On Wednesday, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said rookie quarterback Kellen Mond wouldn’t play in the preseason opener against the Broncos. Mond played a lot, handling six drives as only one of two quarterbacks who played for Minnesota against Denver.
After the game, Zimmer denied saying that Mond wouldn’t play.
“I never said that,” Zimmer said after Saturday’s game, via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I never said that. Somebody said, ‘Is it possible that he’ll play’ and I said yes. He was always going to play.”
Tomasson said he checked the tape; Zimmer was asked if it’s “realistic” that Mond will play on Saturday and Zimmer said, “No.”
The video of Zimmer’s Wednesday’s press conference -- as posted on the Minnesota Vikings official website -- backs up Tomasson. Zimmer is asked if it’s “realistic to get [Mond] in the game on Saturday,” and Zimmer says, “No.”
It’s not a big deal. But it provides further proof as to something that we routinely preach in these parts: it always makes sense to wonder whether anything and everything said by coaches and executives is actually the truth.
