Zulgad's reaction to Mike Zimmer's candid interview with the Star Tribune

The former Vikings coach breaks his silence and, in doing so, it becomes clear why he needed to be fired and why Kevin O'Connell was the right man to replace him.

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Mike Zimmer hadn’t discussed his dismissal by the Minnesota Vikings since he got into his truck at the team’s Eagan-based facility and never looked back after being informed of the decision on Jan. 10, 2022.

Having covered Zimmer for his entire eight-year tenure in Minnesota, there was a feeling that eventually he would break his silence. But when? The answer can be found on the Minnesota Star Tribune website (subscription required, so support local journalism) and in Sunday’s paper.

After being out of coaching since his firing, Zimmer has surfaced as defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys. Mark Craig, the longtime Star Tribune NFL writer, talked to Zimmer at the Cowboys’ training camp in Oxnard, Calif. It’s a fantastic piece that I don’t want to spoil, but let’s just say few were spared by the always blunt and now very bitter 68-year-old.

It’s clear that Vikings owner Zygi and Mark Wilf not only made the right move by firing Zimmer, but probably should have done it sooner. You gain a deeper appreciation for how much work coach Kevin O’Connell, and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, had to do to clean up a toxic environment upon arrival.

The story confirms all we assumed about Zimmer’s growing anger in 2020 and 2021, and that his relationship with general manager Rick Spielman had become non-existent by the end of their tenures. Remember, everyone expected Zimmer to be fired a day after the Vikings’ beat Chicago in the 2021 regular-season finale. The fact Spielman also was let go surprised many who believed the GM would get one more chance.

I’ve always thought Spielman got fired, in large part, because of his failure to solve the Vikings’ issue at quarterback. Kirk Cousins was signed to a three-year, fully guaranteed $84 million free agent contract in March 2018 to be the solution but it didn’t work as planned. Zimmer and Cousins never had a relationship in their four tumultuous seasons together and, if anything, Zimmer resented that Cousins’ bloated salary took away from Spielman’s ability to get more players for his defense.

Zimmer was considered a top-defensive mind for many years as an NFL assistant, and received numerous interviews to be a head coach but didn’t get the opportunity until the Vikings hired him.

The assumption was that Zimmer was probably too blunt in his interviews and, thus, scared off owners. The Vikings were 5-10-1 and coming off a last-place finish in the NFC North in 2013, when Zimmer was hired to replace Leslie Frazier. Zimmer seemed like the perfect fit for the Vikings because he was the opposite of Frazier.

Frazier was as nice of a guy as you will find, and the Wilfs wanted a coach whom the players wouldn’t see as a friend. Zimmer fit that profile and delivered wins despite some difficult situations.

The Vikings were 39-25 under Zimmer before Cousins’ arrival, winning the NFC North twice and going to the playoffs twice. That included a 13-3 record in 2017, as Case Keenum and Zimmer’s defense took the team to the NFC title game. Zimmer had a 33-31-1 and one playoff trip from 2018 to 2021, but 7-9 and 8-9 finishes in his last two seasons led to his dismissal.

There is one thing about a coach like Zimmer. They are lauded for their approach at first, but they always come with an expiration date because eventually what is considered to be refreshingly blunt turns into annoying stubbornness. Zimmer’s firing should have come after the 2019 season, and probably would have if the Vikings hadn’t defeated New Orleans in the first round of the playoffs.

Zimmer’s willingness to vent so openly provides greater insight into the situation O’Connell walked into when he took the job just over a month after Zimmer left TCO Performance Center in a huff. It was no secret that O’Connell, a former NFL backup quarterback, was brought in to support Cousins instead of tearing him down.

Where Zimmer’s default position became anger, O’Connell’s remains unrelenting positivity. Of course, O’Connell is only in his second season on the job and Zimmer was a very different coach after two years in Minnesota.

O’Connell’s story — or coaching journey — still has to play out. But the Zimmer interview is a reminder that O’Connell’s approach, not to mention his desire to develop a quarterback, remain a breath of fresh air for a franchise that needed it.