The Minnesota Vikings head coach spoke to the local media on Tuesday and discussed how he feels about his team’s performance so far this season.
Halfway through the 2017 season and head coach Mike Zimmer has his Minnesota Vikings off to a 6-2 start for the second time in the last three seasons. The Vikings last three head coaches (Mike Tice, Brad Childress, Leslie Frazier) combined to lead the team to six wins or more in their first eight games just twice in 12 years.
Zimmer knows most of Minnesota’s fans are pleased with the team’s start to the year and the head coach was asked on Tuesday to share his own feelings about his players’ performance so far this season.
"“I like the way they go about their stuff. They’re playing with a confidence in the things that they’re doing. There’s some things we need to shore up. But I guess overall, I think we’re heading in the right direction.”"
It may be hard to tell, but this is what Zimmer sounds like when he’s happy (okay, maybe satisfied would be a better word to use). The Vikings have won six of their first eight games this year and the head coach knows how hard his players have worked to get to this point.
But Zimmer also knows Minnesota still has plenty of areas to improve upon if they are going to continue their success this season.
"“There’s a lot of areas we’re trying to get better at. We had too many negative plays the other day on offense. I don’t think we played our best game defensively the other day. Special teams gave up a couple big plays. Minnesota Vikings The Viking Age 0d - 6 biggest draft steals in Minnesota Vikings history More headlines around FanSided: 1d - Former Vikings first-round pick could reportedly return to NFC North 1d - Bears analyst has extremely embarrassing Kirk Cousins take 1d - 6 Vikings who (maybe) won't make the 53-man roster in 2023 2d - Which teams could be drafting a quarterback next year? 2d - Predicting what the Vikings will do in the 2023 NFL Draft based on 2022 More News at The Viking Age So there’s some things that we’re working on. That’s what we’re trying to do this week is work on these things.”"
The head coach’s approach to this year has also seeped into the minds of his players, including defensive tackle Tom Johnson who spoke about the team’s current mentality on Tuesday.
"“Who knows how good we can be. Every week we’re pressing to get better. Coach Zimmer keeps us humble around here so we’re just trying to get better weekly.”"
Following last season’s debacle after their bye week, the Vikings are not about to think they can just put the cruise control on and coast until the playoffs. Right now, they are getting ready to begin an eight game season with the end goal being a spot in the playoffs.
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And if Minnesota is able to get into the postseason this year, one can bet on Zimmer continuing to instill the same thoughts and approaches into his players’ heads so that the possibility of playing in a Super Bowl in the team’s home stadium this year has a legitimate chance of becoming an actual reality.