Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer opens up about his ‘hard’ return to coaching

FRISCO — Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer can usually be short in his press conferences. Candid, sure, but over-explaining or filibustering isn’t normally his thing.

Monday’s press conference looked like it would take that route, as well. Until a question to Zimmer sparked a question of his own. He looked over at a member of the Cowboys public relations staff and asked if this press conference — the one preceding the final game of the season — would be his last of the season.

Once that was confirmed, Zimmer decided to open up — and by doing so, he dove deeper into a feeling that he teased during the same press conference the week prior.

Last week, Zimmer, 68, was asked whether he enjoyed his first season back coaching in the NFL after a multi-year hiatus. He initially joked that the season, especially the beginning, had been a blast. And while he eventually acknowledged that he enjoyed it, he was adamant that it hadn’t been easy.

“It’s been hard,” he said. “I’m not going to like about that. It’s hard. It’s been hard.”

A week later, in potentially his final press conference with the Cowboys, he explained why.

The reasoning began, to some extent, with regret.

Zimmer said that he started the season with a mentality that was frankly out of character. He built a long coaching career by doing things his way defensively. In his return to Dallas, he said he wanted to blend the successes of the previous defensive regime with his vision, rather than fully replacing and starting over.

“I was just doing things I was uncomfortable with,” Zimmer said. “I had to just do what I had to do.

“So here was the situation: they were good last year, right? So I came in and I didn’t really want to rock the boat. I probably wasn’t as tough as I typically am. I probably wasn’t as hard-headed about things — about how I wanted to do things — is the best way to say it. I wasn’t, and that’s what I regret the most.”

Zimmer couldn’t pinpoint an exact moment when things changed, but the team’s defensive performance signals a switch in production. The Cowboys played well in the five weeks leading up to Sunday’s game against Philadelphia. They had a top-five defense over that span in terms of EPA per play allowed, according to rbsdm.com. They had allowed an average of 22.2 points per game and forced 12 turnovers, helping the Cowboys go 4-1 over that stretch.

“There’s been a couple games this year that I watched the game and watched the film the next day and I said, ‘That’s how it’s supposed to look, this is how it’s supposed to look'” Zimmer said. “I keep feeling that way … and we started getting back to that spot and I felt like this is what resembles what my vision was of what it was supposed to be like.”

Sunday against Philadelphia was not that. The Cowboys defense allowed five touchdowns against an offense with two different backup quarterbacks, including one who had never thrown a touchdown pass prior to playing Dallas. Zimmer said he saw some of the old things that hindered them earlier — chief among them, a willingness to freelance by some players in the sake of trying to make a play.

Zimmer said that he anticipates the Cowboys defense going back to its second half form for the finale against Washington, with a little help from some changes.

But as for whether he’ll be back to coach the Cowboys defense again next season, that he couldn’t anticipate.

“We’ll just jeep trying to do the best job we can,” Zimmer said. “And then everyone will sit down and have a conversation and [Cowboys owner Jerry Jones] will decide what he decides.”

Whether it continues into next season or not remains to be seen. Still, despite being a difficult season, Zimmer believes today that he needed to return back to coaching.

“I needed it partly for my son,” Zimmer said.

Zimmer’s son, Adam, followed him into the family business. The Colleyville Heritage alum broke into the NFL as a coach in 2006. He had multiple assistant coaching jobs, including on his dad’s staff in Minnesota.

In 2022, while working remotely for the Cincinnati Bengals, Adam passed away. He was 38.

Tragic news: Adam Zimmer, the former #Vikings co-defensive coordinator and son of Mike Zimmer, has passed away, his sister Corri announced. He was 38.

Adam Zimmer was working for the #Bengals this season as an offensive analyst. A kind man gone far too soon. pic.twitter.com/g0kI825zEQ

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 1, 2022

“Adam was a terrific kid,” Zimmer said about his son. “Is a terrific kid. Really smart about football. He would’ve given his left arm to be here and do this. So I know that he’s upstairs looking down, cheering every Sunday.”

Zimmer apologized for getting emotional as his press conference ended.

There was no need to apologize. Because if it was his final one, it was his most insightful one.