With the Minnesota Vikings at 6-5-1 entering the final four games of the regular season, there is a plenty of finger-pointing from the fan base as to who should take the blame for recent offensive struggles and special teams miscues that have put the Vikings in a position where they are fighting for their playoff lives.
Head coach Mike Zimmer has criticized those two areas in recent weeks, aiming the spotlight toward offensive coordinator John DeFilippo and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer to take culpability.
DeFilippo finds himself in an odd dichotomy. While his name is being floated as a candidate to fill head coaching vacancies after spending less than a year with the Vikings, his own head coach has called out the offense’s run-pass balance after two recent stumbles in vital road games.
Priefer, on the other hand, is one of the longest surviving members of the Vikings organization, but a growing litany of kicking, punting and coverage mistakes have frustrated the special-teams-focused Zimmer.
Meanwhile, other franchises are making mid-season moves. The Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers have fired head coaches Hue Jackson and Mike McCarthy, while the Carolina Panthers axed a pair of defensive assistants.
Are the two Vikings coordinators in tenuous spots? That much is unclear. Zimmer has been very loyal to Priefer, sticking with him through a suspension in 2014 for making homophobic remarks. Zimmer seemingly clashed with former offensive coordinator Norv Turner, however, which may have led to Turner’s resignation in 2016.
DeFilippo insists, though, that he and Zimmer are on the same page.
“Coach and I are in constant communication of how to make this offense better,” said DeFilippo Friday. “We talk all the time. There is certain things that he believes in and that I believe in as well. We are always looking for ways to tighten things up, make things simpler, but at the same time, make it hard for the defense. That is a fine line. We work very, very closely together to make sure that that happens.”
While DeFilippo only has 12 games under his belt as Vikings offensive playcaller, Priefer is in his eighth season with special teams. His early success with kicker Blair Walsh turned into a kicking carousel after Walsh’s demise. The Vikings have now employed four kickers in three seasons, and most have struggled. Minnesota’s field goal percentage is 80 percent since the start of 2016, well below the league average of 84.5 percent. Their 87 percent extra point percentage is also well below the league average of 93.9 percent.
Zimmer wasn’t happy with last Sunday’s kick and punt coverage, which allowed a 34- and 23-yard return, respectively. He also remarked that punter Matt Wile needed to get on the field on time to hold for kicker Dan Bailey. Wile ran out late to hold for Bailey’s 48-yard field goal attempt, which missed wide left. “He told me he thought it was third down,” said Priefer. “He’s just got to stay focused. He’s got a lot to think about.”
Responding to firings
One thing is clear: Those in the coaching profession have empathy for colleagues that lose jobs. Zimmer, for instance, said Green Bay’s firing of McCarthy was a “mistake.” He also stood up for Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis last December when he was rumored to be on the hot seat with the Bengals.
DeFilippo and Priefer expressed similar feelings on Friday.
“To me, it’s sad when guys get fired during the season,” said Priefer. “I’m not sure all of a sudden they’re a bad coach or half way through the year they’re a bad coach where they were hired to begin with.”
“I hate this time of year,” said an impassioned DeFilippo. “Because you have a lot of good coaches that are your friends that maybe you’ve worked with or you work with currently or in the past that you see that happen to. What gets lost in this whole thing to me — and I am a little biased to it because I was one of those kids — there is a family side to this thing. There is a person side to this thing that people, to me, do not factor into it at all. That actually makes me a little upset at times.”
DeFilippo actually apologized to reporters moments later for getting “heated.”
But the topic hits close to home for coaches who are often forced to live a nomadic lifestyle just to climb the cutthroat coaching ladder.
“It brings back memories of my childhood and the way I grew up,” DeFilippo said. “Seeing my dad in the paper getting bashed. I don’t like it. It is a tough time of year.”
Staying focused
With four games remaining, offensive balance and sharp special teams could carry the Vikings to the playoffs. More of the what’s plagued them, however, could harpoon their playoff hopes.
Minnesota hasn’t exceeded 24 points in five consecutive times with nine turnovers over that span. Zimmer hasn’t liked the over-reliance on the pass, particuarly in road losses to Chicago and New England where they threw it a combined 90 times and ran it just 27.
“It’s just like anybody, I look to go out each week and improve myself,” said DeFilippo. “You’re always self-evaluating yourself and looking for ways to get better.”
Has he paid attention to any of the rumblings about discontent between he and the head coach?
“I am pretty much in this building about 18-20 hours a day,” he said. “I don’t hear a lot of that outside noise, good or bad. I am just dead set on doing my job right now. We have a quarter of our season left that is a very, very important quarter. For me, to think of anything besides our football team would be doing a lot of people a disservice.”
For DeFilippo to advance his coaching career, a strong final quarter of the season would do wonders. For Priefer, he remains thankful for his position, taking a laissez faire approach to the future.
“Whatever happens, happens,” he said. “I’m going to go out and do the best I can, and I know the coaches I work with on this staff do the same exact thing. We got a great staff, we got a bunch of guys that work really, really hard at our craft, and I don’t look at it as one day closer to getting fired at all.
“I look at it as an opportunity to get a championship.”
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