Mike Zimmer's blunt honesty makes him a good coach. If players don't want to hear the truth, they won't last long under Zimmer.
After Sunday's 21-10 beatdown in Philadelphia, the Vikings head coach took his team to task.
"It was embarrassing in at least two of the phases and I'm very disappointed in the performance that we gave today," he said, via The Star Tribune We turned the ball over offensively, we didn't block people, we dropped balls, we got the quarterback hit, we [need] two inches and we can't convert on third down or fourth down, we got three shots in the red zone in the first half, we throw an interception, we gave up a 98-yard kickoff return, we fumbled a punt. If you're going to do those things, you have no chance to win."
Zimmer brought the verbal hacksaw down particularly hard on his porous offensive line.
"We didn't block anybody," he said. "We were soft. We got overpowered."
The Vikings allowed six sacks and 12 quarterback hits. Sam Bradford played his worst game in a Vikings uniform, losing two fumbles and throwing an interception. Zimmer, however, defended his quarterback, who was under siege all game.
"It's hard to really evaluate his performance when it looked like a sieve in there," Zimmer said. "... It's hard to throw when someone is grabbing your arm, so I'm not concerned about Bradford."
Zimmer noted that Minnesota isn't going to magically find quality offensive linemen on the street. With little cap space and already down a first-round pick, a trade is a fan's fantasy at this point.
Zimmer was asked if he could put a finger on why his previously undefeated team struggled Sunday.
"I don't know. I'm going to put my finger on some things this week," he said.
There will be no fun in Minnesota this week.
