Why do you think Zimmer is a good HC?

If the metric is Super Bowl appearances with "consistent improvement of the team" as the definition, this leaves us with only Bud Grant as the only good head coach in Vikings history (and one could certainly argue that Grant didn't consistently improve his teams.) But let's just say that Super Bowl appearances are the minimum prerequisite for consideration as a good head coach. Right now there are only 12 active head coaches that would meet the first "bar" for consideration: Jon Harbaugh, Bill Belichick, Jon Gruden, Sean Payton, Doug Pederson, Mike Tomlin, Pete Carroll, Dan Quinn, Ron Rivera, Andy Reid, Sean McVay, and Bill Callahan. The first 7 on that list have won (at least 1) Super Bowl as a head coach, where the last 5 have lost their only appearance in the Super Bowl as head coach.

Undeniably, Bill Belichick obviously has the credentials to be considered a good head coach. Heck, he's got more Super Bowl wins as a head coach than fingers on one hand! (I guess they'll have to start making him a Super Bowl necklace or some other form of jewelry for his next one, and I'll hate him more for it!). He is to football what Phil Jackson is to basketball. He also has "Deflategate" and other infractions to his "credit"(pardon the expression). Put simply: He's a good head coach but (IMHO) a lesser person because of the "grey area" that he seems to be comfortable coaching in and around. It's also a moot point since he's going to coach at New England until he retires. Better than Zim (Heck, Better than everyone else listed below)

Sean Payton? Sure - Won a Super Bowl. Is kind of a pric..eless example of a jerk. From bountygate to the SKOL chant mocking in his playoff loss, Payton should have been coaching his team to in the final seconds of the game rather than taunting the crowd. But, honestly, I'm glad he did. It made the Saints loss all the more tasty. Saints are doing well and currently have the same amount of wins as the Vikings (8) with one less loss (2). Payton gets consideration as possibly being a good HC but Zim does not?


John Harbaugh - His post season winning percentatge is better than Zimmer's and is almost as good as Zim's overall winning percentage. The Ravens are also doing well and currently have the same amount of wins as the Vikings (8) with one less loss (2). I couldn't argue that Harbaugh is not a better coach than Zim if you wanted to assert that as an opinion.


Mike Tomlin? Loved him when he was our defensive coordinator and was not happy when he left to be the HC of the Steelers. I knew the Vikings would regret that. But, in typical Vikings fashion we "learned" not to let our talent depart. The end result: We let Tomlin walk to a HC job, but worked on retaining Frazier. I like Tomlin. He has never had a losing season in Pittsburgh. But, consistently improving? In 12 years, 2 Super Bowls with the last appearance being a loss. I think Tomlin is a good head coach, but he hasn't been to a Super Bowl in 9 years. I mean we need consistent improvement, right?

Jon Gruden? - Sorry, not buying this one. His only Super Bowl appearance was about 17 years ago, and even that one was one that I would put an asterisk by with a notation that "Super Bowl actually attributed to Tony Dungy's defense." That's been it. The Raiders were one of the few teams we "dominated" this year. Gruden gets consideration as possibly a good coach, but not Zim?

Doug Pederson? Winning percentage is less than Zim's but... Pederson has a Super Bowl ring from his second year as HC. He has been a HC for less time than Zim and obviously embarrassed Zim in our NFC Championship game. You got me on him. There is a part of me that gets frustrated when new head coaches (Tomlin and Pederson are 2) that seem to cruise to a Super Bowl win in their first couple of years. (Gruden did it in his first year, but again, I never have attributed than win to Gruden.) Pederson definitely owns Zimmer for post-season success, but Zim still wins more often than Pederson. Just food for thought.

Pete Carroll - Better win percentage as Seahawks HC than Zim with the Vikings. Better post season record than Zim. Super Bowl trophy. What's left to argue? Better coach than Zim (unless and until proven otherwise).


Look I get it. Zim hasn't won a Super Bowl and he's had almost 6 years. Despite that, I think he's a better coach than some of the coaches that actually have a Super Bowl win to their credit. I just think that you'll be disappointed if you're looking for the "quick fix" and think a Super Bowl will just naturally come when we get a new HC. Can it happen? Sure. I can get hit with lightning, but it's not likely. Tampa Bay "unloaded" Dungy precisely for the reason you are fed up with Zim. Dungy couldn't get the team to the Super Bowl. I think he would have done it when Gruden got the credit, so we'll never know. I do know that Dungy went on to win it with the Colts and Tampa hasn't been back. If Zim continues to falter (the defense has regressed no question) then I'm on board. I just not there yet...

Even beyond that, Zimmer hasn't even been that good at getting us to the playoffs.

Marvin Lewis had the Bengals playoff bound almost every year for a while.

I don't think there's one good measuring stick... it's aggregate.. Zimmer has done some things well, but it doesn't take too much to look and see where he's consistently failing. Is there another qualified candidate out there that can do better? I'm not sure. Should we be looking for better? I think so...

Like others said, you can never settle for mediocrity. He's finally fixed the offense and look what's happened to his defense. It's just not that good anymore. Is that b/c his guys are getting old or b/c suddenly teams need to be more aggressive and his D cannot compensate?

Well then, let's see how Lewis did in his first 6 years as a head coach...

2003: 8-8 No playoffs
2004: 8-8 No playoffs
2005: 11-5 Clinched
2006: 8-8 No playoffs
2007: 7-9 No playoffs
2008: 4-11-1 No playoffs

It took Marvin until years 9 and 10 to make the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. Lewis was the definition of mediocrity before his 5 year run of straight playoff berths, so your argument does not hold water.

It's also a stretch to say that Zimmer "hasn't been that good" when he's poised to put the team in the playoffs 3 of the last 5 years. At least he got one playoff victory in that stretch, unlike Marvin Lewis...

Zimmer is a good coach. Zimmer is better than bad coaches like Leslie Milquetoast and that dude who looked like a balding walrus. He has not been a train wreck overall and he has done some good things for the team and the culture. But this is modest praise, aimed at a modestly good coach.

Since there seems to be some confusion about what the standard for "good" should be, let me clear it up. Playoffs. If you never get to the playoffs with a decent roster, you are not good. If you get there sometimes, with some regularity (say at least every 3 years, but sometimes more), you are good, but an average sort of good. If you get to the playoffs at least 50% of the time and win at least 50% of your playoff games you are truly good, better than mere average good. I'm pulling these numbers out of my butt because they feel about right.

Zimmer is average good. He might get you there and he might not, and he might win if he gets there and he might not. He's good enough to keep his job, if average good is all you want from your team.

Without reading 17 pages of these arguments I don't know if anyone posted this but to me, the measure of a good coach is fairly simple - w/l record. Once that's established, i.e. you are in the top tier, then the differentiating factor would be playoff success.

Coaches who've held the same job since 2014:

Belichick 71-19 .788
Reid 59-30 .662
Carroll 59-30 .662
Tomlin 59-29-1 .661
Zimmer 55-35-1 .610
Garrett 54-36 .600
Payton 53-37 .588
Rivera 51-38-1 .572
Harbaugh 50-40 .555
O'Brien 49-42 .538

If you're going to replace Zimmer then you need to find a guy who is at least the same caliber, i.e. can win at a .600 or better rate. Those guys are not easy to find or teams wouldn't be cycling through coaches all the time. As for playoff success, 5 of the 10 guys on this list don't have a SB trophy. Of course the fact that the top guy has so many is probably a reason why some of the others don't.

The answer to the question is, consistently getting better in the playoffs. To do that you have to make it to the playoffs, build a great team with great coaches. Not everyone is going to luck their way into the playoffs like teams like the Raiders and Giants have. Good seasons, lots of wins, mean NOTHING unless there are playoff runs and eventually a SB win. There are multiple other reasons Zimmer isnt a good HC, anymore than Mike Tice was a good HC. Tice got fired with a 9 win season, Zimmer had his billion dollar QB and could only squeak out 8 wins last year. I am not the only fan to think these things either. Fans expect MORE from Zimmer, not less. The wins dont make up for all the eventual failures. If Zimmer does turn the corner, and helps this team to win some playoff games (in a row) I will be among the happiest football fans in the world.