Mike Zimmer & Rick Spielman Fired

[a-wan]

The Spielman and Zimmer regime gave the Vikings a level of competency that wasn't there before they got to Minnesota. But like everyone says the stagnation, the stubbornness, and poor coaching needed to go. Especially with what O'Neil and Kendricks said after Zimmer was let go about the communication and culture Zimmer created solidified the need for them to let go.

[nicksaviking]

On 1/10/2022 at 10:39 PM, Danchat said:

Meanwhile, Dolphins' owner Stephen Ross has little patience (3 years without playoffs == unacceptable, apparently) and has usually fired his coaches very quickly. It's been reported that Flores' relationship with Tua is not good and he was pushing hard for DeShaun Watson... it's not the best look when you're trying to ditch your starting QB for one who's in the midst of sexual assault charges.

Mike Florio opined that the big issue between Ross and Flores stemmed from the 'Tanking for Tua' sweepstakes two years ago. Ross wanted to tank and Flores went ahead and won a bunch of games. They still got Tua, but by that time Ross and everyone else in the world wanted Burrow.

Of course Florio went on to opine that if the Dolphins had successfully tanked and gotten Burrow, they'd be the AFC's #1 seed. This despite the fact that Cincinnati is the #4 seed and have three excellent receivers and one of the leagues best RBs while the Dolphins have almost jack squat. So I guess his take comes with a big grain of salt.

 

[Danchat]

Here's the list of coaches the Vikings are scheduling interviews for:

Quote

And like that, we’ve got a growing list of candidates for the Vikings HC job. Following news that the Vikings requested permission to interview Todd Bowles for the gig, we’ve learned that the organization requested permission to interview six additional coaches:

Jonathan Gannon, defensive coordinator (Eagles) (via NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero on Twitter)
Nathaniel Hackett, offensive coordinator (Packers) (via Pelissero on Twitter)
Kellen Moore, offensive coordinator (Cowboys) (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Twitter)
Kevin O’Connell, offensive coordinator (Rams) (via ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler on Twitter)
Dan Quinn, defensive coordinator (Cowboys) (via Pelissero on Twitter)
DeMeco Ryans, defensive coordinator (49ers) (via Pelissero on Twitter)

 

[TheLeviathan]

The paragraph on DeFillipo makes me wish we would've fired him 3 years ago.

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

The paragraph on DeFillipo makes me wish we would've fired him 3 years ago.

Can you give me a bit of what it says? 

[TheLeviathan]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Can you give me a bit of what it says? 

Absolutely.  Defillipo was a Sparano and Spielman favorite and they hired him to help the Viking offense better fit their personnel: Diggs, Thielen, Cousins, Cook, etc.  In other words, a team that throws more.  Zimmer, being Zimmer, is outraged the team is actually throwing on first down and throwing to set up the run and gets more and more irritated.  

Of course, what he ignores is that the team's offense had the following yardage totals: 343, 480, 292, 446, 375, 411, 316 and was averaging about 26 points per game.  (Including that horrific 16.5 point favorite whooping at home we took from Buffalo where everything was broken, we were closer to 30+ other than that disaster)

So despite the offense bad-assing it's way to a 4-2-1 record while his defense stunk, he starts publicly and privately grousing about not running the ball enough.  Slowly undermining the new coordinator until, you guessed it!, the offense went pumpkin out of the bye week and we go from 5-3-1 to 6-6-1.

The guy literally took a good offense out back and shot it because he wasn't flexible enough to roll with the success and find a way for his defense to pick up the slack.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, TheLeviathan said:

Absolutely.  Defillipo was a Sparano and Spielman favorite and they hired him to help the Viking offense better fit their personnel: Diggs, Thielen, Cousins, Cook, etc.  In other words, a team that throws more.  Zimmer, being Zimmer, is outraged the team is actually throwing on first down and throwing to set up the run and gets more and more irritated.  

Of course, what he ignores is that the team's offense had the following yardage totals: 343, 480, 292, 446, 375, 411, 316 and was averaging about 26 points per game.  (Including that horrific 16.5 point favorite whooping at home we took from Buffalo where everything was broken, we were closer to 30+ other than that disaster)

So despite the offense bad-assing it's way to a 4-2-1 record while his defense stunk, he starts publicly and privately grousing about not running the ball enough.  Slowly undermining the new coordinator until, you guessed it!, the offense went pumpkin out of the bye week and we go from 5-3-1 to 6-6-1.

The guy literally took a good offense out back and shot it because he wasn't flexible enough to roll with the success and find a way for his defense to pick up the slack.

Guess I was right wanting Zimmer gone long ago. 

[nicksaviking]

If Dan Quinn gets another HC job, will Zimmer end up back in Dallas? Both he and McCarthy on the same coaching staff seems like they'd be destined for a train wreck. And also sounds exactly something Dallas would do.

[gunnarthor]

46 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

If Dan Quinn gets another HC job, will Zimmer end up back in Dallas? Both he and McCarthy on the same coaching staff seems like they'd be destined for a train wreck. And also sounds exactly something Dallas would do.

He'll be 66 next year. It's ageism but I'm not sure this wasn't his last job. Maybe some sort of senior administrator position where he gives advice to the DC but isn't the DC? He's smart, no question, but the comments from Kendricks, of all players, make me think he's a lot less flexible and probably more petty than I had appreciated these last few years. Levi might have been right, and I hate it when that happens.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Zimmer needed to go. I was more on the fence with Rick (leaned towards keeping him), but if that's what it took for change, it was worth it.

As more and more come out though, it's pretty obvious there were some pretty dysfunctional issues with this team. That falls on Rick to some extent as well. 

[TheLeviathan]

Excellent news.  I like this candidate a lot.