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Zimmer Reflects On NFC Title Game Loss, Quarterbacks, Great Fans

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (WCCO) – The Minnesota Vikings are in day two of processing what was.

On Tuesday, head coach Mike Zimmer moved to center stage to reflect on himself, the quarterbacks, the fans and his purpose.

Zimmer walked into his final press conference of the season reflective, taking some blame for a loss in Philadelphia in retrospect.

"I could have made some better calls. Sometimes when you're sticking with things and it's been successful for you, you continue to do it and maybe I did it a little bit too long," Zimmer said.

He needs a new offensive coordinator with Pat Shurmur headed to be the head coach of the New York Giants. Zimmer was vague on that.

"Yeah as soon as possible but I'm going to take my time and make sure we get the right thing," Zimmer said.

Regarding Teddy Bridgewater, they like him, but usually his injury takes up to two years to recover from if you do get back. So the book on him is cloudy.

"Well he's at the point where he can play. You just have to work through the part of figuring out where's he at. Obviously we didn't get to see him through games," Zimmer said.

Sam Bradford's status? Hard to tell.

"He feels like he is so we'll just have to see how he continues to improve," Zimmer said.

He was non-committal when asked about Case Keenum the first time. More direct when he was asked about him the second time.

"I think I just said that we're going to work through the process. Did I just say that? I'm going to work through the process just like I always do," Zimmer said.

What he knows with certainty is there is a love affair between his team and the fans.

"Our fans were unbelievable the way they helped this football team out. They talked about bringing the whole state together," Zimmer said.

And this might have been his last news conference at Winter Park, a facility that has reminded him every day what he wants.

"You know one of the things I want to do is put up another one of those banners. We put some up on the other side so I come in and look at Bud Grant's picture on the other end of this field house every day," Zimmer said.

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