The Minnesota Vikings surprised some folks when they went 7-9 under first year head coach Mike Zimmer last year. Zimmer coached up a top ten pass defense (which added Michigan State cornerback Trae Waynes in the first round of the draft this year) and squeezed an impressive first season out of rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. In fact, Bridgewater's impressive finish to last season has many expecting a breakout year. Couple that with the return of running back Adrian Peterson and Vikings fans are thinking playoffs.
Zimmer, however, is quick to put such talk to bed.
"I kind of take it with a grain of salt," Zimmer said via ESPN.com about the team's high expectations. "I believe that no team has played in a temporary stadium has gone to the playoffs, so we've got that going against us. We've got other things. We were 7-9 last year. I remind the team of these things. But the thing I keep telling the team is if we go out here in this parking lot and we play better than everybody else, we'll win the football game.
"It's nice to have people say nice things about you, but at the end of the day if you don't go out there and work, which we have to do during practice, if we don't go out there and work the way that we have to in the games and be on point with everything that we need to do, then they'll be saying the exact opposite very quickly."
Zimmer and Bridgewater still have a lot to prove in their second seasons. But Peterson's presence, the addition of speedster Mike Wallace and a healthy Kyle Rudolph have the Vikings optimistic about their offense. Continued development from second-year linebacker Anthony Barr and a repeat performance in the secondary should have this defense on track as well. It's not a surprise to see why the Vikings have become trendy playoff picks and general manager Rick Spielman is expecting success.
"This was my first opportunity to be involved in a hiring of a head coach, and to get a quarterback like Teddy in place that we think is going to definitely be the face of the franchise and lead us on the field for a long time," Spielman said. "Not to crown him king yet. He still has got a ways to go. He still has to learn. But if you can have those two pieces, I think you feel confident that you have those two pieces in place and then start building around that. Those are the two hardest positions to fill."
