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Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said at the end of the regular season that the team’s defense was the worst he had ever trained and that the seeds of the unit’s struggles had been planted during the off-season.
The Vikings have parted ways with a number of veteran defensemen including defensive end Everson Griffen, defensive tackle Linval Joseph and three cornerbacks who were regulars in the roster. The team said they were confident they would be strong defensively despite the starts, but head coach Mike Zimmer said on Tuesday he was in a bad position.
“I probably miscalculated some things at the start of the season when we lost all the guys we lost the year before,” Zimmer said, via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press. “We’ve done a complete overhaul of defense, and that sometimes happens when you get into 7th grade.”
Rebuilding a defense without work in person during the offseason was always going to be a difficult task. This was made even more difficult by the withdrawal of defensive tackle Michael Pierce, defensive end Danielle Hunter missing all season and linebacker Anthony Barr missing 14 games.
Zimmer said the return of these players should “automatically improve us”, but there is more work to be done to get the defense more capable in 2021.
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