Another season of disappointment

[bt08]

anyone shocked? really thought this year could be something special and in the end we could be looking at another Packers NFC North title

 

[fknhippie]

Go Lions

 

[PnkPanther]

Once Teddy went down I didn't have high expectation


5-0 start got them than reality hit. I think this team can get there but they need to fix the o line

 

[bt08]

wonder what Parcells is telling Zimmer these days?

 

[fknhippie]

wonder what Parcells is telling Zimmer these days?

Punt.

 

[fknhippie]

Time to change AD from All Day to Always Disabled.

 

[bt08]

Time to change AD from All Day to Always Disabled.

yeah I think that ship has sailed, he either takes a big pay cut or "see yah"

 

[Gopherfan84]

Zimmer better be updating his resume. He'll need it come Monday. 5-0 to out of the playoffs. Even with all the injuries that's inexcusable. Combine that with the mutiny in the secondary and it looks like he's lost the team.

 

[powerchord86]

 

[PnkPanther]

Zimmer better be updating his resume. He'll need it come Monday. 5-0 to out of the playoffs. Even with all the injuries that's inexcusable. Combine that with the mutiny in the secondary and it looks like he's lost the team.

No way Zimmer gets fired

 

[GhostOfPoverty]

No way Zimmer gets fired

Yeah, no way Zimmer is going anywhere. However, this season ending performance of dominating the lowly Bears who we had a painful loss to earlier in the year (not to mention plenty of other embarrassing losses), really shows how inconsistently Zimmer has been able to get this team ready this season. Yes the injuries have been bad, but it's still tough to justify going from 5-0 to outright missing the playoffs.

Plus, this season finale was clearly their best performance as a whole team. So obviously, they should have been capable of pulling out at least another 2 wins or so against teams like Detroit and the other Chicago game, regardless of the injuries. To me, Zimmer has a lot to prove next season. There is no excuse for this team to not make it at least to the divisional round of the playoffs next season with the talent they have, IMO. As far as the injuries go, they clearly need to consider making some big changes with their strength and conditioning programs, because when that many injuries occur over the course of a single season, it is demonstrative of issues beyond simple coincidence.

 

[Nosferatu]

I honestly don't put this on Zimmer, we lost both our offensive tackles and were somehow able to start 5 - 0 it doesn't matter how good your coach and defense are with a terrible offensive line and no running game you have no chance. Keep AD at a very very affordle cost, get more offensive line help and draft a RB early in case AD goes down again, can't have Asshatiata and McLovin as your RB's if you want to contend.

This team is not far from being very competitive in the NFC, I think the reason the defensive slipped in the second half of the season is they got tired of watching the offense suck.

I also think Bradford is the QB to start even if Bridgewater is healthy.

 

[GhostOfPoverty]

I honestly don't put this on Zimmer, we lost both our offensive tackles and were somehow able to start 5 - 0 it doesn't matter how good your coach and defense are with a terrible offensive line and no running game you have no chance. Keep AD at a very very affordle cost, get more offensive line help and draft a RB early in case AD goes down again, can't have Asshatiata and McLovin as your RB's if you want to contend.

This team is not far from being very competitive in the NFC, I think the reason the defensive slipped in the second half of the season is they got tired of watching the offense suck.

I also think Bradford is the QB to start even if Bridgewater is healthy.

I'm not putting the season entirely on Zimmer, either. Obviously, the amount of injuries they had this year was just insane. That said, even after losing both Teddy (played 0 games), AP (1 1/2 games), Kalil (2 games) AND Andre Smith (4 games), this team still managed to make it to 5-0 - including wins against three would-be playoff teams in Green Bay, NYG, and Houston, and another win vs 9-7 team in Tennessee (in which Shaun Hill played as our QB). After that start, there was really no excuse for them to fall so haphazardly from 5-0 to 8-8, barely managing to make it a .500 season, let alone compete for a playoff spot.

We wound up watching guys on D quit on Zimmer completely at points towards the end of the season, and no consequences appeared to be imposed on said players (Xavior Rhodes... though maybe they were afraid of pissing him off right before trying to resign him, idk... still inexcusable for Zimmer to let his players act like that, IMO). Then, on their last real breath at trying to make the postseason, they took a massive dump at home vs. the lowly Colts.

All that said, while I give Zimmer a partial pass due to the injuries - there was still no excuse to drop from 5-0 to 3rd place in the division. Even with the injuries, they should have been able to pull off a 10-6 season following the 5-0 start. I definitely place some degree of blame on the coaching staff for losing the team that badly, injuries aside. And no, I don't want to give up on Zimmer yet by any means, but he should be gone next year if they miss the playoffs again IMO, because there's really no reason a team with this much talent shouldn't at least be getting a wildcard spot.

 

[Nosferatu]

I'm not putting the season entirely on Zimmer, either. Obviously, the amount of injuries they had this year was just insane. That said, even after losing both Teddy (played 0 games), AP (1 1/2 games), Kalil (2 games) AND Andre Smith (4 games), this team still managed to make it to 5-0 - including wins against three would-be playoff teams in Green Bay, NYG, and Houston, and another win vs 9-7 team in Tennessee (in which Shaun Hill played as our QB). After that start, there was really no excuse for them to fall so haphazardly from 5-0 to 8-8, barely managing to make it a .500 season, let alone compete for a playoff spot.

We wound up watching guys on D quit on Zimmer completely at points towards the end of the season, and no consequences appeared to be imposed on said players (Xavior Rhodes... though maybe they were afraid of pissing him off right before trying to resign him, idk... still inexcusable for Zimmer to let his players act like that, IMO). Then, on their last real breath at trying to make the postseason, they took a massive dump at home vs. the lowly Colts.

All that said, while I give Zimmer a partial pass due to the injuries - there was still no excuse to drop from 5-0 to 3rd place in the division. Even with the injuries, they should have been able to pull off a 10-6 season following the 5-0 start. I definitely place some degree of blame on the coaching staff for losing the team that badly, injuries aside.

I would wager a months salary half the teams in the league wish Zimmer was their head coach.

We don't really know the circumstances surrounding what happened with Rhodes, was he quitting on Zimmer or his team or was he just tired of losing and didn't give a shit anymore? From everything I have heard and read the players love and respect their head coach. With some offensive line help and a running game this team has a real shot next year IMO.

 

[GhostOfPoverty]

I would wager a months salary half the teams in the league wish Zimmer was their head coach.

Like I said man, I'm not suggesting that I wish they'd fire Zimmer right now. But I made a logical argument for pointing out that he underperformed as a coach this year. We can make all the excuses we want for this season (injuries, Norv Turner quitting after 7 games, Zimmer's eye issues that put him out for a game), but my point is, if this continues on for another year - lol, no, not half the teams in the league will want him as their coach. Just stop and think, our interim head coach promoted from special teams for the 1 game against 13-3 1st sead Dallas that Zimmer had to miss, we were a last second play away from tying the game with a 2-pt conversion and forcing OT. There definitely were some issues with coaching this season. He certainly deserves a season to clean up the mess, but IF they outright miss the playoffs again next year, he's not going to be some hot commodity as a head coach on the open market. If anything, missing the playoffs again would result in him being a top hire as a D coordinator... but not HC, IMO.

Side note - I find it bizarre how most people are so quick to dog Bradford for them tanking this year when he basically had to single-handedly carry the offense the entire season after coming in a few days before week 1 of the regular season. But, they never criticize Zimmer as HC for losing the team as the season carried on, despite Bradford having the best year of his career. Seems like quite the double standard to me.

 

[Nosferatu]

Like I said man, I'm not suggesting that I wish they'd fire Zimmer right now. But I made a logical argument for pointing out that he underperformed as a coach this year. We can make all the excuses we want for this season (injuries, Norv Turner quitting after 7 games, Zimmer's eye issues that put him out for a game), but my point is, if this continues on for another year - lol, no, not half the teams in the league will want him as their coach. Just stop and think, our interim head coach promoted from special teams for the 1 game against 13-3 1st sead Dallas that Zimmer had to miss, we were a last second play away from tying the game with a 2-pt conversion and forcing OT. There definitely were some issues with coaching this season. He certainly deserves a season to clean up the mess, but IF they outright miss the playoffs again next year, he's not going to be some hot commodity as a head coach on the open market. If anything, missing the playoffs again would result in him being a top hire as a D coordinator... but not HC, IMO.

I wasn't bashing what you said just having a conversation, what i'm saying is that no coach could have done any better job with no offensive line and the worst running attack in team history. They fix these two things and they will be just fine, winning has a way of making bad memories from the previous season go away.

IMO Zimmer might already be the best head coach the Vikes have ever had. I am not ready to put blame on him after a season that was destroyed by injury.

Also IMO Dallas is the worst 13 - 3 team of all time.

 

[GhostOfPoverty]

I wasn't bashing what you said just having a conversation, what i'm saying is that no coach could have done any better job with no offensive line and the worst running attack in team history. They fix these two things and they will be just fine, winning has a way of making bad memories from the previous season go away.

IMO Zimmer might already be the best head coach the Vikes have ever had. I am not ready to put blame on him after a season that was destroyed by injury.

Also IMO Dallas is the worst 13 - 3 team of all time.

I'm not bashing what you're saying, either. Like I said, I'm fully in agreement that Zimmer needs another season before we really start being critical of him. All I'm saying is, if they miss the playoffs again next season, I'd find it very hard to continue chalking it up as flukes for Zim. That'd be 1 playoff appearance in 4 seasons with a team that should ave been legit playoff contenders for 3 of those seasons. I'm obviously hoping that isn't the case and haven't lost all faith in Zimmer by any means, just saying that I wouldn't be willing to write it off if it happens again in 2017. Chilly made the postseason twice in 5 seasons, yet most fans in MN detested him even before Favre showed up for 2009...