Paul Guenther Joining Vikings as Senior Defensive Assistant

[Viktor]

EAGAN, Minn. — When the Vikings visited the Cincinnati Bengals to open the 2016 preseason with a pair of joint practices and a game, Minnesota Head Coach Mike Zimmer hosted the entire traveling party at Zimmer Ridge Ranch.


The evening nestled in the hills of Northern Kentucky included barbecue catering from Cincinnati's famed Montgomery Inn, skeet shooting, rides on the quads and tours of the home as it neared its completion.


It was an open house — er, ranch? — allowing Zimmer to offer hospitality to people within the organization that offered him a long-sought coaching position.


The evening also provided an opportunity for a reunion with Paul Guenther, who had been an assistant with the Bengals before Zimmer's hire as Cincinnati's defensive coordinator in 2008. Guenther made the trek to those Northern Kentucky hills to spend time catching up with the man he had replaced in 2014 when Minnesota hired Zimmer.