Mike Zimmer ‘snapped’ during heated sideline moment with Kirk Cousins

Mike Zimmer apparently “snapped” after a sideline scuffle with Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins final season — three months earlier than his ouster as Minnesota’s head coach.

Paul Allen, the radio voice of the Vikings, recalled the tense second final week on KFAN, claiming that Zimmer was full of “rage” when Cousins appeared to get him fired up on the sidelines throughout a house win in opposition to the Lions on Oct. 10.

“Again to love the center of the season. House sport and it’s a victory. Yeah, Zim snapped when Cousins pushed him,” Allen mentioned.

“And looking out again at it, the previous head coach obtained that side-eye and rage steaming from his nostrils. And he wished to go. However then he didn’t need to go. Kirk sensed a free shot in the course of the working relationship and he obtained one in.”

OH? #skolpic.twitter.com/N8f7KOPsrp

— Syd Casper (@CasperSyd) October 10, 2021

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins and head coach Mike Zimmer had a fiery second on the sidelines final season.

Twitter by way of Syd Casper

The incident passed off throughout a Vikings house win in opposition to the Lions in Oct. 2021.

Twitter/Syd Casper

As soon as the Vikings’ Greg Joseph transformed a 54-yard discipline aim to defeat Detroit, 19-17, cameras caught the change between Cousins and Zimmer on the sidelines. Each events downplayed the second after the sport.

“Actually he’s doing precisely what I need him to do. He’s being a frontrunner, he’s being vocal, he’s displaying emotion. I’ve been speaking to him about all of it yr,” Zimmer mentioned on Oct. 11. “He came visiting and mentioned, ‘You want that?’ He type of gave me a shove and I shoved him again. It’s all good.”

Cousins mentioned he was “fired up” when requested about what transpired with Zimmer.

“I used to be simply celebrating with it,” he mentioned.

Kirk Cousin passes in the course of the Vikings’ Oct. 10, 2021, win in opposition to the Lions.

Getty Photos

Mike Zimmer on the Vikings’ sideline throughout Minnesota’s 19-17 win over the Lions on Oct. 10, 2021.

MediaNews Group by way of Getty Photos

Cousins and Zimmer’s relationship seems to have been a contentious one, based on a number of experiences. Final month, former Vikings linebacker Ben Leber — who now covers the crew as a sideline reporter for radio broadcasts — mentioned Zimmer “didn't like Cousins.”

A February report from The Athletic additionally alleged that Zimmer “complained overtly in teaching conferences about Cousins” in the course of the 2021 season.

Cousins, who signed a one-year, $35 million extension with the Vikings in March, will now be working alongside rookie head coach Kevin O’Connell, who was named Zimmer’s successor in February.

O’Connell landed in Minnesota after two seasons because the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams.