Mike Zimmer is 25 years older than P.J. Fleck, a contrast in years and a full generation that plays out almost stereotypically in their off-field styles.
In this weekend's must-win games, Mike Zimmer was bold and P.J. Fleck was not
The two coaches, who have very different management styles, often are the same for 60 minutes on the weekend. That changed on Saturday and Sunday.
November 15, 2021 at 4:57PM
Zimmer, 65, is the crusty old ball coach who gets players to play hard through a mixture of tough love and proven success. He is not prone to use catch phrases nor talk about much more than football.
Fleck, 40, is the new generation. He's relentlessly upbeat, often preaches culture and has a sideline style that demands the camera follows him.
Most fall weekends for 60 minutes of game action, though, Fleck and Zimmer are a lot alike. Both adhere to a conservative, ball-control style that minimize self-inflicted mistakes. Both tend to get even more conservative as the stakes get higher, preferring a game that remains a toss-up into the fourth quarter over a riskier feast-or-famine early game approach.
But the coaches deviated from that dual path this past weekend, which Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Monday's Daily Delivery podcast.
The Gophers kicked three field goals of 31 yards or less, helping explain why a more than 100 yard advantage and 2 to 1 time of possession edge somehow did not translate to a desperately needed victory and instead ended with a 27-22 defeat, their seventh in a row to Iowa.
One of those field goals offers us a perfect snap shot into the difference between Fleck and Zimmer this weekend.
The Gophers trailed 17-13 in the third quarter and faced 4th-and-2 at Iowa's 11. Instead of trying to get two yards and playing for the touchdown, they settled for a field goal to make it 17-16. Iowa never trailed from that point forward.
The Vikings trailed 17-13 in the third quarter and faced 4th-and-goal from the 1. Zimmer went for it, and Kirk Cousins delivered a touchdown pass to Tyler Conklin. The Vikings never trailed from that point forward.
Later, the Vikings added another touchdown to make it 27-17, and on their final drive they again converted a fourth down to allow them to run out the clock and earn a win they desperately needed.
The Gophers, by contrast, were the ones playing in desperation mode at the end.
Now: That's not to say a conservative approach couldn't have worked for the Gophers or Vikings this weekend. Zimmer has won 57% of his games as Vikings coach. Fleck has won 58% as Gophers coach.
That's a little better than average for both, but Zimmer narrowed the gap this weekend by being bold while Fleck was not.
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