The clearing-out of the regime in Minnesota has begun, as the Vikings have fired General Manager Rick Spielman, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (Twitter link). Pelissero also reports that the team has let go of Head Coach Mike Zimmer as well (Twitter link). 
It was widely expected that Sunday’s game against the Bears would be Zimmer’s last with the Vikings. However, there was a belief that Spielman could stay on either as GM, or in some other capacity, and play a role in the selection process for a new HC. Instead, the 59-year old is out after 16 seasons working with in team’s front office, including the last 10 as GM.
Zimmer, 65, had recently expressed an overall sentiment of pride regarding his tenure with the Vikings. Knowing the writing was as the wall with team set to have a losing record for the second straight year, Zimmer said, “regardless of anything that goes on after the season, I can stand proud”. Zimmer ranks third in franchise history with 71 wins, but the team has a total of one postseason victory in the past four seasons.
The team Tweeted out a statement from its ownership group which says in part, “we appreciate Rick and Mike’s commitment to the team’s on-field success, their passion for making a positive impact in our community and their dedication to players, coaches and staff. While these decisions are not easy, we believe it is time for new leadership to elevate our team so we can consistently contend for championships. We wish both Rick and Mike and their families only the best”.
This news, along with the firing of Matt Nagy in Chicago and Brian Flores in Miami, brings the total number of coaching vacancies in the league to six (Vikings, Bears, Broncos, Dolphins, Jaguars and Raiders) and opens up one of two GM openings, the other being in Chicago after Ryan Pace was let go on Monday as well.
Bye!
Let’s go Wilf family. Please make the right choices on new GM and then HC
They couldn’t fire Zimmer without letting Spielman go as well. They had to. In Chicago however, it would be just like McCaskey to fire Nagy and keep Pace.
The Bears better follow the lead!
Done
The Vikings are getting it right so far. Now they just need to make some solid hires.
As Bill Parcells used to say: You can’t expect me to cook if I can’t shop for the groceries! Spielman proved year after year that he had no clue how to build the team as rhe team declined. What marquee players reside on this team? Zimmer will be on another team in short order turning a defense around. Speilman will be serving chili dogs at a Stuckys in Omaha!
You mean there are still Stuckys?????
Counterpoint: Zimmer got one of the most expensive QBs in football and one of the best receiver duos in the league (followed by another one of the best when they replaced Diggs with Jefferson) and he still always wanted a run first offense, even when his defense wasn’t keeping up its end of the bargain. If you get a guy premium ingredients and he won’t really cook with them, that’s a problem.
But I think it was time for them both to go. Zimmer did a lot of good work for the Vikings, but he’d maxed out and it was time for a change.
Zimmer is a defensive minded coach and passed most authority to his OCs. Over the year. And you may recall Zim openly criticizing Filipiak for his poor run/pass mix. The offensive pitfalls since Cousins have come from a poor offensive line(excluding this year arguably) and bad play calling. Stefanski worked the system perfect as OC hence the promotion
It’s not mostly passing authority if you fire an OC for passing too much and running too little. Like a lot of defense-background coaches, he wants a more conservative offense focused on the run, which is a hard way to win in most circumstances, but especially when your defense isn’t keeping up its end of the bargain and your offensive personnel isn’t geared enough to that (like a line that never comes together).
Zimmer looks like he’s been drinking very heavily the last few years. If I was paying Kirk Cousins $45 million/year, I’d drink heavily too.
Josh McDaniels has an incoming call.
LOL!
Zimmer lost the plot once he found Instagram.
My short list is: Bieniemy, Flores, and Shurmur.
WillieB: Aren’t these guys who “failed”—as in, got fired—as head coaches elsewhere? Take Flores, for example. If he didn’t win, or win enough, in Miami, what makes you think he will succeed here? After all, Nagy won more than Flores, so why isn’t he on your list? Pretty obviously you put these guys on your short list for some other reasons. What are those reasons?
Bieniemy hasn’t failed anywhere and Flores had back to back winning seasons with a rebuilding team that had a rocky QB situation coming off a full teardown. Nagy had one winning season, two .500 seasons, and then a disastrous year. What’s your weird agenda against Flores?
Yea seemed time for a new HC.
I thought Speilman made some good moves and kept the roster talented for most of his GM tenure there.
With the amount of money the Wilf family has invested in the Vikings: partial funding of a new stadium, new training facilities, player contracts; they and Viking fans deserved better results. Zim has been distracted from football due to his new squeeze?? Spielman, if you take the time to review the players – and their impact on the team – and if they are even still with the team, has had too many whiffs of late. Can’t really say if he is actually to blame as his draft decisions were based on input from others, but, in the end they were HIS DECISIONS.
I dont think Zim was distracted, he just couldn’t adapt his coaching style to the team. A run oriented team is a tough team to win with consistently.
Take another look at the GF’s picture…..
Game? What Game?
Team? What Team?
It’s about time! I’ve never left being a fan of any team in any major sport but Zimmer just about pushed me over the edge…