Following another losing season with no playoffs, the Minnesota Vikings have decided it was time to move on from longtime head coach Mike Zimmer and brought in former LA Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell.
Zimmer spent eight years at the helm of the Vikings. Half of his tenure was with Kirk Cousins behind center and the last two seasons were quite disappointing both for the team and the quarterback.
Minnesota had a 72-56 record under Zimmer but they went just 33-31 since Cousins was named starting quarterback in 2018. The quarterback-head coach relationship never worked as expected and that has reportedly been a reason why the Vikings parted ways with Zimmer.
Report: Mike Zimmer grew tired of Kirk Cousins at Vikings
According to The Athletic, the relationship between Zimmer and Cousins only kept on deteriorating and that took a toll on the head coach's job, who left Minnesota this offseason.
“Mike Zimmer spent part of his last few weeks as Vikings head coach bemoaning the team’s situation at quarterback. The veteran defensive guru had made more of an effort to get the best out of Kirk Cousins in 2021, conducting weekly meetings with the quarterback for the first time in their four years together. But toward the end, it became clear to those within the building that the head coach-quarterback relationship hadn’t blossomed the way many had hoped it would before the season, according to sources.”
The report claims that Zimmer didn’t hide his complaints about Cousins in coaching meetings, claiming that the quarterback didn’t elevate his teammates or make enough “winning plays,” or take the “necessary shots” to lead the Vikings to more victories. That has apparently split people within the organization.
However, it looks like the Vikings have a lot of confidence in Cousins to continue being QB1 and Kevin O’Connell seems to believe in him as well. Only time will prove them right or wrong.
