Imagine it’s the spring of 2024, a joyous day at TCO Performance Center. Kirk Cousins just re-signed with the Minnesota Vikings, agreeing to a two-year, $80 million contract. The Wilf family and Kevin O’Connell stand at the podium beaming with pride while Kwesi Adofo-Mensah looks like the groom in a shotgun wedding.
Cousins removes his shirt and puts on a giant Vikings chain to celebrate the occasion. It’s a great day to be a Viking. But a much different scene is unfolding at a certain ranch in Walton, Kentucky.
Mike Zimmer is sitting in his basement with several TV screens and projectors lighting up the wall. With packets of Red Man scattered everywhere, Zimmer was watching another third down as the phone rang. When he picked up, he couldn’t believe who was on the other end.
“Hey, Mike, this is Matt LaFleur,” the man on the other end of the line said. “We’re looking for a new defensive coordinator? Would you be interested?”
Zimmer let out the kind of laugh reserved for a Marvel supervillain. He knew the opportunity that was in front of him. Zimmer had a chance to get revenge on the franchise that had kicked him to the curb by becoming the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator.
A Zimmer-Packers union makes too much sense. The Packers are looking for someone to fix their defense, and Zimmer has a reclamation of history projects.
After learning under Bill Parcells during his stint with the Dallas Cowboys, Zimmer spent one season with the Atlanta Falcons (we’ll talk about this later) before becoming the Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator.
The Bengals ranked 24th in points allowed and had the sixth-most yards allowed the season before Zimmer took over in 2007. But he made the group respectable in his first year, jumping to 19th in points allowed and 12th in yards allowed in 2008. That progress continued. Cincinnati’s defense ranked in the top 10 in points and yards allowed in four of the next five seasons under Zimmer.
Zimmer’s scheme had something to do with that improvement, but so did his ability to develop players. Johnathan Joseph and Leon Hall became top corners, while Michael Johnson and Geno Atkins became stalwarts on the defensive line. A seventh-round rookie named Vontaze Burfict flourished under Zimmer, and veterans like Terence Newman became his enforcers.
That track record made Zimmer a head coaching candidate for several years before the Vikings hired him in 2014. It took some time, but Zimmer eventually developed a new cast in Minnesota, including Eric Kendricks, Danielle Hunter, and Xavier Rhodes.
Established players like Everson Griffen and Harrison Smith meaningfully improved under Zimmer. Andrew Sendejo and Linval Joseph became underrated impact players. The group became the top defense in the NFL while leading Minnesota to the NFC Championship game in 2017. However, it eventually tailed off before Zimmer was forced to rebuild after losing to the San Francisco 49ers in the 2019 NFC Divisional round.
But Zimmer can build defenses, so he could be a fit in Green Bay. The Packers ran a 3-4 scheme under former DC Joe Barry, but it could easily morph into the multiple-look scheme that Zimmer has deployed throughout his career.
Zimmer unearthed diamonds in Cincinnati and Minnesota. But he would be working with a treasure chest full of first-round picks, including Rashan Gary, Darnell Savage, Eric Stokes, Quay Walker, and Devonte Wyatt.
A young core like this would be a dream for Zimmer to work with, especially when he can add to it with players he likes in free agency and the draft. While Green Bay would love to have a coordinator like Zimmer, it also makes sense for the 67-year-old to put on the green and gold.
There are several avenues that Zimmer could choose if he wants to get back into coaching. The Dallas Cowboys could have an opening if Dan Quinn gets a head coaching job, and Zimmer’s previous relationship with the organization could lead to a reunion. But he’d have extra incentive to go to Green Bay.
Zimmer is already familiar with the NFC North and has had plenty of success against it. The Vikings allowed an average of 19.8 points per game in 48 games against divisional opponents during his tenure, and they only allowed 24 or more points in 12 of those games.
The NFC North is different than when Zimmer was in Minnesota, but his biggest foil is out of the equation. The Packers scored 24 or more points against the Vikings seven times during Zimmer’s tenure. Although Jordan Love appears to be the future, the odds still aren’t great that he becomes as good as Aaron Rodgers.
Suppose the Chicago Bears take Caleb Williams with the first pick in this year’s draft, and the Detroit Lions stick with Jared Goff. Neither will be the challenge that stopping Rodgers was for Zimmer, which could become one of the biggest reasons he would go to Green Bay.
Zimmer’s defense was elite from 2014 to 2019, but several things changed in the final two years. The age cliff that claimed many of the players that Zimmer relied on during the peak of his tenure could be a significant factor. Zimmer could also look to the decision to sign Cousins as the turning point for his team.
It started during the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine when a reporter asked Zimmer about his team’s quarterback situation. Zimmer acknowledged the need for stability when deciding between Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Bradford, and Cousins, who was a free agent at the time. But he also mentioned the ability to keep his defense together as a crucial factor in the decision.
This year, obviously, we played so much better on offense, and we were able to go further than what a lot of people thought we would, so it’s important that we continue to put the pieces in place on defense. What I don’t want to do is say…we’re going to do this, and we’re going to take away from the rest of the things that have gotten us to this point.
A few months later, the Vikings signed Cousins to a three-year, $84 million fully guaranteed contract. While Zimmer had his defense intact in 2018 and 2019, he had to rebuild partly due to the salary restrictions that Cousins’ contract placed on the team. With little money to spend, Rick Spielman couldn’t draft or find adequate talent in free agency to make up for the losses. Zimmer’s defense plummeted to the bottom of the league.
It feels sophomoric to think that Zimmer would blame Cousins for that decline, but the signs are there. Zimmer didn’t start meeting with Cousins to go over the game plan until Zimmer’s final year in 2021, and a celebratory shove nearly turned into a fistfight after a close win over the Lions that season.
“[Zimmer] snapped when Cousins pushed him,” Vikings play-by-play announcer Paul Allen said during his radio show in 2022. “And looking back at it, the former head coach got that side-eye and rage steaming from his nostrils. And he wanted to go. But then he didn’t want to go. Kirk sensed a free shot during the working relationship, and he got one in.”
The shove was a microcosm of what was going on behind the scenes. When the Vikings fired Zimmer after the 2021 season, Kendricks called Zimmer’s culture a “fear-based organization,” and Brian O’Neill also hinted that it was part of the problem.
I think everybody coming in as a rookie and young guys being able to come in and feel comfortable with who they are and have a belief in themselves in terms of they’re going to be able to contribute. And having young guys coming in, feeling good about their roles and how they’re going to be able to contribute, and then at the same time, everybody being aligned…and pushing the ship in the same direction. I think having a positive, winning culture where guys are held accountable and push each other every day is kind of where we need to go.
The hints continued when the Vikings ran everyone back in the 2022 season and won 13 games – including 11 one-score games – in O’Connell’s first season. The vibes were much different and Cousins became a bigger focal point for the organization. Even when Cousins suffered a torn Achilles last October, he continued to be a face for the franchise. He has some people screaming for his return even as he enters his age-36 season.
Nobody knows what Zimmer thinks of the situation. He remained silent until a recent interview with NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, but his past seems to hint like a person who would hold a grudge.
Ask Bobby Petrino, whom Zimmer once called “a gutless bastard” after he resigned in the middle of his lone season with the Atlanta Falcons. Or Norv Turner, who abruptly resigned during the 2016 season over a disagreement with the offense. Or John DeFilippo, Kevin Stefanski, or any of the offensive coordinators who worked for Zimmer and were immediately thrown into the fire. And you could ask Spielman, whose relationship with Zimmer got so bad the two didn’t even talk to each other during their final season in 2022, according to Deion Sanders.
It sets up a story where Zimmer rolls into U.S. Bank Stadium, shuts out Cousins, and bursts into the owner’s box like the Green Goblin, exacting his revenge on the franchise that fired him after the 2021 season.
