Mike Zimmer is the next Minnesota Vikings Head Coach. According to Jay Glazer of Fox Sports, and corroborated by sources at both ESPN and NFL Network, the Bengals defensive coordinator and the Vikings agreed to terms today. Once the Mike Zimmer deal is complete, coupled with NFC North rival Detroit hiring Jim Caldwell yesterday, only the Cleveland Browns will be searching for a coach among NFL teams.
As you can see, NFL Head Coach openings are a Rust Belt thing this offseason. By the way, you may enjoy this video of Mike Zimmer cursing out his Bengals defenders from “Hard Knocks” (language NSFW)
Mike Zimmer also had a second interview with the Tennessee Titans, but they obviously went in a different direction- hiring Ken Whisenhunt. So now that the Mike Zimmer hire is completed what will his staff in Minnesota look like?
“The easy guess for defensive coordinator is Paul Guenther, Zimmer’s linebackers coach in Cincinnati. Guenther and Zimmer have worked together for a long time and are in sync schematically. The easy guess for offensive coordinator would have been Hue Jackson, but he will be staying in Cincy as OC after the departure of Jay Gruden. With Jackson off the table, most insiders seem to agree that Zimmer will now target out-going Detroit offensive coordinator Scott Linehan to run his offense.” (The Viking Age)
It’s interesting that the Mike Zimmer decision, which we will get a formal announcement on later today, took so long to happen. We know the Vikes really started their search early because we’ve all known since late November that Leslie Frazier was going to be canned.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments discussing: Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Bears and Bulls on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)