The Vikings, who last Tuesday scattered across the country for their bye week like college students peeling out for fall break, were back in the building Monday morning, rested and refocused.
Since the last time the players were all together, the Vikings gained another game in the standings on the Green Bay Packers, seemingly their only remaining threat to a second straight NFC North crown, after the Packers fell to 3-2 with Sunday's loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
By starting 5-0 for the first time since 2009, the Vikings have positioned themselves to challenge for a first-round playoff bye, too. But as far as coach Mike Zimmer is concerned, they are 0-0 after their much-needed early bye week and will "start a new season" this weekend when they travel to Philadelphia to play Carson Wentz and the 3-2 Eagles.
"You just forget about what has happened in the past, and we start moving on," Zimmer said. "So now, for us, I think it's an 11-game season. And we'll see where we're at then."
In both of Zimmer's first two years as head coach, his players were not sharp in their first practice back from the bye week and Zimmer did not hide his frustration. This year, he was pleased with what he saw from them on the practice field and in the meeting room.
"My first year, when I'd give them some time off, they'd come back and forget everything they had learned," Zimmer said after the practice. "Today it wasn't like that. Now there was some things that I saw that we had to correct quickly. Their recall right now is so much better than what it was. That was the important thing to me."
Asked what the difference was Monday compared with the previous two years, outside linebacker Anthony Barr said, "We know we got something special going right now so we want to make sure that we stay on point and continue to build on what we have."
Zimmer and the coaching staff spent the bye week doing a "five-game self-scout" to identify areas where the Vikings need to improve in order to keep on rolling.