Inside the dysfunction of the Zimmer era

[J. Kapp 11]

Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune just published an article that outlines the rapid deterioration of the Vikings toward the end of this season. The headline reads “ At the end of the Rick Spielman-Mike Zimmer era, the Vikings were a team on edge.” This is an article that is credible, in my opinion. It’s also VERY eye-opening.

I talk about “access” in journalism all the time. Here’s why it’s important. If somebody posts something on the internet without talking to anybody in the organization, that article might be entertaining, but it’s not credible. We should take such articles with a grain of salt.

But if an article comes from a reporter who has access to key people inside the organization, they’re getting information from the horse’s mouth. That’s credible. You can believe it … to the extent that a key person provided the information. It’s doubly credible if the reporter does his/her job by verifying the information with a second key source.

Ben Goessling is as credible as it gets. He is the lead Vikings reporter for the largest newspaper in Minnesota. He’s been in that position for several years. He has access to anybody he needs, and I’ve found him to be as professional as anybody can be in the age of social media.

I’m going to post some excerpts here and let you guys chew on it. Read the article here.

This article is based on conversations with more than 20 people with the team or close to the organization, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about their experiences during Zimmer and Spielman's eight years together. Some saw a coach whose constant prodding and demand for precision brought out the best in players, particularly on defense (the Vikings ranked in the top 10 in points allowed each year from 2015-19). But as the team finished out of the playoffs the past two seasons, losing key late-season games each time, many described a working environment that was too impersonal, too unresponsive to change and left them too much on edge.

Veteran assistants like Tony Sparano, the Vikings' offensive line coach from 2016 until his death in 2018, or co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson did damage control with players stung by Zimmer's public criticism or silence (sources said defensive end Danielle Hunter experienced the latter after choosing season-ending surgery on a neck hernia in 2020). Players tried to return quickly from injuries, fearful a longer recovery time would jeopardize their standing in the organization.

Behind the scenes, Vikings decision-makers clashed about how to use Cordarrelle Patterson, the dynamic, but raw, second-year receiver Spielman traded three picks to take 29th overall in 2013. Turner's efforts to set up his son Scott (the Vikings' quarterbacks coach at the time) for an offensive coordinator job irked Zimmer, who would later make his own son the Vikings' co-defensive coordinator.

Ultimately, though, the Vikings' final two defenses under Zimmer were among the worst in the league and the team missed the playoffs both years. After a key loss in the final weeks of the season, his tone started to shift; sources said the coach gave a Wednesday presentation about all the bad things that happened to him in his eight years with the Vikings (Peterson's suspension in 2014, Bridgewater's knee injury in 2016 and so on), leaving players dumbfounded.

Please note, this article also points out things that Zimmer did well. I have chosen in this post to cast some light on why this thing failed. It’s clear that Mike Zimmer didn’t relate to many of his players, nor did he care to.

Interested in your reaction to this extremely interesting article.

Again, read the article here.

[vikeinmontana]

Fascinating article.

I saw a Deion Sanders interview yesterday in which he said he spoke to Zimmer and that Spielman and Zimmer hadn't spoken in months! MONTHS!

If your GM and head coach refuse to talk to one another, that's obviously a disaster.

I'm very excited for a clean slate at both of these positions.

[TSonn]

Zimmer was going senile right before our eyes.

He was made for 1990s football. His style resonated less and less with each new draft class.

Really hope we find a younger (obviously) and more progressive thinking coach this time around.

[J. Kapp 11]

Fascinating article.

I saw a Deion Sanders interview yesterday in which he said he spoke to Zimmer and that Spielman and Zimmer hadn't spoken in months! MONTHS!

If your GM and head coach refuse to talk to one another, that's obviously a disaster.

I'm very excited for a clean slate at both of these positions.

Me too.

That last excerpt I pulled is really disturbing. You gather your team to give a presentation about all the bad things that have happened to you? From a man who claims he only cares about wins. It’s insane.

I really hope, above all else, that the Vikings hire a LEADER. Offensive guy, defensive guy … don’t care. Find someone who can lead men into battle.

[Mothman]

I read this article yesterday and I agree, it's excellent, credible and eye-opening.

That last excerpt I pulled is really disturbing. You gather your team to give a presentation about all the bad things that have happened to you? From a man who claims he only cares about wins. It’s insane.

Indeed and it speaks to both Zimmer's ego and his failings. It's nuts that he would give a presentation like that to the team. now wonder players were dumbfounded.

Naturally, I found the part about Vikings decision-makers clashing over how to use Cordarrelle Patterson interesting because that seriously bothered me at the time. Paul Jordan brought that issue up in another thread the other day and it's definitely one of the things that troubled me about Zimmer from very early in his stint as Vikings head coach.

I really hope, above all else, that the Vikings hire a LEADER. Offensive guy, defensive guy … don’t care. Find someone who can lead men into battle.

Amen to that.

[J. Kapp 11]

Naturally, I found the part about Vikings decision-makers clashing over how to use Cordarrelle Patterson interesting because that seriously bothered me at the time. Paul Jordan brought that issue up in another thread the other too and it's definitely one of the things that troubled me about Zimmer from very early in his stint as Vikings head coach.

No doubt. Again, it speaks to his ego, or at least his refusal to adapt his scheme to the players he had. CP was never a good route runner. Probably still isn’t. But he’s one of the most dynamic players in the league with the ball in his hands. Instead of finding creative ways to get him the ball, as Arthur Smith is doing in Atlanta, Zimmer just insisted on a fullback, 22 personnel, run the ball, and pass only when you need to pass. If he’d have had a scintilla of vision, he’d have seen what a weapon he had. Instead, he labeled CP as lazy, unwilling to to conform, and eventually ran him out of town.

I was really excited when we drafted CP. Remember the game Week 2 of 2014 in St. Louis against the Rams? Norv Turner designed a play to get him the ball out of the backfield, and he made one of the most exciting 60+-yard TD runs I’ve ever seen. I thought he was going to be an absolute star for us. It’s a travesty that he never amounted to more than a kick returner in Minnesota. This article makes it pretty clear as to what happened.

[VikingLord]

That last excerpt I pulled is really disturbing. You gather your team to give a presentation about all the bad things that have happened to you? From a man who claims he only cares about wins. It’s insane.

A 65 year old man should have the life experience and wisdom to know that nobody gets dealt a winning hand all the time, and more often than not success is defined on how one plays his or her crap hands that defines success. Any moron can play winning hands.

[vikeinmontana]

Spielman sticking around to address the team and Zimmer not, is pretty telling as well.

What a mess.

[StumpHunter]

Naturally, I found the part about Vikings decision-makers clashing over how to use Cordarrelle Patterson interesting because that seriously bothered me at the time. Paul Jordan brought that issue up in another thread the other too and it's definitely one of the things that troubled me about Zimmer from very early in his stint as Vikings head coach.

No doubt. Again, it speaks to his ego, or at least his refusal to adapt his scheme to the players he had. CP was never a good route runner. Probably still isn’t. But he’s one of the most dynamic players in the league with the ball in his hands. Instead of finding creative ways to get him the ball, as Arthur Smith is doing in Atlanta, Zimmer just insisted on a fullback, 22 personnel, run the ball, and pass only when you need to pass. If he’d have had a scintilla of vision, he’d have seen what a weapon he had. Instead, he labeled CP as lazy, unwilling to to conform, and eventually ran him out of town.

I was really excited when we drafted CP. Remember the game Week 2 of 2014 in St. Louis against the Rams? Norv Turner designed a play to get him the ball out of the backfield, and he made one of the most exciting 60+-yard TD runs I’ve ever seen. I thought he was going to be an absolute star for us. It’s a travesty that he never amounted to more than a kick returner in Minnesota. This article makes it pretty clear as to what happened.

Interesting. I read that article as Zimmer wanted to use CP differently than Norv used him and assumed that Zimmer wanted to use him differently than he was used when he was here.

But only because the article said Zimmer wanted to use CP differently than he was used.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Man this article seems to really point at what I’ve been saying all along. This seemed like more of a zimmer problem than a cousins or Spielman problem. Not saying they didn’t bring their own issues at times but man, this teams demise seemed like it was very much a Mike Zimmer problem.

From the battling with offensive coordinators, him screaming to run the ball more, him giving the silent treatment to players when injuries hit (especially hunter which is absolutely ridiculous) to not speaking to Spielman.

I think it became more and more obvious that he simply didn’t want cousins because he knew cousins was going to warrant a more pass heavy offense and also wanted that money to go to his defense and just find a QB on a small contract that could just manage the game and hand the ball off.

Again, not saying Spielman did no wrong, but I do kind of feel for Spielman in this instance. Sure we can complain about some of his picks/trades but in the end, he brought A LOT of talent to this team. And I think he set this team up for success more than some may think. But it came down to Zim and Spielman not having the same outlook on what this team needed. And in this instance I’ll side with spielman because the run heavy approach and the bitc#ing out of offensive coordinators doesn’t work in today’s game. It’s exactly why diggs left and if it continued it was going to be why Jefferson would leave.

The fact that this team had so many OCs started to explain a lot. It was zimmer. It wasn’t Spielman, it wasn’t cousins. It was zimmer driving these offensive coordinators to do it his way. I feel like a lot of this limited cousins in a way too.

I feel for cousins a bit in this situation as well. The fact that HE had to go to Zim about meeting regarding film and so on. Just maddening. And I’m sure cousins could feel every vibe zimmer had towards him and none of them were good. That’s not a good environment for any QB. When your own coach practically can’t stand you.

This is why I’d rather just soak the 45 million this year and let cousins ride out his contract because I want to see him under a new regime and we can draft a QB to learn for a year under cousins.

If we aren’t going to trade for russell Wilson or maybe even Watson, I’d rather just keep cousins for a year. We aren’t winning the SB next year regardless. I’d rather not bring in a below average QB like an Andy dalton and a rookie where they can’t get JJ the ball and then in turn, he’s pis#ed off. One thing about cousins is he’ll keep feeding JJ. Especially under a new coach that will want to get JJ the ball early and often.

My choices are trade cousins and then trade for Wilson or Watson or if not keep cousins. I don’t want some dud stop gap in here. The number one guy we need to keep happy right now is JJ. A stop gap isn’t going to do that. At worst, cousins is. If we don’t want to or plan to rebuild, we don’t have time for a stop gap. It’s go big or go home. At least that’s how I think of it right now

[makila]

Read that article the other day. Some pretty incredible things.

Listening to Patrick Reusse talk on a podcast and he asked, "why was Zimmer always having to answer for Rick's draft pick busts?" Speaking to the entire way Rick's guys and Zim's guys got handled by Zimmer.

So clear oil and water for such an important, cohesive, relationship.

[VikingLord]

I think it is important to note the organizational structure of the Vikings when Zimmer was hired contributed heavily to what was noted in the article. IIRC, Zimmer reported to Mark Wilf and not Rick Spielman. This allowed two critical things to happen that most likely would not have happened had Zimmer reported to Spielman instead:

1) It would have been far less likely that there was a divergence between the type of players the head coach wanted in the draft and free agency and the type of players that were actually drafted and where they were drafted. The article implies that Zimmer grew frustrated with Spielman's tendency to trade back in drafts, and likewise he was not happy about the move to sign Cousins. I'm not sure if Zimmer felt he had no substantive input into those player personnel decisions, but it sounds like he felt he had little control over the moves the GM was making, especially at QB. If the head coach reports directly to the GM, I think that is less likely to happen because the two have to discuss things directly as a result of that reporting relationship. If there is no formal reporting relationship between those positions, then not only does that not need to happen, it is far less likely to happen in any substantive way if either or both of the people manning those positions becomes frustrated with the other. At that point the guy both report to (in the Vikings' case, Mark Wilf) becomes what, their mediator? If he lacks the skill or knowledge to properly evaluate either or both, he's less likely to be effective in that role in that situation, and either or both will then be left to more or less go off in the direction they feel is most likely to work. If that isn't the same direction, as I think it became in the case of the Vikings in recent seasons, good luck. Moral of the story - Mark Wilf should hire the GM and let the GM handle the coach.

2) Zimmer would have been less likely to step outside his bounds. With Mark Wilf being his boss, and Mark Wilf not able to assess Zimmer's performance properly, you wind up with moves like coach's son's being hired into key roles absent the qualifications to merit those roles. You wind up with a head coach who thinks it is a fait accompli that every game needs to be won by his defense after the offense gets ahead, no matter by how marginal an amount. You get a head coach who basically did and said what he wanted when he wanted and then, when things turned against him, blamed everyone but himself. With a competent GM, it never gets that far. If the GM hired the coach, the GM knows what he or she wants to see from the coach. If those things aren't happening, then the GM can hold the coach accountable and move on if and when necessary. Moral of the story - Mark Wilf is a good owner and at best a casual football fan. He should not be in a position where he is responsible for evaluating a coach.

I saw today the Vikings had interviewed a head coaching candidate. I sincerely hope they do not offer that job to anyone before the GM is hired. I sincerely hope Mark Wilf has the wisdom to alter the reporting relationships for this team going forward.

[Mothman]

I think it is important to note the organizational structure of the Vikings when Zimmer was hired contributed heavily to what was noted in the article. IIRC, Zimmer reported to Mark Wilf and not Rick Spielman.

I don't think that's accurate. I'm not sure if Spielman could have fired Zimmer without input from Mark Wilf but based on everything I've read over the years the Wilfs have stayed out of the day-to-day football operation. It was Spielman's team. He's had full control over the roster since 2012. He conducted the coaching interviews in 2014 and Zimmer was hired on his recommendation. They were expected to work together and for a while at least, they did.

2) Zimmer would have been less likely to step outside his bounds. With Mark Wilf being his boss, and Mark Wilf not able to assess Zimmer's performance properly, you wind up with moves like coach's son's being hired into key roles absent the qualifications to merit those roles.

I think Mark Wilf was only Zimmer's "boss" in the sense that he was the person who could fire him.

You wind up with a head coach who thinks it is a fait accompli that every game needs to be won by his defense after the offense gets ahead, no matter by how marginal an amount. You get a head coach who basically did and said what he wanted when he wanted and then, when things turned against him, blamed everyone but himself. With a competent GM, it never gets that far. If the GM hired the coach, the GM knows what he or she wants to see from the coach. If those things aren't happening, then the GM can hold the coach accountable and move on if and when necessary.

I'm pretty sure that was the exact structure and situation with the Vikings. Ultimately, Spielman probably would have had to recommend that Zimmer be fired rather than just making a unilateral decision but I doubt there are many NFL situations where a GM would make a decision like that before consulting ownership.

I think Zimmer behaved the way he did because that's who he is. I doubt any change in structure other than giving him control over the draft and roster would have yielded another outcome and even then, he might have still behaved the same way. The personality traits that became so problematic are the same personality traits that led other teams to pass on him after multiple interviews for head coaching positions.

I saw today the Vikings had interviewed a head coaching candidate. I sincerely hope they do not offer that job to anyone before the GM is hired. I sincerely hope Mark Wilf has the wisdom to alter the reporting relationships for this team going forward.

I hope so too but Mark Wilf was pretty specific the other day when he said "The GM is going to be our first selection, and then the GM will have input in the head coach".

[J. Kapp 11]

I hope so too but Mark Wilf was pretty specific the other day when he said "The GM is going to be our first selection, and then the GM will have input in the head coach".

I found Mark Wilf's wording of that statement — "will have input" — to be really interesting. Wilf is one of the most careful, well-spoken people in press conference situations that I've ever seen. The words he speaks are rarely accidental, and I don't believe those were.

It also conflicts completely with how Courtney Cronin of ESPN has paraphrased what Wilf said when she wrote, "will lead the effort to hire a head coach." That's most definitely NOT what Mark Wilf said, and I don't believe it's what he meant.

On one hand, it seems that an organization would hire a GM first, and then he would be the one to hire the coach. After all, the GM is a football guy, and the Wilves are businessmen. Why would they be the ones to hire the football coach?

But I don't think it's all that unusual. I look to San Francisco and their hiring of John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan. Lynch was hired one week before Shanahan, but I'm not convinced he had much to do with Shanahan's hiring. On the contrary, Adam Schefter reported at the time that Lynch actually called Shanahan to volunteer himself for the GM job. That means Lynch must have known the 49ers were going to hire Shanahan, even before Lynch himself was hired. Bottom line: Find the right pair, and it can work. Those two have a great working relationship.

The next week or two are going to be some of the most interesting in the history of the franchise. I can't remember another time when both positions were open.

[VikingLord]

I think Mark Wilf was only Zimmer's "boss" in the sense that he was the person who could fire him.

That's an important power though. If Spielman is his "boss" in every other capability than that one, then even if Spielman wanted to move on from Zimmer and would otherwise have fired him, the fact that he couldn't would have forced him to play politics rather than make hard decisions. It also allows everyone to pass the responsibility buck.

In short, it enables dysfunction and allows it to fester and even grow, which is exactly what the cited story suggests happened to this team over the last several years.

I think Zimmer behaved the way he did because that's who he is. I doubt any change in structure other than giving him control over the draft and roster would have yielded another outcome and even then, he might have still behaved the same way.

Zimmer behaved the way he did because nobody held him accountable for his behavior.

It's possible Spielman would have allowed the same thing to happen had he had direct control over Zimmer's position I suppose.

The personality traits that became so problematic are the same personality traits that led other teams to pass on him after multiple interviews for head coaching positions.

I always viewed Zimmer as another Brad Childress. Same kind of general approach. Interesting that the Vikings hired Childress, fired Leslie Frazer who by all accounts does not have that personality type, and then went with another "my-way-or-the-highway" head coach.

Will be interesting to see who is hired this time. Hopefully the next HC is not a know-it-all authoritarian.

I hope so too but Mark Wilf was pretty specific the other day when he said "The GM is going to be our first selection, and then the GM will have input in the head coach".

I share Kapp's concern with that language "have input in the head coach".

He/She needs to be the final say on the HC. Hopefully she/he insists on that say before accepting the job.