Mike Zimmer calls loss 'embarrassing' and Vikings offensive line 'soft'

It took Mike Zimmer a dozen words to get to the one that best described his team’s 21-10 loss to the Eagles here in Philadelphia — “embarrassing.”

“It was embarrassing in at least two of the phases,” the head coach said, “and I’m very disappointed in the performance that we gave today. We turned the ball over offensively, we didn’t block people, we dropped balls, we got the quarterback hit, we [need] two inches and we can’t convert on third down or fourth down, we got three shots in the red zone in the first half, we throw an interception, we gave up a 98-yard kickoff return, we fumbled a punt. If you’re going to do those things, you have no chance to win.”

The biggest irritant to Zimmer was a Vikings offensive line that he said got “whipped” by the Eagles, who had six sacks and a dozen quarterback hits.

“We didn’t block anybody,” he said. “We were soft. We got overpowered.”

Zimmer said the Vikings have to fix their offensive line from within.

“We need to do a better job,” he said. “We’re not going to go down the street and pick up a bunch of guys. We need to get these guys better and we need to do it quickly. I’m disappointed that we allowed that to happen [today].”

Zimmer also defended his decision to keep Sam Bradford in the game for the final drive, on which his starting quarterback was slow to get up after one hit but responded to throw a touchdown pass in the final minute.

“I want them to learn how to fight under pressure,” he said. “So you know what, stay in there and fight. Get the guys to block for you and let’s go.”

Zimmer was asked if he could put his finger on why the team as a whole did not resemble the one that reeled off five straight wins to open the season.

“I don’t know. I’m going to put my finger on some things this week,” he said.