Earlier this week, an NFL story surfaced that was both hilarious and troubling: Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer reportedly slaughtered stuffed animals to motivate his team. The stuffed animals were splattered with red paint, had their throats slashed, and had stuffing coming out of them.
According to the report, Zimmer set up this morbidly cuddly symbol to convey a message: "fat cats get slaughtered." In other words, Zimmer was reportedly trying to tell his team: don't get too confident just because you're 5-0, because if you do, other teams will beat you down.
Zimmer says the report, which came from The Minneapolis Star Tribune, was untrue. The story was later corrected to state that Zimmer was not the party responsible for cutting the stuffed animals' throats.
"I want to set the record straight on an erroneous report that I feel like attacked my character and my reputation," Zimmer said Thursday, according to ESPN. "Actually, the stuffed animals I did have here were given to charity, to Toys for Tots. It just kind of goes to show you that when one thing gets out there—and it was updated correctly, that I had nothing to do with it—but unfortunately, the headlines still keep coming out, and it bothers me."
Zimmer said his charity, the Mike Zimmer Foundation, had received criticism after the story surfaced.
"I do a lot of crazy stuff," Zimmer said, "but I'll admit it when I do it."
The coach was pressed further, but he said he was "done talking about it."
First things first: the Star Tribune didn't say Zimmer "had nothing to do with it." In fact, as you can read in the report, the paper stands by its assertion that Zimmer scattered the stuffed animals.
Secondly: is Zimmer saying he donated decapitated stuffed animals to Toys for Tots? So much more information is needed for us to understand what really happened here.
Coaches use odd motivational tactics all the time, but this one was especially unique.
