VikesCentric: Mike Zimmer--life in the meat grinder

Recently, I spoke with a Green Bay fan, one still giddy about the Packers' victory over the Vikings. After corralling her joy, her smile turned to concern and she recounted everything the Vikings have gone through this season. But then she brightened and told me she thought Mike Zimmer was a good coach—had his head on straight. I had to agree.

These are not joyous days at Winter Park. The Vikings are trying to rebound from a dismantling by divisional rival Green Bay, and that task has not been assisted by the fact that the Vikings head coach must constantly deal with another incident of one of his players in trouble.

As we have seen over the years, doing so is apparently part of the job when you become the head coach of the Vikings—a team with the most arrests in the NFL since the year 2000 (a number that continues to rise). In fact, just ask previous coach Leslie Frazier, who after his stint as Vikings head coach could be qualified to teach a 400-level college course on crisis management. Frazier endured a partial season as interim coach when the roof literally (and figuratively) fell in on his team, and he managed to somehow ford his way though it to the actual head coaching job.

It is a cautionary tale for Zimmer, however, that Frazier (one of the true gentlemen of the game) did not last any longer than three years as the head coach of the Vikings. Near the end, he looked worn down and ready to throw his arms up in the air in dismay, as the constant upheaval had gotten to him. He never lost it publically, but you could sense the Vikings ship sinking with his hand on the prow, and even he knew he couldn't keep it afloat.

Zimmer looked a bit dismayed at his post-game press conference following the Packer game. What appeared to be weariness, was later revealed to be disgust at the performance of his defense against the run. We learned that Zimmer takes pride in a disciplined defensive performance, and he wasn't tolerating what he saw at Lambeau Field.

"There's nothing more disheartening as a coach than for you to get manhandled up-front," Zimmer told the Star Tribune. "To be in the wrong gaps, to have people running the ball at you, it's just disheartening. I think when I was in Dallas, my first year as a coordinator, we were like 30th or something in the league in rush defense and I said, 'Never again.'"

Currently, Zimmer's defense is ranked 19^th against the run, giving up 121.8 yards on the ground per game. But it's not the numbers or rankings that are important here. It's more about the line in the sand that Zimmer has drawn. Clearly he is a pride-filled coach, and poor performance by his defense is not tolerable.

Here is a list, most of which my Packer acquaintance was happy to recount:

* Nose tackle Linval Joseph, one of Zimmer's prized free agent acquisitions, was shot in the leg while at a local nightclub.

* Adrian Peterson was indicted on charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child. He was ultimately put on the NFL exempt list while the case is pending. He has added to the misery by admitting to have "smoked a little weed" before a urinalysis test.

* Suspended wide receiver Jerome Simpson was released after knowledge of a subsequent run-in with law enforcement.

* Defensive lineman Tom Johnson was arrested at local club and charged with trespassing -- premises of another and refusing to depart and disorderly conduct.

* Injuries to his top two quarterbacks in the first four games—a season ending injury to his opening day starter

* Season-ending injury to his starting right guard, Brandon Fusco, who had recently been signed to a contract extension.

* Loss of his starting tight end Kyle Rudolph to injury for 6-8 weeks, not too long after signing a big contract extension.

* Losing the leader of his defense, Chad Greenway, to broken ribs and a broken hand—with defensive playing calling falling on the rookie linebacker Anthony Barr.

All of this, and the season is only five weeks old. It's enough to make even Frazier start counting his blessings down in Tampa.

"Well, there's been a lot of ups and downs, things that have happened throughout the course of this time," Zimmer said. "But no one's feeling sorry for me. No one's worried about that. It is what it is."

Zimmer came to Minnesota from the Cincinnati Bengals, which was second on the NFL list of teams with the most arrests since 2000. So he should have some experience in dealing with these kinds of issues. Before getting the job, he had been passed over many times for a head coaching position, so it is doubtful that he is going to wilt at the first sign of adversity.

On the contrary, he appears to be succeeding despite of it. While the wins and losses this season have all been with double-digit margins, the Vikings might appear at first glance to be a team that is out of control. But a 2-3 record at this point is about where many expected the team to be before the season started. To think that Zimmer has achieved that in the face of myriad personnel problems is at the very least commendable, and in my eyes a very good sign. Perhaps his experience in crisis management in Cincinnati has hardened him for tackling the problems with one of most dysfunctional teams in professional sports.

To put it succinctly, he may just be the right person for the job. He wanted the job. He got the job, and just maybe he will want to see it through.

Zimmer announced before the extended time off period between the Packers and Lions games that it was a chance to self-scout his team, his coaching staff and even himself, to make sure they are doing the right things and doing them the right way to move the team forward. Given what his team has gone through thus far, one might think that such an endeavor was warranted.

"It was just good to go back and look at ourselves, kind of go back and refocus on ourselves and you understand you have to play other people but at the end of the day it's still about what you can do and how you can do it and how good you do it. There are teams that play one defense and one coverage and they are pretty damn good at what they do. We'll just figure out what's good for us."

To be sure, Zimmer is just five games into his tenure as a head coach, he has lost some games by lopsided margins and his roster of players could be seen as a train wreck—whether you view it through a Packer perspective or through Purple-colored glasses. Zimmer has a long way to go to prove that he can handle the team both on and off the field, but so far, I would say he is the team's best bet to pull this franchise out of the quagmire in which it currently finds itself.

Head over to VikingsJournal.com to check out Bo Mitchell's story on the latest developments in Adrian Peterson's off-field issues and then join in the conversation on the Vikings Journal forums, where everything Purple is dissected and discussed.

Joe Oberle is a senior writer at VikingsJournal.com, covers the NFL for The Sports Post and is managing editor of Minnesota Golfer magazine. He is an author and longtime Minnesota-based writer.