Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer held a conference call on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the decision to fire offensive coordinator John DeFilippo with three games left in the season.
Zimmer said that he didn’t think any one person deserved all the blame for the team’s offensive struggles, but he felt “a sense of urgency here to improve” before all hope was lost for the season.
“I always feel like if you hire a guy you should stick with him, try to help him, help him mature as a coach,” Zimmer said, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “This one, unfortunately with the timing and situation with last three games, still having an opportunity — [I] don’t want the season wasted. Maybe it will [be], maybe it won’t. But these three games are very, very critical and we need to play good.”
Zimmer also said he will take on more involvement with the offense over the final weeks of the season in hopes of getting the kind of results they need to avoid wasting the season. Given the expectations heading into the season, there may be wider changes come the offseason if the downward trend doesn’t correct itself.