The new Minnesota Vikings regime has banked on the notion that former head coach Mike Zimmer was the problem in Minnesota.
After missing the playoffs the past two seasons, the Vikings could have torn the team down and started anew.
Instead, newly hired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah committed to the talent on the team left by predecessor Rick Spielman — most notably extending Kirk Cousins through the 2023 season.
With a reinvestment in Cousins, the story for the next two seasons will be whether first-year coach Kevin O’Connell and his staff can turn around a talented team that failed to meet expectations in the final years under Zimmer, who led the Vikings for eight years.
Former Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway, who spent all 11 years of his career in Minnesota, pushed back on the narrative that Zimmer was to blame for the Vikings’ recent spell of mediocrity.
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‘An Elite Football Coach’
GettyChad Greenway came to the defense of former Vikings coach Mike Zimmer.
In an interview with Fox Sports on May 10, Greenway came to Zimmer’s defense, calling him an elite football mind.
“I was really impressed by his ability to coach defense, his ability to motivate and how he’s a little bit of a throwback,” Greenway said of Zimmer. “And I appreciate that coming from my background, from the guys that coached me. And I love and can react to that, but he wasn’t for everybody, and I think his approach was very aggressive. … It’s a little more pressure and a little more serious, and that’s fine. I could adapt because I had been in the league for nine years already. I could adapt and adjust, but a lot of other guys couldn’t, and it was hard for them, and I could understand that.”
Greenway isn’t alone in enjoying Zimmer’s coaching style. Two players who were on rookie deals when Zimmer was hired, linebacker Anthony Barr and safety Harrison Smith, have said they liked playing for Zimmer. Smith appeared on the “All Things Covered” podcast in July 2021 talking about “what made him so good as a coach,” and Barr appeared on Jim Rome’s show in December 2021 to say that he was “a big Zim guy.”
“I think he’s a very good football coach — an elite football coach, an elite football mind — and at the end of the day is a great guy that I loved playing for,” Greenway said.
Zimmer inherited the league’s worst defense, which allowed 30 points per game in 2013, and transformed it into the NFL’s top unit in four years. Minnesota’s defense in 2017 allowed a league-low 15.8 points per game that season en route to an appearance in the NFC Championship game.
The 2018 offseason is considered the turning point of the organization, coming off a 38-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the conference title game that January. Minnesota signed Cousins to a three-year, $84 million contract — a decision Zimmer was not fond, saying he didn’t want a quarterback’s contract to take away from investment into the rest of the team.
The Vikings would make only one playoff appearance (2019) in the next four seasons, and things grew sour.
Second-year cornerback Cameron Dantzler lashed out when it appeared he was in Zimmer’s doghouse last season. Then, a fight involving veteran cornerback Bashaud Breeland broke out at a practice in December. Breeland was released that same day. After Zimmer was fired, Eric Kendricks called his regime a “fear-based” organization.
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Greenway Excited About New Regime
With the new regime installing a new scheme and culture in Minnesota, Greenway, who remains connected with the team, expressed excitement both inside and outside the locker room.
“The reality is that it’s a culture shift,” Greenway said. “I’ve talked to some of the active players, and they were really excited about the foundation that was being built in the offseason and that coach [Kevin] O’Connell was being very, very upfront about, ‘Hey, yes, we need to talk X’s and O’s and football, but let’s really get to know each other first. Let’s understand what we’re actually trying to accomplish and have a real goal in mind and work towards that same goal.'”
He also addressed the Vikings’ draft, which proved controversial after the team traded down with the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, allowing their divisional foes to select high-value wide receivers in the first and second rounds.
“The new regime is exciting. I think what you do with Kwesi and with Coach O’Connell is you bring in a new staff that’s exciting, that people are really excited to be a part of and be behind, but then it comes with question marks. It comes with question marks in experience and other questions,” Greenway added. “So you go through the draft and, for all intents and purposes, the national pundits have said this was a really negative draft, and they didn’t give it a very good grade, but I know from experience that doesn’t always mean that that’s the answer. Right? We know that guys miss on drafts all the time even in the high picks, so we just need to let this thing take its course. Let’s see what happens. Give these kids an opportunity to prove what they’re worth and what their value is.”
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Chad Greenway Sounds Off on Vikings’ Fallout With Mike Zimmer