Mike Zimmer surrounded himself with a veteran staff when he came to Minnesota, hiring established coaches George Edwards, Andre Patterson and Jerry Gray and retaining long-time Vikings staffers George Stewart, Jeff Davidson and Mike Priefer. But the biggest and certainly most highly-publicized move of all came when Zimmer hired grizzled warhorse Norv Turner as offensive coordinator.
Fans were enthusiastic about the arrival of Turner and his vaunted offense with its emphasis on the vertical pass, but things didn’t exactly go as planned. Year one under Turner was sabotaged somewhat by Adrian Peterson’s almost-year-long suspension, rookie Teddy Bridgewater’s premature debut and the team’s lack of a genuine deep receiver.