Ed Werder says Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner and coach Mike Zimmer did not see eye to eye on how to improve the Vikings' offense. Herm Edwards says Turner made the best decision for the team. (1:56)

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minnesota -- Mike Zimmer prepared for decades to be an NFL coach. So when that time came, in January 2014, Zimmer knew exactly what he wanted to do.

He would use his considerable expertise to rebuild the Minnesota Vikings' defense, then hire experienced coaches to handle the rest of the team. Norv Turner, a head coach for 15 years and an NFL coordinator for eight others, was his choice for the offense.

For most of his 2½ years with the coordinator, Zimmer gave Turner almost complete autonomy. The arrangement sounded ideal and respectful, but ultimately it was a mistake -- one that was born of good intentions, but in the end was responsible for Turner's stunning resignation midway through a 5-2 season.

Zimmer has always said he's had a hand in the team's offensive approach, but the truth came out Wednesday in the raw emotion of Turner's decision.

"I would say that since Norv has been here, I've given him almost 100 percent, total free will in everything that they've done offensively," Zimmer said. "Obviously I'd come in and make suggestions, but there really has never been a time when I have demanded anything from there."

I'm sure Zimmer takes some professional pride in that approach, especially as a longtime assistant himself. Who wouldn't want a boss who stays out of the way? But it rendered him powerless to execute one of the basic jobs of a head coach: to "coach" the assistants. Mike Zimmer hired Norv Turner as his offensive coordinator in 2014. Kamil Krzaczynski/USA TODAY Sports

Turner is one of the most accomplished coordinators of this generation, and in this case, he was hired to be the head coach of the Vikings' offense. This is never an ideal approach, regardless of the mutual admiration and achievements of the respective parties.

When something goes wrong and a schematic adjustment needs to be made, it's the job of the head coach to step in and make sure it gets done. It's not always pleasant. It could encounter resistance and might be inferred as disrespect, but it's an important part of the checks and balance of leadership, and it was something Zimmer has largely avoided addressing in a direct way through the ups and downs of the Vikings' offense during his tenure.

His lone attempt was shaking up Turner's staff after the 2015 season. When the music stopped, the Vikings suddenly had two former head coaches -- tight ends coach Pat Shurmur and offensive line coach Tony Sparano -- nipping at Turner's heels. Even those changes were passive aggressive. Zimmer hoped to effect change through the ideas and influence of others.

All it did was lead Turner to believe that he was being disempowered. Close observers of the offense noticed that it increasingly included concepts that Shurmur and quarterback Sam Bradford had used when they were with the Philadelphia Eagles and St. Louis Rams. On Wednesday, Turner told ESPN's Ed Werder that he and Zimmer "have different views of where the offense was going."

Anyone watching this season knows that the biggest reason for the Vikings' offensive struggles is injuries. There isn't a team in the NFL that could skip seamlessly through the loss of its starting quarterback, running back and both tackles. But there are always schematic adjustments that can be made to minimize personnel deficiencies, and it doesn't take a genius to understand that Turner didn't agree with the suggestions he was hearing from inside the coaches' room.

I don't blame him. Norv Turner has been coaching his way for a long time. And for the most part, it has worked. Zimmer hired him to do his thing in Minnesota, and Zimmer essentially recused himself from having a substantive role in the direction of the offense.

With Zimmer unable or unwilling to insert himself directly in times of crisis, to guide Turner effectively through adjustments that could be made, this arrangement was doomed from the start.

I don't think Zimmer will make the same mistake again. I asked him Wednesday if he would preside differently over the offense after promoting Shurmur into the coordinator's role. He paused, took some time to consider the answer, and said, "I always had really good dialogue with Norv. So I think I'll continue to have good dialogue with those guys. We'll just have to see where things go."

Shurmur has a tough job ahead of him. He must find a way to score points without an NFL-caliber feature back and with an offensive line that has been getting smoked on a weekly basis.

Zimmer's job will be tougher, however. Amid a two-game losing streak, he'll need to assert himself once and for all as the coach of the Vikings' offense, defense and special teams. You can pick whatever cliché you want, but I'll go with this: The ship can't go down with someone other than the captain at the helm.