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Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said at the end of the regular season that the team’s defense was the worst he would ever coach and the seeds for the unit’s struggle were planted in the offices.
The Vikings distinguished a number of veteran defenders, including defensive end Everson Griffin, defensive tackle Linwal Joseph and three Cornbachs who were regulars in the lineup. The team expressed confidence that they would remain defensively strong despite the departure, but head coach Mike Zimmer said on Tuesday that it had changed the wrong way.
“I probably miscalculated some of the things that came in the season when we lost all the men we lost a year ago,” Zimmer said through Christmason. Pioneer Press. “We did a thorough oversee on defense, and sometimes that happens when you get to Year 7.”
Reconstructing a defense without individual se fission work was always going to be a difficult task. By picking Michael Pierce, defensive end Daniel Hunter missed the entire season and made it even more difficult for linebacker Anthony Barr to miss 14 games.
Zimmer said getting those players back “should improve automatically”, but there is still more work to be done to ensure the defense is more capable in 2021.
