimmer started his NFL coaching career with the Cowboys in 1994 and coaching colleges from 1979-1993.

This is the first time in Zimmer's career he has been fired.

In eight seasons with the Vikings, Zimmer had a 72-56-1 record and made three trips to the postseason (2015, 2017, 2019) with two playoff wins. Minnesota reached the NFC Championship Game in 2017 with the league's top-ranked defense.

Zimmer's firing comes as Minnesota's defense reached historic depths this season, contributing to the team's 8-9 record. After setting a record for the most points allowed in the final two minutes of a half in the last 20 seasons with 107 in 2020, the Vikings reached a new low this year with 128 points allowed in the final two minutes of a half, according to ESPN Stats and Information.

Spielman, 59, joined the Vikings in 2006 as vice president of player personnel and was promoted to general manager in 2012.

The Vikings made the playoffs six times during Spielman's time as an executive, reaching the NFC Championship Game twice -- in the 2009 and 2017 seasons.

Spielman was directing the Vikings' draft preparations in 2007 when the team selected running back Adrian Peterson No. 7 overall. Peterson went on to be named the Offensive Rookie of the Year and later Most Valuable Player in 2012. Spielman also drafted wide receiver Justin Jefferson 22nd overall in the 2020 draft. Jefferson this season set an NFL record for most receiving yards over a player's first two NFL seasons.

Spielman, however, will forever be tied to Minnesota's marquee signing of quarterback Kirk Cousins, who came to the Vikings as a free agent in 2018 after signing a record three-year, fully guaranteed contract worth $84 million. The Vikings made the playoffs just once since Cousins joined the team.

Overall, the Vikings were 132-123-2 during the regular season and 3-6 in the postseason during Spielman's time with the team.

-----

Made the postseason less than 50% of the time with Rick (6 in roughly 15 seasons). Slightly above 0.500 (0.513) in regular season. Piss poor in playoffs.

[makila]

Two shoes that now need to drop:

- Evidence of who the Vikings are targeting to replace Spielman. This can be a pool of candidates, but hopefully the Wilfs are already ahead of the game.
- Ideally, no moves are made on players until both a GM and head coach are hired. However, I hope once that happens the GM and coach clean house of the overpaid, under-producing vets on this team. Way too many of them.

Would be nice to get GM in place. Let the new front office work with Wiilfs to hire HC (if they are going to be involved). Then evaluate roster. I really want to see what a new regime thinks of current roster and respective contracts.

[VikingLord]

Rick firing is definitely surprising. I know he is responsible for Zimmer coming here but Rick has done and brought in some good pieces for this team.

Most GMs have done that for their respective teams.

Rick's major sin IMHO was overpaying for vets at their peak or declining vets coupled with the contract he gave Cousins (including the extension). Rick tied his future tightly to the results of those moves and those moves did not pay off. He gambled a lot. He gambled in the draft and he gambled on those vets and while he hit on a few of those moves, the wins didn't offset the losses.

[J. Kapp 11]

Here's an interesting side note that I wonder if others caught.

Yesterday afternoon, about an hour after the game, I was monitoring my Twitter feed pretty closely, waiting for any news on Zimmer. Basically, I was pissed at him running the ball in the last 4 minutes when he could have gotten JJ the record. About 4:00 CST, Ian Rapoport tweeted that Zimmer had already been fired. I was amazed that the Wilfs would move that quickly, so went out to search out a second source to verify. About 2 minutes later, I returned to Twitter ... and Rapoport's tweet was gone. I wish I had taken a screenshot of it.

Just kind of interesting. Rapoport is a good reporter, very well informed and not shady like Adam Schefter. Makes me wonder if he got the information, maybe got a report that the Wilfs were angry, then had to retract the firing tweet until it was official. But I swear, he tweeted the firing. Did anyone else see it?

Spielman's firing surprises me, but only mildly. The Wilfs needed to go another direction.

[VikingLord]

Great news for this franchise. We can finally move forward, for good or for bad, out of this slump of mediocrity that has been going on for the past decade +.

Wonder if this means they have a guy in mind who wants to be a HC and GM? Harbaugh anyone?

I have heard Josh McDaniels name mentioned. I’m not sure how I feel about that though.

Jim Harbaugh would be amazing and someone I would get excited about if he were named the head coach, but I don't want the Wilfs to hire a head coach. They need to focus on a GM who can hire his coach.

[J. Kapp 11]

Don't know about head coach, but Brian Flores got fired in Miami.

I wouldn't be upset if the Vikings considered him for Defensive Coordinator.