Opinion: Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman were fired, but Kirk Cousins is the Vikings' real problem
Mike Zimmer was thrown overboard Monday after eight seasons steering the Minnesota Vikings ship, another classic example of how it goes down when the gig is up. Zimmer just finished with back-to-back losing seasons for the first time during his tenure. And general manager Rick Spielman was also shown the door after 16 years with the franchise, including 10 in the top personnel role.
Excuses, such as devastating injuries, COVID-19 setbacks or the missed field goals and blown coverages that contributed to way too many close losses, won’t cut it.
Skol, y’all. The buck stops. Somebody’s gotta walk the plank. Tough business.
Yet this L is just as much on Kirk Cousins.
The Vikings have invested $150 million in fully guaranteed money in Cousins, the quarterback who was supposed to lead them to the promised land. For that cash, the franchise got one playoff win and these back-to-back losing seasons.
Wasn’t Cousins supposed to be the missing piece?
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Yeah, long-time Vikings fans know. The same was said years ago when they mortgaged the future in trading for Herschel Walker. It hardly panned out . And it has only gotten worse since Cousins came aboard in 2018 on a three-year, $84 million deal, which was followed by a two-year, $66 million extension.
Consider: The Vikings won the NFC North under Zimmer in two of the three seasons before Cousins arrived. Since the big free-agent signing, zero division crowns.
And now the Vikings are in the market for a new coach to try to fix it.
No, the Vikings defense hasn’t been what it used to be – or what you’d expect it to be under Zimmer, who made his mark in the league as a defensive strategist. It didn’t help that one of the league’s best defensive lineman, Danielle Hunter, missed the entire 2020 campaign and the final 10 games of 2021 with injuries. These are the breaks.
Cousins, though, represents a different type of break for the Vikings.
When the new coach arrives, he will likely be saddled with Cousins for at least another year, at the whopping price of a $45 million salary cap hit. Sure, the Vikings could try trading Cousins, but who’d want that contract? As it stands now, the Vikings are one of four teams already projected to be over a salary cap that will exceed $208 million next season, according to OverTheCap.com.
So you can dump Zimmer, but the quarterback stays.
At least Zimmer can leave with a victory in hand as the Vikings scored a 31-17 knockout of the Bears, whose head coach, Matt Nagy, was on his way out, too.
Asked about his status, Zimmer said, “Not my choice. Not my decision.”
He also revealed that he had not spoken to team owners Zygi and Mark Wilf about plans for next season, which is rather telling in itself.
“These last two seasons with COVID and the protocols and guys not getting vaccinated, it’s been difficult,” said Zimmer, who posted a 72-56-1 regular-season record and 2-3 playoff mark. “But like I told them (Saturday) night, I like the way these guys go about their business. We don’t have a lot of guys that are just cashing checks.”
Still, the guy cashing the biggest checks, Cousins, was one of the unvaccinated players to whom Zimmer alluded. The Vikings could have sure used Cousins in Week 17 when they were blown out at Green Bay while clinging to playoff hopes. Cousins missed the game after testing positive for COVID-19, which brought to life the ire that Zimmer expressed during training camp about unvaccinated players and whether team leaders (such as Cousins) risked creating locker room issues if they missed games that were lost while on the COVID-19 list.
How prophetic.
The Vikings (8-9) suffered eight one-possession losses during the 2021. Surely, the Ravens can relate to that. Some of losing margins: 3, 1, 4, 3, 2. The one setback by more than one possession? The 27-point blowout to the Packers, when they could have used Cousins.
With two playoff wins in eight years, Zimmer has taken the fall like most coaches will after failing to deliver the big one. But make no mistake. His record also reflects how the Vikings gambled – and lost – on breaking the bank for a quarterback who couldn’t get them over the hump.
Follow Paste BN Sports' Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.