Mike Zimmer is in his fifth season as Bengals defensive coordinator, coming off a 2011 campaign during which his unit helped lead Cincinnati into the playoffs for the second time in three years.
Mike Zimmer is in his fifth season as Bengals defensive coordinator, coming off a 2011 campaign during which his unit helped lead Cincinnati into the playoffs for the second time in three years.
Cincinnati finished seventh in the NFL in fewest yards allowed (316.3 per game) and ninth in fewest points allowed per game (20.2). One of Zimmer’s stated goals for 2011 was to strengthen the pass rush, and the Bengals finished the season with 45 sacks, fifth in the NFL and up 60 percent from a total of 27 during an injury-plagued 2010 season. Fifteen players contributed to the sack total, tied for the most in franchise history with the exception of a 1987 club that essentially had two different rosters due to strike replacement play.
The 2011 defense also posted top 10 NFL rankings in fewest yards allowed per play (fourth at 5.0), fewest yards per rushing play (eighth at 3.9) and fewest yards per passing play (fourth at 6.8).
In 2009, Zimmer earned NFL Assistant Coach of the Year honors from Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers and from CBSSports.com. He also won the assistant of the year award from FOX broadcaster and Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw.
Supporting Cincinnati's run to the 2009 AFC North championship, the defense ranked No. 4 in the NFL (301.4 yards allowed per game) and led the team to a No. 6 ranking in scoring defense (18.2).
Before Zimmer opted to return to the Bengals for 2012, his work earned him interviews for the head coaching positions at Tampa Bay and Miami.
Zimmer is in his 19th season as an NFL coach, and 2012 marks his 13th straight year as a defensive coordinator. He was Dallas's coordinator from 2000-06, including four years (’03-06) under head coach Bill Parcells. Zimmer moved to the Atlanta Falcons as coordinator in 2007 and signed with the Bengals on Jan. 15, 2008.
Zimmer joined the NFL with Dallas in 1994, working his first six seasons as secondary coach.
He led top 10 defenses for Dallas in both the 4-3 and 3-4 schemes. His 4-3 defenses finished No. 4 in net yards allowed (287.4) in 2001 and No. 1 in ’03 (253.5). And in 2005, Zimmer installed a 3-4 scheme, marking Dallas's first departure from the 4-3 since the club was founded in 1960. In that transition year, the Cowboys finished 10th in the NFL in total defense.
Six times during Zimmer’s tenure as secondary coach and coordinator, the Cowboys finished fifth or better in the NFL in scoring defense.
Zimmer earned a Super Bowl ring as secondary coach with the 1995 Cowboys team that defeated Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XXX. One of Zimmer’s players, unheralded CB Larry Brown, won the game’s MVP award with a pair of interceptions.
Zimmer coached 15 years in the college ranks before joining the Cowboys, working at Missouri, Weber State and Washington State.
Born on June 5, 1956, in Peoria, Ill, Zimmer played QB and later LB at Illinois State. He has three children — son Adam and daughters Corri and Marki. Adam Zimmer earned a Super Bowl ring in 2009 as defensive assistant/linebackers coach for the New Orleans Saints, and Adam in 2012 is in his third year on the Kansas City Chiefs staff. Mike’s father, Bill, made the Illinois Hall of Fame as a prep football and wrestling coach.
Vikki Zimmer, Mike’s wife of 27 years, passed away in Cincinnati on Oct. 8, 2009. The Pro Football Writers of America recognized Zimmer’s ordeal, and the defense’s strong 2009 performance, by voting him the organization’s ’09 Halas Award, which goes annually to the individual in the NFL who overcame the most adversity to succeed.
PLAYING AND COACHING HISTORY - 1974-76: Played QB and later LB at Illinois State. 1979-80: Assistant coach (AC), Missouri. 1981-82: AC, Weber State. 1983-88: Defensive coordinator, Weber State. 1989-93: Defensive coordinator, Washington State. 1994-99: AC, Dallas Cowboys. 2000-06: Defensive coordinator, Dallas Cowboys. 2007: Defensive coordinator, Atlanta Falcons. 2008-present: Defensive Coordinator, Bengals.
