Minnesota Vikings: Dear Mike Zimmer, please don’t play your starters
Mike Zimmer is potentially going to play his starters in the Minnesota Vikings final preseason game.
There are too many NFL preseason games. Four is incredibly excessive. By the end of the preseason, all fans and observers are just hitting their head against the wall waiting for the regular season to roll around. Maybe Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer has been hitting his head against that wall a little too hard.
Zimmer appears to be a really smart dude with great football smarts, but he is potentially going to do something incredibly stupid. According to the Star Tribune, the head coach is considering playing his starters in the fourth preseason game. A game, typically, reserved for the reserves and scrubs.
The main question here is: did Zimmer learn nothing from last season? The Vikings had a horrible offensive line because of injury. The offensive line hasn’t looked good in the preseason while being fairly healthy. Don’t chance any injuries by playing your starters in a meaningless game. Don’t take that unnecessary risk.
The Vikings could be a playoff team this season, but they aren’t bulletproof. One catastrophic injury and the team goes from potentially playing in a home Super Bowl to playing for the number one overall draft pick.
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Zimmer is considering pulling this stunt off because the starters looked horrid against the San Francisco 49ers, but it shouldn’t matter how they played. Stefon Diggs didn’t look good at all, but he could have dropped 100 passes in the preseason and I’d still say that he should never play in the preseason.
Yes, the preseason actually is important in some spots. Position battles ae won or lost, young players get some real game experience, but no one that is a solidified starter will ever gain anything from playing in a preseason game.
It is more exciting for Vikings fans to see the starters play, I know. But wouldn’t you give up not seeing starters in a preseason game in exchange for playoff games? I know that I sure would. I’d hope that Mike Zimmer would too.
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The Vikings wrap up their preseason games on Thursday with a contest against the Miami Dolphins. The game is set for a 7:00 kickoff from U.S. Bank Stadium in beautiful downtown Minneapolis.