Former NFL coach Mike Zimmer was reportedly unhappy with his former quarterback Kirk Cousins. He even reportedly addressed this publicly in coaching meetings.

Minneapolis/Munich – Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer may have complained publicly about quarterback rookie Kirk Cousins, according to a report from The Athletic.

“Zimmer felt that the 33-year-old was not making enough winning plays and was not making his teammates better with his performance,” Chad Graff said in the report. According to the report, this opinion was even partially shared by the coaching staff.

Zimmer, who was dismissed by the Vikings after missing the play-offs for the second time in a row, still has a positive overall record of 72 wins, 56 losses and one draw with the team.

Cousins and O’Connell know each other

His successor is an old acquaintance – at least for starting quarterback Cousins. Kevin O’Connell enters the upcoming NFL season as Minnesota’s new head coach. In 2017, he was quarterbacks coach at Washington and worked with Cousins back then.

With the Vikings, they hope for a better relationship between coach and playmaker. Nevertheless, O’Connell now has to get a lot out of his protégé. According to “Spotrac”, Cousins enters the season with a cap hit of a whopping 45 million US dollars and thus puts a considerable strain on the Vikings’ budget.

Cousins has had a good year with 4,221 passing yards, 33 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. However, there have always been critical voices that considered the quarterback’s numbers inflationary. They said he was unable to consistently lead his team to victories.

Under his leadership, the Vikings managed only one playoff appearance in four years. In the 2021 season, Minnesota’s offense ranked just 14th among the NFL’s 32 teams in points scored. Thus, new coach O’Connell and Cousins, who was ticked off by Zimmer, know where they need to catch up.