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Mike Zimmer Doubles Down on Controversial Fourth Down Play Call

By Jason Schandl

Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer doubled down on his controversial 4th down play-call from Sunday Night Football in Week 5.
Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer doubled down on his controversial 4th down play-call from Sunday Night Football in Week 5. / Abbie Parr/Getty Images
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The Minnesota Vikings suffered a heartbreaking Week 5 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday Night Football, losing 27-26 after taking a 13-0 lead into half time.

The big story of the game was a controversial fourth-down play call from Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, and he stands by the decision he made.

"I'd do it again," is a pretty strong statement from Zimmer and you can't blame him.

The Vikes were up five at the two-minute warning. They had the ball facing a fourth-and-1 from the Seattle 6-yard line. Rather than kicking a field goal to try to go up eight, they ran the ball with Alexander Mattison (who was in for the injured Dalvin Cook).

Mattison was stopped, and Russell Wilson worked his magic, leading the Seahawks on a game-winning drive.

A play-call like this is always going to be questioned if the team loses — that would have been the case whether Zimmer chose to kick or go for it.

Mattison had been running all over Seattle in that game, with 112 yards on 19 carries (5.9 per attempt) before he was stuffed. And no matter how well Wilson was playing, it's hard to fault a coach for trusting their defense to stop a potential 94-yard two-minute drill.

It really seems like the situation was a coin-flip — ESPN's win probability model projects just a 0.2% difference between the two decisions. It's hard to call either choice "wrong", and you love to Zimmer standing firm with his decision.

Of course, strong leadership only means so much when a team as talented as the Vikings opens the season by going 1-4.

FanDuel Sportsbook now gives Minnesota just +8500 odds to win the Super Bowl — the 20th best in the NFL.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.