The Vikings have lost two straight games in very different fashions with a blowout home loss to the Seahawks preceding a tight defeat on the road against the Cardinals.
Coach Mike Zimmer said Wednesday that he wants to see the Vikings avoid becoming what Bill Parcells, one of Zimmer’s coaching mentors, called “yo-yo” team that was up one week and down the next. Zimmer said that Parcells wanted the “same guys” every time out and said that the team has tried to find players who can provide the mental toughness that leads to stability from week to week.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things,” Zimmer said, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “You talk to a lot of their coaches. What kind of competitor is a guy? How does he handle adversity? How smart is he? Is he moody on the practice field? Does he pay attention in meetings? There’s a big combination of things that helps figure it out. How does he react when you get after him? How is the best way to coach this guy? Does he put the team first? Is he all about stats?”
One thing that helps is having the same group of players on the field from week to week and the Vikings have been down several starters on defense in the last couple of weeks. Getting some of them back against the Bears this week would help avoid a three-game losing streak, since that’s almost certainly not the kind of consistency that Zimmer is talking about.