![Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer watched the final minute of play in the second half. ] ANTHONY SOUFFLE • anthony.souffle@startribune.com The Minnesota Vikings played the Buffalo Bills in their final Preseason game Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019 at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/NLCSD5FI3QPAGPULPRKDIV6Y6Q.jpg?&w=1080)
BY THE NUMBERS
Zimmer's defense
15.4: That's the average number of points scored by a Vikings opponent in Week 1 in Mike Zimmer's first five seasons as head coach. The team has gone 4-1 while holding all five opponents to fewer than 21 points.
Only three other teams have surrendered fewer points in their past five season openers.
"[Week 1] is always hard," said Zimmer, whose team plays the Falcons at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday. "Like I told the team, every team has new wrinkles. We have new wrinkles. They have new wrinkles."
But in today's NFL, nobody shows even a hint of those new wrinkles during the monthlong preseason. So coaches must look for tendencies from prior years. And in a league that turns over coordinators pretty quickly — there are 13 new offensive coordinators this season — that can include not only going back, but studying a coordinator who's working with different rosters, skill sets and talent.
"Sometimes," said Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski, "we go back too far. … It can become paralysis by analysis."
Added Zimmer: "Sometimes you might go in with a little bit too much game plan just in case."
And sometimes a team just has to trust its strengths and, oh yeah, play harder than the other guys.
"I tell the defensive team all the time, it's very difficult to be good on defense," Zimmer said. "You have to play extremely hard, you have to play fast, you have to play smart. If you don't run to the ball, if you don't get going to the ball and swarm the ball, then you're going to struggle. That's what makes it hard."
