AC

The Minnesota Vikings announced the hiring of Mike Zimmer as their new head coach via Twitter on Wednesday. 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. Zimmer will be introduced as the club's new coach at a noon ET news conference Friday. 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...