Mike Zimmer's last stand as Vikings head coach involved Kellen Mond
Mike Zimmer is done as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, and Kellen Mond was the last hill he'll die on.
The Minnesota Vikings were officially eliminated from playoff contention with a 37-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, and that it was that close owed to the Packers’ shortcomings cashing in touchdowns in the first quarter-plus.
The Vikings were without Kirk Cousins, who tested positive for COVID-19 as an unvaccinated player at practically the worst time (next to a playoff game, I suppose). Sean Mannion is just not equipped to be an NFL starting quarterback, and that he didn’t throw multiple interceptions Sunday night was truly a miracle.
With the score 30-3 deep in the third quarter, the score finally indicated how over the game was. With Cousins out, questions about why the Vikings wouldn’t give rookie third-round pick Kellen Mond a shot to start were easy over the couple days before the game.
Surely a 27-point margin, that was lucky to only be that, would get Mond a long look? Right?
Mannion left the game with what would later be revealed as a hand cramp, and Mond played a series. He wasn’t good, going 2-for-5 for five yards with a near-interception, but at that point in the game who cares? Mond could have finished the game with nothing impacted.
After the game, head coach Mike Zimmer was asked about Mond.
That was spoken like a coach who has always treated quarterbacks, and offense, with a level of disdain. He has cycled through offensive coordinators as quickly as some people change underwear (metaphorically of course), leaning toward those who will adopt his run-first and at all-costs philosophy without questioning it. It seemed he like he knew what he didn’t know as a former defensive coordinator when he hired Norv Turner as his first offensive coordinator.
But Turner left under a guise of philisophical differences. It’s been all downhill from there, regardless of what we think about each individual offensive coordinator or whether they were particularly good.
Zimmer will be done as Vikings head coach next Monday morning, after the Week 18 game against the Chicago Bears. He might be gone now, or already, if there were a viable interim replacement on his coaching staff.
With all the flaws he has shown as the years have gone on, and there are too many for me to list, Zimmer chose one last hill to die on. And it was to take a public shot at Mond for no reason, and perhaps with better reason (if only in his own mind, and warranted to a large degree) to take a public shot at general manager Rick Spielman. Zimmer’s act is tired, it has been tired and frankly he looks tired. That he doesn’t “particularly” want to see Mond on the field is just another example of how done he is, probably forever as an NFL coach once next Sunday’s game is over.
