Warren struggles, but help may be on the way for Vikings…

Before his stint with the Minnesota Vikings, HC Mike Zimmer could brag about something quite rare in the NFL industry: He had never been fired.

Like all coaches, he climbed his way up the ladder by serving in several positions, eventually being the main guy in the Twin Cities.

He was there for eight seasons until, eventually, after back-to-back subpar seasons, he was shown the door.

Now, years later and after finding his way back to the league, Zimmer admitted in an interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune that he was so angry and crushed about being fired that he didn’t even want to address the team when he heard the news:

“Zimmer was crushed. Angry. Sleep-deprived. The rare coaching lifer who had never been fired,” Mark Craig wrote.

“They asked me if I wanted to address the team,” he says. “And I said, ‘Hell, no. They got me fired!’ Zimmer said.

Zimmer left the team with a 72–55–1 (.556) record.

Overall, the numbers were quite good, but the team failed to win when it mattered the most.

Granted, a lot of that had to do with injuries, but also mostly with Kirk Cousins’ perennial struggles in prime-time games and against winning teams.

If anything, some thought that the fact that he was able to keep that team competitive with the quarterbacks he had was impressive enough.

Since he took over, he had Teddy Bridgewater — who eventually fell with a career-altering injury — Christian Ponder, Matt Cassel, Sam Bradford, Shaun Hill, Case Keenum, and Cousins, so perhaps it wasn’t all on coach Zimmer.

And given his résumé and great defensive mind, it won’t be long before he gets another chance to be a head coach in this league.