Even the grittiest NFL survivors like Mike Zimmer have a coaching expiration date

My oh my, a lot has happened in the NFL coaching world since January 2014, when Mark and Zygi Wilf hitched their Purple wagons to a 57-year-old defensive coordinator from Cincinnati.

In those eight years …

Yes, indeed, the shelf life of an NFL head coach continues to shrink by the season. At least for those who aren't a Belichick or work for a Rooney.

Remember Jan. 12, 2017, when the Rams hired the Boy Wonder, Sean McVay, at the tender age of 30 years, 354 days? Well, Sean is now ninth in seniority among NFL head coaches. At 35 years old.

McVay could be moving at least one rung up the seniority ladder after this season. Zimmer, seventh on that list, could be on his way out after Sunday's game against the Bears puts a black bow on a season filled with plenty of excitement but not enough victories to avoid his first back-to-back non-playoff seasons.

If indeed this is the end of the Zimmer Era, one could say Zim got stuck somewhere in the upper middle of his profession, missing his window of opportunity in 2019 and sliding backward when the salary cap could no longer contain Kirk Cousins and some of Zimmer's key defenders.

Zimmer always was good enough to stay ahead of the grim reaper that felled the guys who got fired since he was hired. But he wasn't good enough to match the success or likely earn the extraordinary staying power of the six coaches ahead of him on the seniority list.

Each of those six — Bill Belichick (hired in 2000), Sean Payton (2006), Mike Tomlin (2007), John Harbaugh (2008), Pete Carroll (2010) and Andy Reid (2013) — has won at least one Super Bowl. Zimmer got to the doorstep of one but was thrashed 38-7.

Meanwhile, a look at the 28 men fired since 2014 tells us only two of them had a better regular-season winning percentage than Zimmer, who has gone 71-56-1 (.559). Only Detroit's Jim Caldwell (Class of '14), who went 36-26 (.563), and Tennessee's Mike Mularkey (Class of '16), who went 18-14 (.563), won more often than Zim.

Zimmer has three playoff seasons, two division titles and a 2-3 postseason record. Of the guys fired since he was hired, 18 never reached the playoffs, and only two of them had more playoff victories. Pederson went 4-2. Quinn went 3-2.

So, again, Zim was good enough in his eight-year partnership with General Manager Rick Spielman to warrant the Wilfs' patience.

But there is a breaking point to all situations, a time when one regime's turn at the wheel ends and another one takes over. It feels like that time has arrived in Minnesota for Zimmer and probably Spielman.

If Sunday is Zimmer's last game, at least try to remember him as one of the league's grittiest survivors.

When his wife, Vikki, died unexpectedly at 50 in 2009, Zimmer coached the Bengals defense in a game three days later. His players gave him a game ball after a victory.

Despite considerable success as a coordinator, Zimmer had to wait until he was 58 before he coached his first NFL game. Bud Grant was the same age when he coached the last game of his 18-year Vikings career.

When he arrived in Minnesota, Zimmer arrogantly said he would fix the league's worst defense. Then he did it.

Zimmer had to start four different quarterbacks in his first four seasons. Yet he won two division titles in four years and went to a conference title game as an old-school defensive-oriented coach at a time when the league was trending in the opposite direction.

Zimmer has often joked about writing a book detailing all the fires he has had to put out as Vikings coach. It would be a best-seller.

The Friday before Zimmer's second game, Adrian Peterson was indicted on child abuse charges. The Friday before what might have been Zimmer's second-to-last game, he lost Kirk Cousins to the COVID-19 list and had zero chance of winning a must-win game at Lambeau Field.

There isn't room to list all the other fires we know about in between. Maybe Zim can share some of those and the ones we don't know about if the Wilfs do indeed unhitch the now-65-year-old from their Purple wagons.