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Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said at the end of the regular season that the team’s defense was the worst he has ever trained and that the seeds for the unit’s fights were planted in the off-season.
The Vikings parted ways with several veteran defenders, including defensive side Everson Griffen, full-back Linval Joseph and three defenders who were regulars in the squad. The team expressed confidence that it will be strong defensively despite the departures, but coach Mike Zimmer said on Tuesday that it was lost.
“I probably miscalculated some things during the season, when we lost all the guys we lost the year before,” said Zimmer, via Chris Tomasson of Pioneer Press. “We did a complete defense review, and sometimes that happens when you get to year 7.”
Rebuilding a defense without personal work out of season would always be a difficult task. The situation became even more difficult due to Michael Pierce’s defensive tackling, Danielle Hunter’s lack of season and 14-game linebacker Anthony Barr.
Zimmer said that recovering these players should “automatically improve us”, but there is other work that needs to be done to ensure that the defense is more capable in 2021.