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Mike Zimmer’s future with the Minnesota Vikings seems bleak entering what could be the final game of the season.
However, it could also serve as a new beginning for the 65-year-old coach.
NFL insider Albert Breer took inventory on the potential coaching changes around the league and considered Zimmer a favorite to land a job with an NFC contender.
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North Star to Lone Star?
In a January 7 column, Breer accounted for this week to be Zimmer’s end days in Minnesota. Zimmer could be a potential candidate for an opening as defensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys, depending on how the rest of the NFL coaching carousel spins.
From Breer:
Vikings ownership has been meeting on the direction of its football operation, and there’s a feeling that these will likely be Mike Zimmer’s final days in Minnesota. The fate of GM Rick Spielman is less certain, but there is an expectation among those in the industry that he’ll remain in some capacity (whether it’s his current one, or in an elevated executive role with input on picking his replacement). If Zimmer is out, the Vikings are another team expected to cast a wide net in their coaching search. Zimmer, for his part, could well land back in Dallas if he’s let go and Quinn lands a head coaching job somewhere. The Joneses have a strong relationship with, and respect for, Zimmer, to the point where had the Vikings pulled the plug on him earlier, he’d have been a leading candidate to replace Jason Garrett in Dallas.
The Cowboys (11-5) are currently the No. 4 seed in the NFC playoffs and inching closer to their former ’90s dynasty status they held when Zimmer was a cornerbacks coach for the Cowboys.
“This is, on paper (or phone screen, whichever) arguably the most talented team Dallas has fielded since the days of Aikman/Smith/Irvin,” Yahoo Sports’ Jay Busbee wrote after the Cowboys dispatched a Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots 35-29 in overtime on October 17. “Ezekiel Elliott looks like the Ezekiel Elliott you always expected to get when you drafted him first in fantasy. The receiving corps led by CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper can catch anything still in earth’s atmosphere. Trevon Diggs singlehandedly tilts the entire field from the secondary the way Deion Sanders once did. And Dak Prescott is proving he was worth the monster contract he signed earlier this year … as long as he’s healthy, that is.”
Dallas has scored the most points in the NFL (29.9 per game) entering the final week of the season and is second in yards (402.8 per game). The Cowboys defense is arguably as talented as the offense with young Pro Bowl talents in Diggs and Micah Parsons. Dallas’s defense leads the NFL in interceptions and could lead the NFL in turnover margin for the first time in franchise history.
Dan Quinn worked wonders with the defense this season, turning the group around from the worst unit in franchise history, and could be in consideration for a head coach gig elsewhere. That could leave Zimmer, if let go by the Vikings, an opportunity to put the finishing touches on the defense by improving the scheme and continuity after the unit surrendered the 14th most yards per game this season.
Had the Vikings not beat the New Orleans Saints in the 2019 playoffs, Zimmer was a strong candidate for the Cowboys head coach position, a link that appears intact in 2022.
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Vikings Defense Set for Rehaul
Who will be overseeing the Vikings defense next season is as much of a mystery as who will be on the field.
Five defensive starters are on expiring contracts in linebackers Anthony Barr and Nick Vigil, cornerbacks Patrick Peterson and Mackensie Alexander and safety Xavier Woods.
Defensive end Sheldon Richardson, who has started the past six games with Everson Griffen and Danielle Hunter out for the season, is also set to reach free agency in March. The Vikings will have to decide whether to trade or extend Hunter this offseason or carry his $26.1 million cap hit into the 2022 season, per OverTheCap.
What to do with Zimmer will be the first domino to fall in the decisions to turn around the Vikings’ 31st ranked defense in 2022.
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