It’s good to know the Minnesota Vikings are keeping Mike Zimmer as the head coach.

Star Tribune sports columnist Jim Souhan pointed out in his Dec. 31 commentary that Zimmer’s performance over the past 10 games would have gotten Brad Childress, Leslie Frazier or Mike Tice fired. Souhan also correctly noted that Zimmer had enough goodwill to survive this season’s implosion.

Souhan lists some of the issues:

• Two well-liked cornerbacks disobeyed Zimmer’s instructions for covering Jordy Nelson during the Green Bay Packers game on Christmas Eve.

• Zimmer tried to motivate his players before the bye week (when the team was 5-0) by using stuffed animals with the words “Fat cats get slaughtered.” The ploy became an NFL laughingstock.

• Zimmer quite often criticized players in public, which doesn’t win over the locker room.

• At the same time, Zimmer seemed to absolve himself of blame, even when his own clock management miscues were to blame for the loss at home against Detroit.

• His offensive coordinator, Norv Turner, outright quit.

• Several expected stars underperformed: Adrian Peterson, Laquon Treadwell, Anthony Barr.

• When the team was winning five in a row, Zimmer acted arrogantly, being someone Souhan said his friends would not recognize, and created an us-against-the-world attitude.

Souhan writes a fine column because he doesn’t tell you what you want to read. He tells it like it is. He’s right. Zimmer was part of the problem that led to an 8-8 season.

But think of this: His players kept fighting despite the season’s problems and that reflects on Zimmer’s coaching skills under some fairly extreme circumstances, with injuries and mistakes. Zimmer seems to learn from his mistakes, unlike many coaches we’ve seen at the helm of pro teams, and therefore we expect to see an even better Zimmer in the 2017 season.

This guy can do his job.

Souhan neglects to say the Vikes came close to winning in many of those losses. Kicker Blair Walsh missing field goals and extra points gave the Vikings at least two narrow losses.

The team would be 10-6 if it had replaced Walsh sooner instead of 8-8 and have a spot in the postseason.

We’d be lauding Zimmer, not questioning him. We’d be praising how he led the team to the playoffs two years in a row. Vikings fans would sing “Auld Lang Syne” and forget the downs of an up-and-down season.

And the sports columnists in Detroit would be questioning the coach of the Lions.