Mike Zimmer had flashed a confident smile in a training camp interview with NFL Network, responding to a question about the Vikings' on-the-fly defensive rebuild by saying, "I've never had a bad defense, ever. So I don't anticipate that changing."
But after a 52-33 loss to the Saints on Friday that made plain the degree to which Zimmer's best-laid plans had, in fact, changed, the Vikings coach was asked about the preseason pronouncement and met it squarely.
"Yeah, this is a bad defense," Zimmer said. "Worst one I've ever had."
There will be plenty of time to parse through the obvious (and, in many cases, valid) qualifications: the season-ending injuries to Danielle Hunter and Anthony Barr, the pandemic that led nose tackle Michael Pierce to opt out for health reasons and wiped out the Vikings' offseason chances to work with their 15-player draft class, the calf injury that truncated another All-Pro season from linebacker Eric Kendricks.