The Vikings 9th Head Coach is...

[mosscarter]

why would anyone be pessimistic about this? frazier, childress, and tice were all horrible coaches (and if you ask me green was overrated he never really addressed the defense). we haven't had a complete coach in over 20 years give the guy a shot how can he possibly be any worse? if it weren't for the one season with favre this team hasn't been relevant in well over a decade.

[Mothman]

Jim, you are, far and away, the most circumspect and measured poster on this board, so this approach with Zimmer only makes sense.

Thank you.

The excitement is due in part to the novelty, fresh air shall blow through Winter Park! But I think the optimism is well founded. At the very least, I approve of the more deliberate approach they took this time and I think Zimmer has a decent shot at improving our team significantly.

I think he does too. That's what I'm hoping to "wait and see".

I don't want to pick nits, but "lack of optimism" is seen by many as pessimism.

LOL! Ironically, that's a pessimistic way to look at it. I've expressed no more pessimism about this move than optimism so doesn't lack of pessimism then translate into optimism?

Neutral means neutral. I'm unbiased about this hiring.

I am with Dan, quite excited and very optimistic, most I've been in a long time for this team. This does not mean I see any guarantees, I simply see a very good probability of improvement over the recent past.

I think that will depend a great deal on what kind of staff Zimmer puts together and what kind of roster Spielman puts together (with whatever help he gets from Zimmer and co.). I didn't share the pessimism about Frazier that permeates the board so while I appreciate Zimmer's more aggressive style of defense and hope that will make a genuine difference, I still think the success or failure of this team hinges FAR more on what happens with the roster than on the change in head coaches. It will be a lot easier for me to be genuinely optimistic when I start to see a better team take shape.

[Mothman]

We'll see. Those company line answers are every head coach's defense mechanism. I suspect that if Zimmer finds himself 1-7 in the future that he may voice his frustration more than Frazier did, but we won't get any more answers about what's going on behind the scenes.

I agree and those answers don't win games anyway. Blunt, direct answers about the Vikings 2013 QB situation wouldn't have changed the fact that Ponder, Cassel, Freeman and (for a while) MBT were the only choices available at QB.

[mosscarter]

a better team could take 2 or 3 years to assemble mothman. all we can look for next season is improvement. i still think the qb situation will be a mess regardless of if we draft one. what will the plan be, start a rookie? there really aren't any free agents at all out there and i actually agree with kiper for once-manziel will stay at home and go 1st to the texans.

[mansquatch]

The defense will take time to fix all things being equal. The question is if there is talent there that Zimmer can access that for whatever reason Frasier could not. The most likely case is there isn't any, but one cannot help but look at the change that occured in SF after Harbaugh took over for Singletary. It is possible there could be a rennaisiance on defense.

I for one will hope for that, but not expect it. I think they need some more talent on defense for that to happen. I'm interested to see what Zimmar can do with Robinson and Cook. Also interested to see what happens to Michael Mauti.

[Webbfann]

I think there will be a huge improvement next year, not in 2-3 years. You will all see how badly Frazier and Muskrat dragged this team down. Except a certain few, who will just say "if only they executed like that for Frazier".

[Mothman]

The defense will take time to fix all things being equal. The question is if there is talent there that Zimmer can access that for whatever reason Frasier could not. The most likely case is there isn't any, but one cannot help but look at the change that occured in SF after Harbaugh took over for Singletary. It is possible there could be a rennaisiance on defense.

I for one will hope for that, but not expect it. I think they need some more talent on defense for that to happen. I'm interested to see what Zimmar can do with Robinson and Cook. Also interested to see what happens to Michael Mauti.

I hope we don't see what Zimmer can do with Cook. I'd rather not see Cook in a Vikings uniform next season.

Cook aside, that was a good post. My take is that there had better be more talent on defense next year, or at least some new talent with a lot of potential. The Vikes will have cap room and draft picks and they need to make the most of both free agency and the draft. Hopefully, young players will be better with the experience they got last year and the coaching they'll receive this year.

I think there will be a huge improvement next year, not in 2-3 years. You will all see how badly Frazier and Muskrat dragged this team down. Except a certain few, who will just say "if only they executed like that for Frazier".

I'm not sure the team will look similar enough to even make a fair comparison, at least on the defensive side of the ball. I think we'll see major changes there, on the DL, at LB and perhaps in the secondary. Hopefully, we'll see a major change at QB too. Ideally, Zimmer and his staff will be coaching a much-changed and much-improved roster.

[mondry]

I'm so freaking happy / excited right now. About 3 and a half months ago when I first realized how much of a negative impact Frazier had on our W/L record I started looking into some names and Zimmer was the most impressive guy to me. I couldn't care less that he's the opposite of Frazier when it comes to fiery passion vs stoicness. The guy has just been successful every where he's coached and he's been around the block a fair amount.

I love his aggressive 4-3, for some time now we've seen the soft cover 2 zones routinely get exploited and I have no doubt this is one of the big reasons I've been drawn to Zimmer as a guy I want on my teams staff. In this area, I am 100% glad he's the opposite of Frazier's play not to lose mentality. In this league, a defense has to make PLAYS to get off the field, you cannot simply sit back and hope anymore.

The Parcells coaching tree he falls under has been one of the more successful ones as well. Giving us guys like Sean Peyton, Tom Coughlin, and Bill Belichick. Now every tree has duds so you can list a number of guys who didn't make it but given what Zimmer has done throughout his career, we at least know minimum that he's an incredible football mind. The only real question for me is, can it translate to the head coaching position? Some time's it doesn't, and it's really hard to tell if it will or not, however as of right now, I don't know how anyone could be upset or down about this hiring.

He get's the most out of his talent, again something I'm glad he's 100% different than Frazier on and if something isn't working, he's not afraid to change it up and try to find a solution outside of the penciled in starter. When it comes to talent, I think he knows what he needs, or at least someone on the Bengals did and that's a huge portion of being successful and finding a quality starter outside of the 1st round. Frazier never knew what he wanted, big physical corner like cook? Small and fast corner like Robinson? Press corner like Rhodes? Or an Antoine Winfield sure tackler? Frazier was just all over the place and the scouts will have a harder time trying to analyse players like that. Asher Allen, Marcus McCauley, Tyrell Johnson, Jasper brinkley (a 3-4 LB), pat Williams a 3-4 nose tackle, and the list just goes on and on.

Mean while Zimmer knows what he needs and I expect a couple guys to follow him over from the Bengals. Heck he's so well respected some of the coaches over there will likely jump ship as well. He's a winner and guys want to play for him and coaches want to coach with him. Unlike our last guy who was just a really good father figure, respect for one's ability is much deeper. That's how a guy with a fiery attitude who tells it like it is gets respect. It's the Belichick style, not super nice by any means, not overly excited or fun to be around, but he knows what the hell he's talking about as a FOOTBALL COACH and the players buy in.

If we can get Norv Turner at OC that'd be huge I think. What a massive upgrade over Musgrave that would be. Norv is a proven offensive mind / coordinator, and yes he blows as a head coach but he'd be here to run the offense and call plays and his system is well developed so when targeting a QB we would know what kind of skill set he needs to have to be successful in norv's offense. We also would probably like to draft or sign a pass catching RB which I've been begging for over the years. Toby is nice but he's really just a poor mans Peterson, I want a Reggie Bush kind of guy that puts fear into coverage knowing they have to deal with him on 3rd down out of the back field.

I'm just so happy and excited about this teams future now, maybe that just means I'll have a bigger drop if it all goes wrong but I don't care, I'm in LOVE! hahaha

[Mothman]

Yeah, maybe the QB situation was a bad example. But he doesn't seem the type that would say things like "Ponder gives us the best chance to win" when it obviously is not. I just hope he is as up front and honest as he's being portrayed by his quotes. I think we as fans, and even his players will appreciate that. With Frazier, it seems like quite a few never really knew where they stood on the team.

I'm not sure he did either, at least in some cases. To me, the QB mess still reeks of interference from higher up in the organization. I think most players knew where they stood with Frazier and that's why he was able to command respect from his roster and why his players didn't quit on him even after it became clear he was a going to be replaced.

I'll just be glad when people move on. There are still posts here every day complaining about or just plain trashing Frazier and I hope Zimmer is successful enough to avoid that fate. I agree that a coach who deals very honestly and directly with the public can be refreshing (that's one of the things I liked about Tice) but an entertaining press conference demeanor doesn't win games. I don't care if Zimmer gives us the company line or blunt truth, I just want him to do a good job coaching the team.

[Funkytown]

I'm just so happy and excited about this teams future now, maybe that just means I'll have a bigger drop if it all goes wrong but I don't care, I'm in LOVE! hahaha

We can tell.

Good post, mondry.

[Purple bruise]

Very pleased and once again kudos to Mr. Spielman

[HardcoreVikesFan]

I wonder when the team is going to officially announce the Zimmer hiring? The team website is silent on the issue.

[Purple bruise]

Here is a great site to keep up with all the news.
http://thevikingage.com/

[psjordan]

LOL! Ironically, that's a pessimistic way to look at it.

Only a pessimist would say that.

[PurpleScout]

We also would probably like to draft or sign a pass catching RB which I've been begging for over the years. Toby is nice but he's really just a poor mans Peterson, I want a Reggie Bush kind of guy that puts fear into coverage knowing they have to deal with him on 3rd down out of the back field.

How about someone like James White out of Wisconsin in the 4th or 5th round. A proven back who has played in a system like that and has great hands and runs hard.