Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer, who’s in his second year, has his team off to a 7-3 start and in contention for a NFC playoff berth.
The Vikings went 7-9 last season, including a 41-28 victory over the Falcons. With the return of dynamic running back Adrian Peterson and the development of second-year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, Zimmer has the Vikings looking like a contender.
“Like everything in the NFL, you try to move on and get going,” Zimmer said about that rough first year with Peterson on suspension for child abuse. “We’ve had our things this year as well. It’s just part of the NFL football season. But yeah, it’s nice to have him back. The players love him. I love him.”
If the playoffs started this week, the Vikings and the Falcons would have the final spots in the NFC. The loser of this game will suffer a major setback.
“We don’t have the luxury of pouting or sitting back and worrying about things,” Zimmer said. “I just told them that we can’t do anything about what happened five weeks ago when we played San Diego or last week when we played Green Bay. All we can do is focus on us and how we can get better, study hard for Atlanta, focus on us getting better as a football team. Really, try to get going with this last push.”
