The Vikings fired head coach Mike Zimmer and GM Rick Spielman

The Minnesota Vikings fired coach Mike Zimmer and CEO Rick Spielman on Monday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero said.

Minnesota later announced his departure.

“We appreciate Rick and Mike’s commitment to the team’s success on the field, their passion for making a positive impact on our community and their dedication to players, coaches and staff,” Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf said in a statement. “While these decisions are not easy, we believe it is time for the new leadership to elevate our team so that we can continually fight for the championship. We wish both Rick and Mike and their families only the best.

“Our comprehensive search for a new CEO and head coach will begin immediately and be managed internally. We are determined to succeed sustainably and bring Vikings fans the Super Bowl championships they have been waiting for and deserving.”

The belief leading to the finals of the season was that the Vikings would move from Zimmer after eight years. Spielman’s dismissal, which has been in Minnesota for 16 years, shows that Wilfs wanted a clean table after a second disappointing season.

Zimmer was fired after the Vikings played for less than 500 consecutive seasons for the first time since he was hired in 2014. Zimmer had the seventh longest coaching season out of 32 NFL clubs, and he went 72-56-1 during his tenure in Minnesota. .

The coach survived some devastating situations in Minnesota, including the catastrophic injury of Teddy Bridgewater and the end of Adrian Peterson’s tenure at the Vikings.

The highlight of the Zimmer era came in 2017. Armed with the NFL’s No. 1 defense, Vikings set a 13-3 record with QB Case Keenum and secured the 2nd seed. The game, known as the “Minnesota Miracle,” will be forever in Viking history when Keenum hit Stefon Diggs with a 61-yard touch in the final seconds and defeated the New Orleans Saints in the 29-24 division round. However, Zimmer’s memorable run ended in an 38-7 loss to the NFC championship for the Philadelphia Eagles, which won the Super Bowl LII.

The Vikings have still not recovered, having won one playoff game after that miracle and recorded consecutive periods of loss for the first time during the coach’s tenure. It’s appropriate that after Zimmer immediately helped reverse the league’s worst defense when he became the Vikings head coach in 2014, he will end his term with one of the NFL’s worst defenses in 2021.

The Zimmer era is always remembered as good, but not good enough.

The difference with Spielman is more of a surprise than getting Zimmer in the boot. GM is highly regarded in NFL circles and has had dynamite drafts. It’s no surprise if Spielman ends up in another office this season – maybe in Detroit, where his brother Chris is the manager.

The Vikings decided not to go halfway. Instead, they are launching a whole new era of Vikings football.

The first big question the new brass answers is what to do for quarterback Kirk Cousins. The veteran feeder owes a $ 35 million guarantee in 2022, the final year of his contract, and has a $ 45 million cap.