The Vikings were the last NFL team to remain undefeated this season. That ended on Sunday, though, when the Eagles smacked them around and beat them 21-10. However, before Minnesota took its first L of the year, they had a bye week, and prior to them taking a few days off, head coach Mike Zimmer did his best to motivate his players by using a tactic that seemed like it was straight out of the playbook of some of history's greatest leaders.
According to the Star Tribune, Zimmer scattered stuffed animals that had their throats slashed around the team's practice facility. The stuffed animals were splattered with red paint and also had some of their stuffing coming out of them. Zimmer's message—though slightly horrifying—was intended to be that "fat cats get slaughtered." It was his way of telling his team not to get too confident in themselves simply because they were 5-0 at the time.
As we already mentioned, his plan backfired. Instead of motivating his players, his stuffed animal massacre resulted in his team getting overmatched by the Eagles. Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford was sacked six times, Minnesota's running backs failed to top 100 yards for the fifth time in six games, and Zimmer referred to his team as "soft" during a post-game interview. All of that is to say that, apparently, a bunch of grown men were unmoved by their head coach massacring children's toys. Who would have guessed?
Zimmer and the Vikings will head to Chicago next week to play the Bears. Let's hope dead teddy bears don't start showing up in Minnesota this week.
