Ruling: Alcohol use caused death of Adam Zimmer, son of ex-Vikings head coach

Officials said Friday that the death in late October in the Twin Cities of Adam Zimmer, a former Vikings defensive coordinator and son of ex-Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, was caused by chronic alcohol abuse.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office released the findings from its autopsy of the 38-year-old Zimmer, who was found dead in his Mendota Heights home on Oct. 31. At the time of his death, he was working remotely as an offensive analyst for the Cincinnati Bengals.

The medical examiner's office listed the cause of death as "complications of chronic ethanol use disorder" and the manner of death as natural. This disorder involves having to drink more to get the same effect or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Police officers were sent to Zimmer's home in the 2500 block of Condon Court in response to a request for a welfare check and located his body there.

Mike Zimmer coached the Vikings from 2014 until he and most of his staff, including Adam Zimmer, were dismissed after the 2021 season. Adam Zimmer's mother, Vikki, died unexpectedly in 2009 at age 50 from natural causes.

Before coaching the Vikings, Mike Zimmer was an assistant coach with the Bengals from 2008 to 2013. Adam Zimmer coached with his father in Minnesota from 2014-21 and became a co-defensive coordinator in 2020.

He started coaching in the NFL in New Orleans as an assistant linebackers coach from 2006-09, then spent three seasons in the same capacity with Kansas City. He was assistant defensive backs coach for his father in Cincinnati in 2013.