There remain football coaches devoted to the trite approach of selling the no-respect angle to their players, even when it comes with no basis in reality.
Mike Zimmer turned 60 in June, and he's entering his third season as head coach of the Vikings and his 23rd season of coaching in the NFL.
Apparently, he still believes players can be motivated by lying over what's being said about them — still believes that in an age when players can find out in a minute on their phones what's actually being said about their team.
In the case of the Vikings, it has been rampant optimism for 2016 from the moment they outplayed Seattle in a playoff game last January, only to lose when Blair Walsh missed a layup of a field goal.
The turnaround 11-5 season was followed by the Vikings' receiving strong reviews for their work in free agency and in the draft.
The story line from the local media, the bulk of the national media and certainly from Minnesota's sporting public is that the Vikings are so loaded with talent and so well-coached a Super Bowl is a reasonable possibility.
No matter. Zimmer opened training camp by giving the media a preview of the message that he would give his team: "People are saying we're not even in the top half of the NFC.''
When challenged by a reporter, Zimmer said he had seen "lots'' of predictions counting out the Vikings.
