Notice anything odd about those winning seasons?mansquatch wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:20 am If you look at Zimmer's history, He has been to the playoffs 50% of the time. 3 out of 6 seasons as Head Coach. In those appearances he has won a playoff game 2 of 3 times. The time they didn't win, was the Walsh missed 26yd field goal in 2015. So lets just round down for the sake of simplicity. In 2015 we were the 9th best team in NFL. In 2017 we were the 4th best team. In 2019 probably the 5th best team (In NFL, not NFC), despite having the #6 seed. IMO most of those estimates are conservative.
You could say almost the same thing about Childress. Or Tice. Or Dennis Green. Actually, to be fair to Green, he actually put a few winning seasons together back-to-back and was competitive in an NFC Championship Game.mansquatch wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:20 am So just to be clear, when people are saying Zimmer should go, they are also saying there is someone out there who can take the above results and improve upon them. I get wanting that elusive SB win, but I'd be hesitant to assume that the grass is greener. Aside from winning the big game, Zimmer's grass has been pretty green.
I don't think either one is a disaster per se. Both have been more or less average over their time with the Vikings.mansquatch wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:20 am Another offshoot of the above. If you think Spielman is a disaster, then the above results should make you love Zimmer since he is getting such elite results while hamstrung by Rick. Or if Zimmer is a disaster then you should love Rick because he has assembled such talent as to almost overcome the coaching debacle. I humbly submit that just maybe they are both pretty good at their jobs and that is why we are getting the results we see, but I'm probably a minority on this point...
Why weren't those teams playing at home? Because they laid enough eggs during the regular season to not earn home field advantage. Play more consistently during the regular season and they get that advantage. This has marked the Zimmer era - inconsistency. Between seasons, between games, and within games.mansquatch wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:20 am To me the key question to ask is this: Do you think the 2017 and 2019 teams have the same post season record if they get to play at home? For me the answer is an unequivocal NO. So what is the path to improvement? I think Zimmer needs to figure out how to win 13+ games in the regular season. As I outlined in my previous post on this thread I think a significant culprit has been turnover and lack of continuity on the offensive coaching staff. At least in 2020 it looks like this will not be a factor.
And as far as 2020 goes, if the pattern holds we're in for a down year for the Vikings.