Spielman and Zimmer Fired!!

Make no mistake about it. DeFilippo wasn't good at his job. I don't remember all the specifics, but he was pretty much universally disliked. And his career path after getting fired validates that decision. Fired, fired, demoted... and now? With Nagy out in Chicago, we'll see where he lands.

The FOX crew was just saying this morning that the answer to slowing down a pass-happy offense is running the ball more and controlling the ball yourself. It's not an insane philosophy. We hear about it weekly. Zimmer's plans aren't as archaic as some like to pretend. Look at the #1 seed in the AFC.

I'm sure as the offseason goes on and more Viking players/coaches and "sources" tell their side of the last 8 years we'll see/hear more information, but this is not a good look for Zimmer...

I think all this stuff being made public could put a serious dent in Zimmer's chances of landing another HC gig, if we wants one...DC is still a possibility, but perhaps not HC...

This isn't new information. It's literally from the Star Tribune article posted in its entirety on the previous page. It's simply pile on Zimmer week. lol.

Here's a thought, though. Everyone took that as "woe is me", when the reasoning wasn't even specified. What if it was meant in a way to keep them fighting through adversity? "Let's keep fighting and finish strong."

From the article:



20+ conversations with just a few new nuggets? Nothing earth-shattering here. As the team struggled, relationships deteriorated. We knew that. Some responded well to Zimmer and his approach; some didn't. The most discouraging part of all of it was the lack of teamwork/communication. Very weird.

Well, for one thing... in the two years specifically named, the Vikings DIDN'T fight through adversity to make the playoffs.

'My team that almost none of you were on went 7-9 without its chronically child-abusing running back, dammit!!!' isn't exactly "Don't give up the ship!" or "Remember the Alamo!"

Kind of a nothing burger unless we are saying he don't relate to the players. But I think it's been presented in a way to skew the reality of the point. Fake news...🙄 It was clearly to say you got to keep fighting thru adversity.

Nahh, just snarky.  Mostly it's that I just don't see much leadership value in reinforcing a connection between adversity and past failures to achieve goals.


Now that Spielman and Zimmer aren't with the Vikings, they're pretty much off my radar, other than maybe an extremely mild interest in seeing what they do next.  But the state that they've left the franchise in is of great interest to me.

And while I understand that some of these unsourced stories may be slanted or just plain wrong, it seems unlikely that all the negatives that have come out fall into those categories.  If they were, it would essentially entail a conspiracy to ruin Zimmer, so if anything the absence of these stories prior to Zim's firing means he probably received the benefit of the doubt in that regard.

So that means there may be some potentially fairly serious issues besides X's and O's that a new HC (and GM, for that matter) will have to mend.

Leadership changed usually brings at least some culture change regardless of what was inherited, but the more stories like this we hear, the more it sounds to me like the new HC will have to make bigger changes than trivialities like player dress codes for team travel.