Former Minnesota Vikings star linebacker Chad Greenway believes ex-coach Mike Zimmer came with the sort of style that needed adjusting. A player’s ability to adapt and adjust to a more aggressive coaching style likely told the story on how they experienced Zimmer.
While Greenway admitted that kind of coaching isn’t for everyone, he still thinks the source of the information was an elite football mind, once you get beyond the new-school preferences.
“[Zimmer] wasn’t for everybody and I think his approach was very aggressive,” Greenway told Fox News Digital. “…It’s a little more pressure and a little more serious and that’s fine. I could adapt because I had been in the league for nine years already. I could adapt and adjust, but a lot of other guys couldn’t, and it was hard for them and I could understand that.
“I think he’s a very good football coach — an elite football coach, an elite football mind — and at the end of the day is a great guy that I loved playing for.”
Zimmer spent eight years with the Vikings before he was finally fired by the team.
Star linebacker Eric Kendricks alluded to a fear-based culture with the defensive-minded guru in charge. Those comments raised eyebrows considering Kendricks is one of the more outspoken leaders in the locker room.
And then the news trickled out regarding the ongoing dysfunction in the relationship between Zimmer and then-general manager Rick Spielman.
From strictly a football perspective, however, Greenway makes some great points. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone that would label Zimmer a bad football coach. The fact that he managed to stick around for nearly a decade in a league that churns out coaches quicker than parts on an assembly line is an amazing feat in itself.
But it’s also the responsibility of the coach to adapt to the ever-changing times and find new ways to connect with players. Zimmer wasn’t able to do it enough to keep a surprisingly talented roster from underachieving.
And so the axe fell.
