Tag: Mike Zimmer

Supermodel Katarina Elizabeth Miketin, who is reportedly dating former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, isn’t holding back when it comes to her opinion of former general manager Rick Spielman.

She backed up previous comments made by Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders that Zimmer and Spielman hadn’t spoken in months leading up to both men being fired by the Vikings organization. It was a mini bombshell that highlighted the dysfunction in the final days of the previous regime.

Spielman has been doing the rounds in recent days with multiple appearances and interviews. When appearing on FOX Sports’ The Herd, the former general manager talked about an offensive-minded coach having an easier time connecting with a quarterback than a defensive-minded coach.

Well, Miketin wasn’t having any of that conversation, and she took to social media to address Spielman personally.

“What about the GM having a relationship with the organization? Not talking to your coach for three months? Rick, Back-peddling and “spin” have always been your “game”. You should be embarrassed by your media blitz of, “it wasn’t my fault,” posted Miketin.

What about the GM having a relationship with the organization? Not talking to your coach for three months? Rick, Back-peddling and “spin” have always been your “game”. You should be embarrassed by your media blitz of, “it wasn’t my fault”.

— Katarina Elizabeth Miketin (@KMiketin) January 29, 2022

She went even further on her Instagram stories, via Awesemo.com, with more posts aimed in the direction of Spielman.

“I guess any org that hires him will know how he’ll act after he is fired,” Miketin said in one post.

“No respect for MN. Take responsibility,” she added in another post.

Before The Herd appearance, Miketin also called Spielman out as being the reason behind the rift of the relationship with Zimmer. During an appearance on Move the Sticks Podcast, the former GM talked about the difficulties he had adjusting with Zimmer going through at least six different offensive coordinators in his time with the team.

“It was constantly like a moving target all the time,” said Spielman.

Of course, Miketin doesn’t see it that way at all. She accused Spielman of gossip and insisted he “talk facts.”

“Rick, How can you build a team when you refuse to talk to the coach and don’t show up? You talk a lot to everyone else, just not the ones who mattered when the organization needed unity. YOU caused separation. Your gossip needs to stop. Let’s talk facts,” Miketin posted.

Rick, How can you build a team when you refuse to talk to the coach and don’t show up? You talk a lot to everyone else, just not the ones who mattered when the organization needed unity. YOU caused separation. Your gossip needs to stop. Let’s talk facts.

— Katarina Elizabeth Miketin (@KMiketin) January 27, 2022

Regardless of who you side with in this situation, it’s clear things were beginning to get messy in Minnesota.

The Kwesi Adofo-Mensah era was long overdue.

[listicle id=59445]

One of these days, someone is going to write a book about what really went on behind closed doors between former Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer. But until that day comes, we’ll just have to hold on to the tidbits we get from random interviews.

Speaking of such, Spielman had some interesting things to say about his time working with Zimmer in Minnesota. During an appearance on NFL.com’s Move the Sticks Podcast, he talked about the difficulties of doing his job effectively with there being so much turnover within the assistant coaching staff.

“That’s a tough part of the job,” said Spielman. “I think we went through maybe six different [offensive coordinators] during coach Zimmer’s era. …It was constantly like a moving target all the time.”

There was definitely an ongoing coaching carousel at offensive coordinator when Zimmer was overseeing things.

Norv Turner actually walked out on the team after butting heads with the former Vikings coach back in 2016, while John DeFilippo was hired and fired in the same year in 2018. Kevin Stefanski and Pat Shurmur were both one-and-done before moving on to head coaching jobs, although Stefanski did serve a bit as the interim offensive coordinator the previous year before being promoted.

And Gary Kubiak retired from coaching and watched the reins get handed over to his son, Klint Kubiak.

With changes basically happening every year, Spielman admitted it was hard to keep adapting on the fly with no stability.

“You try to do your best to adapt and the guys that we do have, can you do some things from your scheme to maybe adjust a little bit to their skill set? But when you have the coaching turnover that it is and you’re always trying to marry up the personnel to the scheme, are there ways that some of these coaches and you see some of them doing some things that say, ‘Hey, I have to adjust my scheme to what the players can do as well,’” said Spielman.

“Some coaches are just, ‘This is what we run, and this is what we have to have, and if they don’t fit this, then I don’t want them.’

“Some coaches are just, ‘This is what we run, and this is what we have to have, and if they don’t fit this, then I don’t want them.’ Some coaches—and just listening to a lot of coaching interviews and stuff like that—[say], ‘I can do this with this player, and I know we can potentially adjust our scheme to fit what he does best.’”

We could spend a lifetime speculating about where it all went wrong for Spielman and Zimmer. NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders recently came out and said the two weren’t on speaking terms in the months leading up to both men being fired.

After nearly a decade of working together, it’s becoming quite clear it was time for this working relationship to end.

[listicle id=59056]