Former Minnesota Vikings assistant Terrence Newman described the “toxic” environment in recent years to Mike Zimmer as the team’s head coach.
This is the first time the Minnesota Vikings have entered the season without Mike Zimmer as their head coach since 2013. After failing to make the playoffs for the second year in a row, the Vikings fired Zimmer along with general manager Rick Spielman after the 2021 season. There was talk of Zimmer’s final years with the team, and players criticized him upon his exit.
Now, there is more.
Go Long’s Tyler Dunn wrote about Zimmer’s final years as coach of the team in an article titled “It’s a New Day for the Minnesota Vikings, Part One: Culture Shock” (subscription required). In it, former quarterback and defensive back coach Terrence Newman said he knew there were players who were “afraid to go to work” at the time.
“It has become toxic,” Newman told h/t GoLongTD.com. “It was little effect. If the players are afraid of being attacked and they don’t like it, it will make it a long day for everyone.”
Former Vikings assistant coach talks about Mike Zimmer’s ‘toxic’ final days as head coach
If you thought that quote was cursed, there’s more. An anonymous former coordinator of Zimmer told Dunne they believe the Vikings will find success quickly under new coach Kevin O’Connell. the reason?
“Because the devil is gone,” said the anonymous coordinator h/t GoLongTD.com. “The devil is outside the building.”
Yikes.
Zimmer’s tenure saw highs, such as the team’s reaching the NFC Championship game in 2017 and their surprise win over the New Orleans Saints on the Wild Card Tour in 2018. However, there were their lows, such as the recent absence of the playoffs two seasons. But the players have been out recently as to how Zimmer is coaching the team.
After the team dismissed Zimmer, linebacker Eric Kendricks said regarding the new head coach, “I don’t think a fear-based organization is the way to go.”
Chris Boyd of the Vikings said that the old order He was “strict about everything” and that “anytime I got it wrong, [it was] As the world ended.”
Zimmer is now in the college ranks, working as an analyst at Jackson State under head coach Deon Sanders. As for the Vikings, they started the O’Connell era on 9/11, facing the Green Bay Packers.
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