Whether he stays or goes, Mike Zimmer clearly isn’t changing

Mike Zimmer wasn’t acting like a man with a future after the Minnesota Vikings imploded on the Frozen Tundra at Lambeau Field. He looked more like a man that would be defiant until the bitter end—head on the guillotine, staring unblinkingly and waiting for the axe to fall.

The season is over and done with for the Vikings, and Zimmer wouldn’t budge an inch on his decision not to play rookie quarterback Kellen Mond. No one is saying Mond is a savior. That would be foolish because this team is far beyond saving.

Despite having one of the most talented rosters in the league, the only thing they have to show for it is a 7-9 record and consecutive seasons without a playoff berth. By this time next week, their season could end with the same record as the Chicago Bears for crying out loud.

It’s bad—really, really bad.

But this clearly isn’t about saving a team that’s already out of sight and out of mind in the grand scheme of things. It’s about trying something different and just seeing what they have in a young player they felt good enough about to spend the No. 66 overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft on.

The inability to change is why the Vikings are in this mess in the first place. Whether it’s the same nauseating play-calling or the same poor sideline decisions that have led to the mismanagement of games, the Vikings are who they are as long as Zimmer is on the sidelines.

They don’t even have anything to play for next week, and he still isn’t interested in at least giving Mond a shot under center.

“Not particularly,” he responded when asked if he wanted to get a look at the rookie in Week 18.

With Kirk Cousins on the COVID list, Sean Mannion was the respectable backup that came in and took his lumps like a man against Green Bay, but he clearly isn’t the future in Minnesota. Mond might not be, either, but the possibility is at least intriguing.

The bottom line: Mannion doesn’t need the snaps but Mond does.

However, Zimmer doesn’t seem likely to budge on this one. Why change when you can ride the coattails of almost making it to the Super Bowl in 2017?

This team isn’t close under Zimmer. No, they’re exactly where they’re supposed to be.