Vikings coach Mike Zimmer did not murder a bunch of stuffed animals

A report from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on Monday described Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer scattering stuffed animals throughout the locker room before his team’s bye week.

At some point, somebody had cut the throats of the animals and splattered them with red paint, with a sign reading “Fat Cats Get Slaughtered” hanging on a larger cat.

On Thursday, Zimmer began his press conference by refuting this report.

“I want to set the record straight on an erroneous report that I feel like attacked my character and my reputation,” Zimmer told reporters, via ESPN. “Actually, the stuffed animals I did have here were given to charity, to Toys for Tots. It just kind of goes to show you that when one thing gets out there -- and it was updated correctly, that I had nothing to do with it -- but unfortunately, the headlines still keep coming out, and it bothers me.”

Zimmer added that his charitable organization had received messages upset with the report from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Zimmer said, “I do a lot of crazy stuff, but I’ll admit it when I do it.”

When Zimmer was further questioned about the stuffed animals, he shut the subject down. “You know, I’m done talking about it. Let’s just talk about Chicago.”

It wouldn’t have been the first time we heard of a strange tactic to motivate an NFL team. This season, Ben McAdoo used a scene from Step Brothers to try to pump his team up.

Back in 2003, then Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio had his team take hacks at a tree stump with an ax to promote their mantra “keep chopping wood.”

Sometimes keeping it simple with a speech is much less strange, and safer as well.