Mike Zimmer

[Trademark]

Mike Zimmer was fired by the Vikings, would you want to bring him back next season as the new DC if they don't re-sign Lou? Personally I'd rather keep Lou with the way he's turned the defense around.

[*jason*]

Yes and no. Great coach... Loved and respected by players, but he's been gone 8 years. Time to keep moving forward.

[Interceptor]

(01-10-2022, 03:03 PM)jason Wrote: Yes and no. Great coach... Loved and respected by players, but he's been gone 8 years. Time to keep moving forward.

Wow.... Time sure flew by.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(01-10-2022, 03:00 PM)Trademark Wrote: Mike Zimmer was fired by the Vikings, would you want to bring him back next season as the new DC if they don't re-sign Lou? Personally I'd rather keep Lou with the way he's turned the defense around.

Never thought I would say this. Stick with Lou.

[SunsetBengal]

While I have a great deal of respect for Coach Zimmer, and will always be appreciative of his contributions to the Bengals teams, I respectfully say that we should stick with the status quo of Bengal coaches. Zac Taylor, along with coordinators Brian Callahan and Lou Anarumo seem to have this team playing well, believing in themselves, and trending upward to the future.

[Sled21]

There was a time I would have killed to have Zim here as HC. I think his time has passed him by. Maybe if Lou were to get snagged as a HC somewhere.

[fredtoast]

(01-10-2022, 03:05 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Never thought I would say this. Stick with Lou.

Why?


Lou has one of the best defenses that money can buy.  Here are players Bengals have signed for him.

Hendrickson..$15 million per year
Reader...........$13 million 
Hubbard........$10 million
Awuzie..........$ 7 million
Ogunjobi.......$ 6.2 million
Hilton............$ 6 million
Bell...............$ 6 million

And here are the results

Points allowed.....17th
Yards allowed......18th
Pass rating...........18th
Yds/play...............21st
3rd down%.........22nd

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(01-10-2022, 03:00 PM)Trademark Wrote: Mike Zimmer was fired by the Vikings, would you want to bring him back next season as the new DC if they don't re-sign Lou? Personally I'd rather keep Lou with the way he's turned the defense around.

(01-10-2022, 03:05 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Never thought I would say this. Stick with Lou.

They finished with the 18th overall/17th scoring defense. By both yards and points they were below average, despite being absolutely loaded with talent and having one of the healthiest teams in the NFL. They were also 22nd in 3rd down conversion rate allowed and 17th in takeaways.

We're all feeling good because of the first winning and playoffs in awhile, but don't lose sight of reality. Lou is not good and does not get the best out of his guys. He is not the answer.

[*bengalfan74*]

(01-10-2022, 03:03 PM)jason Wrote: Yes and no. Great coach... Loved and respected by players, but he's been gone 8 years. Time to keep moving forward.

Agree

I loved Zim and have nothing but respect for him. But I just doubt the wisdom of going back.

[JaggedJimmyJay]

I want no part of the Marvin era. Move forward and only forward.

[Johnny Cupcakes]

(01-10-2022, 03:20 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: They finished with the 18th overall/17th scoring defense. By both yards and points they were below average, despite being absolutely loaded with talent and having one of the healthiest teams in the NFL. They were also 22nd in 3rd down conversion rate allowed and 17th in takeaways.

We're all feeling good because of the first winning and playoffs in awhile, but don't lose sight of reality. Lou is not good and does not get the best out of his guys. He is not the answer.

Although they're 17th overall in scoring, they still beat the league average. I guess this stems from the fact that if they allowed 12 less points on the year, they'd move up to 8th best, but allowing 12 MORE points would only drop them to 18th. They would have had to have allowed 75 more points to drop that 10 spot gap. It's a really tight grouping from 8-17. So...still above average. 

Still, stats are not going to tell the whole tale with this defense, who has given up garbage time yardage in way too many games (don't know how close this is to league average), and who are playing incredibly well together in spite of being cobbled together over the last two seasons, and coming in with no experience or chemistry together.  Coaching that up deserves some praise, while expecting them to still improve in the coming years. 

They pass the eye test in my opinion, and the 18th in yards and 17th in points stats do not paint the whole picture. 

[TecmoBengals]

I like continuity and there is no reason to dismiss Lou from his current position. If Lou leaves for a new opportunity, then I'd be okay with the Brown family/Duke/Zac giving Zimmer an interview.

[STR1PES]

No. The past is the past. Leave it that way.

[Tomkat]

I wouldn't mind Zimmer in a defensive supporting/consultant role. That way if Lou leaves... we have a smoother transition.

[samhain]

Eh, I guess it depends on what you think of Anarumo. I'm still not a big fan. Zimmer developed the hell out of some mid round and scrap heap guys to build an elite defense. Lou has had success with a lot of ready-made guys from other rosters that were hired guns. It actually scares me quite a bit to think about what happens to the defense when they can no longer afford to bring in big money FAs to be quick fixed and actually have to develop guys in-house.

[samhain]

(01-10-2022, 03:44 PM)Tomkat Wrote: I wouldn't mind Zimmer in a defensive supporting/consultant role.  That way if Lou leaves... we have a smoother transition.

This is the answer right here.

[PAjwPhilly]

I would love to have Zimmer back. You have to remember Zac got the HC job late because of the Rams in the Superbowl, and the coaching staff was built from the leftovers that remained.

But how long would he be here before he gets another HC gig? I don't know about changing things just to have him make everyone's short list for next HC job and he leaves in 2 years...

[Rubekahn29]

I wouldn’t get rid of Lou for him, but if for some reason Lou didn’t come back I would jump on Zim in a heart beat. I think he could get more out of this defense. Not knocking Lou, but Zim is awesome. I do feel his and ZT’s styles would clash though.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(01-10-2022, 03:46 PM)samhain Wrote: Eh, I guess it depends on what you think of Anarumo.  I'm still not a big fan.  Zimmer developed the hell out of some mid round and scrap heap guys to build an elite defense.  Lou has had success with a lot of ready-made guys from other rosters that were hired guns.  It actually scares me quite a bit to think about what happens to the defense when they can no longer afford to bring in big money FAs to be quick fixed and actually have to develop guys in-house.

They seem to have done a pretty decent job with Wilson, Pratt, and ADG. We'll see how things go from there, and they've got work with Shelvin, Sample, (who has played well in spots) Kareem, and Ossai.

The previous staff couldn't get much out of the LB position, and that was including Zim's time here.

As to the OP, I wouldn't take him for one reason. We just spent a ton of money to quickly turn around a defense that was built upon a continuation of Mike Zimmer's defense. It had been ran into the ground by 2018, but it was still his scheme. So, now, you'd have to start another rebuild there if you went from Lou to Zim. Otherwise, I'd certainly consider it. I think Tomkat has the best scenario regarding this topic.

[*ochocincos*]

Had this defense still mimicked what he and Guenther ran, I'd be completely cool with that. Zimmer could run an upper-tier defense.

Unfortunately, Anarumo has changed this defensive look so much now that it could be multiple years to get it back to the way Zimmer would want/need to run it.