Nearly eight months since Mike Zimmer was fired after eight years leading the Minnesota Vikings, another testimony has emerged to shine light on the allegedly unpleasant culture created during Zimmer’s reign.
Previously, it was Adam Thielen, Eric Kendricks and Brian O’Neill, among others, who have commented on the culture under Zimmer. Kendricks said, “I don’t think a fear-based organization is the way to go,” while O’Neill said having coaches who stop in the hallway and say, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ would go a long way.
Now it’s former Vikings cornerback Terence Newman, who told Tyler Dunne of Going Long that Zimmer created a “toxic” culture. Dunne also quoted an unnamed former Vikings coordinator who referred to Zimmer as the “Satan.”
Cornerback Terence Newman knows countless players “dreaded going to work” those final years because all fun was drained out of the organization. “It became toxic,” Newman says. “It was a trickle effect. If players are dreading getting cussed out and shit like that, then it’s going to make it a long day for everybody.” Others are more blunt. With a tint of hyperbole, one of Zimmer’s former coordinators predicts immediate success for the 2022 Vikings. “Because,” this coach says, “the devil’s gone. Satan is out of the building.”
You can read Part 1 of Dunne’s two-part series here.
And this isn’t the first time Dunne has written a blockbuster story about Zimmer’s demeanor. In a two-part series in 2020, Dunne wrote:
Past co-workers describe the head coach as everything from “a very disgruntled, pissy old man” to “joyless” to “a big blamer” to “an equal-opportunity asshole” to “pissed about everything.” One source close to the team’s inner-workings believes his intensity worked initially with so many young players dying to prove themselves but, as time passed, it became white noise.
When training camp started, Thielen notably commented about the lack of screaming during practices under the new coach staff led by Kevin O’Connell.
“It’s kind of almost awkward when things aren’t going well and you’re waiting for a coach to blow up,” Thielen said. “But the positivity and the energy that they bring even when things aren’t going well is something that is really going to set us up to handle adversity.”
Clearly, the working environment is completely different without Zimmer.
Zimmer has remained radio silent since being fired in January, though he is now working as an analyst at The 33rd Team. He’s has had two pieces of work published by the website, both of which are focused on the Dallas Cowboys.
