The Minnesota Vikings fired Mike Zimmer after an eight-year tenure that included five non-losing seasons, four winning records, and three trips to the playoffs. The Vikings were coming off an 8-9 campaign in 2021.
Zimmer spent two years out of the league in an official capacity but signed on to be the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator in February.
Despite the three years that have passed, the exit from Minnesota still sticks with Zimmer.
Zimmer said he was asked if he wanted to address the players after learning of his fate following the 2021 season. He had addressed the possibility to the players before a Week 16 loss to the Green Bay Packers, asking them to step up before the 37-10 defeat.
“I said, ‘Hell, no. They got me fired,” Zimmer told the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Mark Craig in an interview conducted during training camp and published on August 31. “I didn’t know I was supposed to go to HR and sign out or whatever. No one told me. I just got all my stuff, got in my truck, and left.
“I can tell you I’ve not watched one Minnesota game since.”
Zimmer defended himself from a perceived reputation as a “jerk” during his introductory press conference with the Cowboys in February.
The Vikings went 13-4 in 2022 and 7-10 in 2023, the two seasons since Zimmer’s firing. They made the playoffs in 2022 but lost in the Wild Card Round to the New York Giants. They could be in for another middling campaign after losing four-time Pro Bowl QB Kirk Cousins in free agency.
Zimmer’s tenure included a physical interaction between him and Cousins on the sideline in 2021. The quarterback appeared to punch or aggressively push his coach in the chest.
Zimmer also fell out with KFAN’s Paul Allen over comments the latter made after his firing.
Mike Zimmer Calls Out Former Vikings CB Kris Boyd
Zimmer did not just use generalities in his critiques of his critics. He named names and situations, pointing to Cousins’ salary as a reason they could not maintain their defense.
He also bristled at the idea former Vikings cornerback Kris Boyd was critical of him.
Boyd was a seventh-round pick by the Vikings in 2019 and is now with the Houston Texans. He said Zimmer’s staff “walked around like their a******* were tight,” on the “All Things Covered” podcast – hosted by former Viking Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden – in June 2022.
“Kris Boyd? He says something about me?” Zimmer told Craig. “I’m like, ‘Dude, you had more special teams penalties than anyone I can remember.’”
Zimmer said comments from former Vikings assistant Terence Newman “hurt bad.”
Zimmer coached Newman in three different stops as a player before the latter joined the coaching ranks. Newman described the environment around Zimmer’s Vikings as “toxic” in an interview with Go Long’s Tyler Dunne in 2022.
Former Vikings Eric Kendricks – who was critical of Zimmer’s tenure – Linval Joseph signed with Dallas over the 2024 offseason because of Zimmer, Craig notes. Dalvin Cook signed too.
Cowboys assistant Al Harris, who also played under Zimmer, also stands by Zimmer.
Mike Zimmer Rips Rick Spielman’s 2021 Draft Class
Zimmer was arguably most critical of former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman. Spielman’s tenure began before the coach’s. The Vikings fired both in 2022.
Zimmer noted that Spielman wanted to trade up for Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields – who Zimmer said “hasn’t done anything,” per Craig – and instead selected Kellen Mond among a slew of ill-fated third-round picks in the 2021 draft.
The coach made waves by saying he did not need to see Mond, whose selection caused him to leave the Vikings’ war room, play more to end the 2022 campaign.
He defended those comments.
“Rick said, ‘You mad at me?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I think you took four backups when we had guys there I thought were starters,’” Zimmer told Craig about not speaking to Speilman after walking out on draft night. “I saw [Mond] every day in practice. Maybe I was omniscient or something. He played three NFL snaps and two were bad.”
Only Patrick Jones remains on the Vikings’ roster of those four third-round picks. But the class did produce starters in left tackle Christian Darrisaw and safety Camryn Bynum. It also yielded 2022 All-Pro kick returner Kene Nwangwu.
