Now that the dust has finally settled from Mike Zimmer being fired as head coach for the Minnesota Vikings, it’s time to address the elephant in the room: Justin Jefferson’s chase for the single-season franchise receiving yards record.
Enough time has passed where it shouldn’t sting quite as badly when ripping the bandage off the fresh wound from Zimmer being shown the door in Minnesota.
There are legions of diehard Zimmer supporters that still don’t believe the coach should have lost his job. It really doesn’t matter what side of the fence you end up on in terms of whether he deserved to stay or go, but it’s clear he made the wrong choice in regards to Jefferson in the Week 18 season finale against the Chicago Bears.
The All-Pro receiver was only 17 yards away from breaking legendary Hall of Fame wideout Randy Moss’ franchise record (1,632) for most receiving yards in a single season. But with a little over a minute left in the fourth quarter, Zimmer decided to down the ball and put the final nail in the coffin of Jefferson’s bid to surpass a record held by arguably the greatest receiver that ever lived.
“Yes, I was,” Zimmer said at the postgame press conference, when asked if he was aware of how close Jefferson was to breaking Moss’ record. “I don’t care about records. I only care about wins.”
Zimmer isn’t wrong for having that sort of mentality. Individual records shouldn’t be a concern in the grand scheme of things. Football is about winning, and you do that together as a team—not as individuals.
But timing is where the former Vikings head coach missed the mark on this one.
The Vikings were already eliminated from postseason contention and playing in a regular season game their starters had no business competing in.
In hopes of ending another disappointing season with a win, Zimmer was willing to roll the dice on a starter potentially getting hurt in a game with no relevance as far as the big picture was concerned. But he still wasn’t willing to call a few plays at the end of the game to reward Jefferson’s historic year.
It doesn’t make sense.
This wasn’t the middle of the season with the Vikings still looking to improve their standing in the league or anything like that. It was their final game, and they were facing a Bears defense that was allowing the floodgates to open on them through the air.
And Zimmer didn’t even try to have a play called. The Vikings ran the ball on first down, and quarterback Kirk Cousins ate the rest of the time off the clock with a kneel-down.
It’s even more confusing considering the team was ahead by two touchdowns. This wasn’t a situation where a miracle pick-six would have somehow given the Bears the lead. Minnesota had things in cruise control down the stretch.
Look at the last remaining teams in the playoffs right now and ask yourself: If put in a similar situation, would any of those coaches make the same decision as Zimmer?
There’s a time and a place for being that hard-nosed coach with a one-track mind. With the writing already on the wall regarding his job status, Zimmer missed the chance to be something different.
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