http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10297232/minnesota-vikings-hire-mike-zimmer-head-coach
The Minnesota Vikings will hire Mike Zimmer as coach, a league source told ESPN.
The Vikings and Zimmer, who spent the past five seasons as the Cincinnati Bengals' defensive coordinator, had been in negotiations in an effort to complete a deal Wednesday, according to league sources.
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Zimmer remained overnight after his second interview Tuesday was finished, with Vikings owner Zygi Wilf more centrally involved in the session, sources told ESPN.
Wilf made calls to selective references on Zimmer and came away satisfied to give a green light on hiring him to succeed Leslie Frazier as Minnesota's coach.
Parameters of a contract were in place, and negotiations between the Vikings and Zimmer's agent, Marvin Demoff, gained momentum toward completion, league sources told ESPN.
After surrendering the second-most yards and the most points in the NFL this season, the Vikings are turning to a head coach they believe can help fix those problems.
Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson said he was not surprised by Minnesota's choice of Zimmer.
"I've been keeping my eyes open with the head coach," Peterson told ESPN. "I knew (Zimmer) was probably the guy they were going to go with. It wasn't too much of a surprise."
Zimmer will have his work cut out for him. The Vikings had the worst opponent Total QBR (67.4) of any team during the Frazier era (2011-13), according to ESPN Stats & Information.