Former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer is likely to retire from coaching in the NFL, according to veteran reporter Ed Werder. Zimmer spent last season as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator under Mike McCarthy but is not returning to Dallas on new head coach Brian Schottenheimer's staff.
Zimmer, 68, began his coaching career as a defensive assistant at the University of Missouri in 1979. After a few college stops, he got his first NFL job with the Cowboys in 1994, eventually being named defensive coordinator in 2000. He was then the DC in Atlanta and Cincinnati before the Vikings hired him as their head coach in 2014. Zimmer held that role for eight years.
During his Minnesota tenure, Zimmer went 72-56-1 in the regular season and made three trips to the playoffs, winning two games. He trails only Bud Grant and Dennis Green in victories among all Vikings head coaches. His .562 winning percentage trails those two and Kevin O'Connell, who has gone 34-17 since replacing Zimmer in 2022.
After a couple years away from the NFL, working as an analyst for good friend Deion Sanders' teams at Jackson State and then Colorado, Zimmer went back to Dallas to replace Dan Quinn as the Cowboys' DC. It was a difficult season that apparently was his last in the NFL.
