Mike Zimmer not interested in seeing Kellen Mond play next week

Minnesota Vikings v Green Bay Packers
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The Vikings are out of the playoff race and guaranteed a losing record regardless of what happens in next Sunday’s game against the Bears, which led some people to think that game would be a good chance to see what rookie quarterback Kellen Mond can do in game action.

Mond made his first regular season appearance late in Sunday night’s blowout loss to the Packers because Sean Mannion had cramping in his hand and the third-round pick went 2-of-3 for five yards. After the game, head coach Mike Zimmer was asked whether he wants to see Mond play for a more extended period in the season finale.

“Not particularly,” Zimmer said, via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press.

Zimmer said he sees Mond every day in practice by way of explaining why he has no interest in seeing the rookie play against Chicago. That suggests Zimmer doesn’t think much of Mond’s ability, but the good news for the quarterback is that there may be a new coach calling the shots next season because the current one missed the playoffs for the fifth time in his eight seasons with the team.

46 responses to “Mike Zimmer not interested in seeing Kellen Mond play next week

  1. Way to help the kids development coach. Jeeez what a swell guy. Must be more to the story here. Might as well fire zimmer this week and give the kid a look.

  2. QBs taken in the first round have a high bust rate, and it’s even high for those taken after the first.
    It was a speculative pick that may have been worth taking a chance on, but the coach has seen Mond up close and knows whats up. He most likely is a bust.
    Not unexpected.

  3. This is a great way to instill confidence in Mond. I’ll bet he’s pumped to play for Zimmy the Wonder Horse next season.

  4. Translation: He’s getting fired, he knows it, and he has no interest in developing young players for his successor in the one game he has left. See also Nagy, Matt. An unfortunate mindset among lame-duck coaches, but pretty common.

  5. You’d think he would want to start Mond so he can make sure Speilman gets his walking papers next Monday too.

  6. Until Mond played 1 series last night almost getting a pick 6, Minnesota had played only 1 of their 4 3rd round pics this season. Is that more of an indictment of Spielman for mis evaluation of talent or Zimmer with an inability to find a players strengths and coach them. Either way it’s clear that both need to go

  7. It’s over for Zim. He knows it, so he can be a smart donkey on his way out. I feel bad for Mond. The Vikings have done nothing to help him. It has felt like bad vibes around him since training camp. Just having Sean Mannion on the roster should be a fireable offense for Rick. Playing Sean Mannion should be a fireable offense for Zim. Zim did some good things, they just got stuck with a top heavy roster of talented guys who miss a lot of games. Zim went from hiring a bunch of former head coaches for his staff to hiring some of their kids. This coaching staff is much weaker than some of the previous staffs. Obviously they never recovered from Teddy’s injury and couldn’t build an o-line. A lot of draft picks and salary cap used to chase the QB position with Bradford and Cousins. The rest of the roster suffered, relied on guys who miss a lot of games and not good enough drafts. Time to start over.

  8. Yea, he’s checked out and updating his resume. There’s really not a scenario where it wouldn’t benefit Mond to get some game experience in a game that means absolutely nothing to the team.

    Develop a QB? Why, it’s not going to save his job so leave that problem for someone else. Spielman should follow him out the door.

  9. Good man but reality is its time for vikings to overhaul everything including the head coach and that’s sad but at this point how long do the fans suffer.

  10. Zimmer and Spielman just need 5 or 6 more years to right the ship and they’ll be gunning for that first Super Bowl title.

  11. The only way I will be cheering for a Vikings win next week is if Mond starts. If Kellen doesn’t start I’ll be pulling for a lose and better draft position.

  12. Can you imagine if the Sunday night game had been called fairly? The Packers might have won by 60!

  13. Every preseason Vikings’ fans are sure they will win a championship…..every season ends like this…

  14. New Year, but same old Vikings.
    As always, thanks for the laughs. 🤣

  15. Just like Cousins situation, this is another example of Zimmer and Spielman not agreeing on how to run this team. Time for both of them to go and a complete overhaul for this organization.

  16. He’s the coach and he wants to win every game, especially now that he’s preparing his resume for his next job. The best thing for the team is to get Mond some experience and determine how big a priority drafting a quarterback is for next year. When what’s best for the team clashes with what’s best for the coach, you need to go with what’s best for the team even if means removing the coach.

  17. Zim was just crabby — this isn’t a Mond idictment (although I doubt Mond will ever be a starting NFL QB). Crabby cause his team got squashed, crabby cause Cousins and the anti-vaxxers sabotaged the season, and crabby cause he knows the end is near. By the way, congrats to the Pack and cheesers on the win and clinching home-field, wish my favorite team had put up more of a fight.

  18. As a Vikings fan I can look at all the variables of this, especially the close games the Vikes lost this year by one possession. You could blame Covid – but it’s time for Zimmer to go. These should;n’t be passes for another year at the helm. I’m disappointed in coach Zimmer for saying that about Mond, its childish. You cannot do that to the kid – period. Mannion only had a day to prepare, still no excuse. He got one practice which is usually a walk-thru on Fridays, but those calling for Mond are just dumb. Yeah, lets start Mond against the best team in the NFL, against Aaron Rodgers in prime time, the coldest game ever between the two teams, yeah that makes sense. Cousin’s father liked a Twitter post about firing Zim, then took it down and deleted his account. So, there is a lot more going on here in the locker room and I think Zim has lost the locker room….”and there is your dagger.”

    Its time to move on cut your losses and rebuild and go after Eric Bieniemy. It’s the perfect time to do it because Chicago, Nagy is out, Green Bay will not have enough money to keep everybody on their roster, so it makes sense to burn the ship now rather then have another mediocre team next year. Wishing coach Zim all the best, some coaches just do not make good head coaches.

  19. I see no reason to not fire Zimmer and Speildope today. Why wait?? That entire coaching staff needs to be replaced. Zimmer and the Mortician have been abysmal employees!

  20. It’s quite possible that Mond isn’t that good and that Zimmer is being a jerk… That I’d agree on. But seriously, the experience would be valuable. Cousins is a known commodity. So is Manion for that matter.

    Why not let Sloter and Mond have some PT next week and see. The fact that Zimmer refuses to do that says more about Zimmer than either of them. The season is over. May as well use that meaningless game to develop some of the younger guys and give the vets a day off.

  21. Is there any way we can trade Zimmer to the Packers? Perhaps for a Ball Boy or something of equal value?

  22. Kind of hard to evaluate a rookie QB if he’s always inactive or just running the scout offense. How’s he supposed to get reps to base an evaluation on?
    Running laps or drills or shagging balls is no way to develop a QB.

    Who’s the QB coach? What does Mond supposedly not get as far as the pro game or playbook?

  23. I think people may be overreacting to this situation. Zimmer just said that he didn’t need to see Mond in the next game because he sees him in practice. Maybe his comments are about Mond’s talent but maybe not. The guy just lost a game that will likely cost him and his son’s jobs. If Mond plays the final game & plays well, it highlights the foolish decision to start Mannion over Mond in GB. If Mond plays poorly, it makes you wonder why they drafted him & gives Cousins more leverage. So, I’m not surprised at all by Zimmer’s answer.

    Also, when it comes to evaluating rookies, let’s not forget that Justin Jefferson didn’t even start until his third game. He went on to break the rookie WR record and now has the more yards in his first two seasons than any other WR. Yet, Zimmer started Bisi Johnson over JJ for two games.

  24. The Vikings should have developed Mond over the season to overtake Mannion as the back-up QB. Then Mond would have been ready to play against Chicago. Maybe not on the road against the Packers for his first start.

  25. Zimmer’s time is up. Even if things went different for us early in the season & we made the playoffs, the team isn’t going anywhere. The Vikings are playing so bad right now it’s painful to watch. I just expect them to lose & I laugh when they do. It’s hard to get invested in a team that is so terrible at the end of every half.

  26. I must admit, I’m not particularly interested in seeing Sean Mannion play quarterback.

  27. Take the question and the timing of it and the answer at face value. Just because rubes always want to see the back up QB doesn’t mean anything. Mond is 3rd on the depth chart. If Cousins is off the COVID hold by game time why would Mond be out there before him or Mannion?

    The question was if he would want to see him. Why would Zimmer just put him out there to see him? Know people had a lot of fun dogpiling on this one but even if you subscribe to the worst possible interpretation of this exchange it illuminates nothing.

  28. Zimmer should have thought about a different way of phrasing this answer. To say that you don’t even want to see the kid get some playing time sounds like you have no faith at all in his ability. This is an opportunity, much like a pre-season game, to see if he can do some good things in live action. To hide him on the bench sends a pretty clear message.

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