The Detroit Lions aren’t the only NFC North team that didn’t achieve as much as hoped in the win total. The Minnesota Vikings are 7-9, officially eliminated from the playoffs and have made a lot of folks in Minnesota grumpy. That includes their head coach, Mike Zimmer.
After Sunday night’s uncompetitive loss to the Green Bay Packers, Zimmer offered up a dour press conference. It progressed to being bluntly disrespectful to rookie quarterback Kellen Mond.
After watching journeyman Sean Mannion fill in incapably for regular starter Kirk Cousins, who was out with COVID-19, instead of third-round rookie Kellen Mond, Zimmer was asked if he wants to see more of Mond in Week 18.
Zimmer’s answer is about as harsh of a burn at a player that a coach will ever offer in public,
“Not particularly…I see him every day.”
This is the coldest thing I’ve ever heard from a coach. My goodness. pic.twitter.com/0FaufxxoQw
— Ian Kenyon (@IanKenyonNFL) January 3, 2022
Mond did not play well in mop-up duty after Mannion was finally removed. He was a bit of a surprise as the No. 66 overall player drafted; most pre-draft projections had Mond going 2-3 rounds later after an uneven career at Texas A&M.
Lions fans have been wondering about why David Blough isn’t getting any chances to prove himself while backup Tim Boyle has largely struggled in place of starter Jared Goff. Detroit coach Dan Campbell won’t ever say it, certainly not in as blunt of a statement as what Zimmer did here, but Zimmer’s answer probably holds some truth about Blough’s status in Detroit, too.
