Talks of potential coaching changes are already taking hold around the NFL. One team’s situation may be bad enough to call for an immediate change though.
Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer is firmly on the hot seat. He may not even last until the end of the season, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports.
The Vikings are 5-7, coming off a loss to the lowly Detroit Lions, and highly unlikely to make the playoffs. Zimmer’s calling card is usually his defense, but the unit has given up 382 yards per game, the third-worst mark in the league.
Worse yet, La Canfora reports that Zimmer may be wearing on his players and even his staff.
The Vikings coach “continues to wear out players and coaches with his caustic manner,” La Canfora reports.
Zimmer is on such thin ice that a loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday night reportedly could be enough for the Vikings to fire him with four games remaining in the regular season.
It’s not a huge surprise that Zimmer is in trouble. Though he has a 69-54-1 record as Minnesota’s head coach, the team is poised to miss the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since he took over in 2014. That so-called “caustic manner” has been on display publicly as well as privately.
The situation in Minnesota is bad enough that Zimmer is getting called out by one of his Vikings predecessors, which has to be hugely embarrassing.
Photo: Oct 24, 2019; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer prior to the game against the Washington Redskins at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
