Vikings announcer says Mike Zimmer “snapped” over Kirk Cousins shove

Vikings announcer Paul Allen says Mike Zimmer “snapped” when Kirk Cousins pushed him after Minnesota’s late victory over the Lions.

Former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer and quarterback Kirk Cousins tried to play off their shoving match after Minnesota beat Detroit on a last-second field goal as intense celebration.

Skepticism followed.

Now, Minnesota announcer Paul Allen is suggesting that everyone who thought the moment was a microcosm of the deteriorated relationship between the coach and quarterback was 100 percent correct.

Vikings announcer believes Mike Zimmer “snapped” over Kirk Cousins shove

“Back to like the middle of the season. Home game and it’s a victory. Yeah, Zim snapped when Cousins pushed him,” Allen said on KFAN, per Bring Me The Sports. “And looking back at it, the former head coach got that side-eye and rage steaming from his nostrils. And he wanted to go. But then he didn’t want to go. Kirk sensed a free shot during the working relationship and he got one in.”

That’s definitely not the way Zimmer and Cousins portrayed the incident after the fact, but it makes a lot more sense than the explanation they offered.

It all went down in October, as the Vikings nearly let a 10-point fourth-quarter lead slip away against the visiting Lions. D’Andre Swift scored for Detroit with 37 seconds remaining, while a two-point conversion put Detroit ahead 17-16.

Cousins led a quick drive to put Minnesota in field goal range. Greg Joseph did the rest from 54 yards for the win.

Tension between Zimmer and Cousins had been evident since the summer when the head coach used media availability to express his frustration with the quarterback for his stance on the COVID-19 vaccine. Murmurings suggested the two were even more unaligned when it came to how the offense was run.

Cousins’ decision to turn and grab Zimmer after that field goal was meant to show him up, as Allen tells it.

That working relationship is now finished. Zimmer was fired after the conclusion of the 8-9 season. The oft-doubted Cousins now gets to forge ahead in Minnesota, preferably without the onfield outbursts, with new head coach Kevin O’Connell.