In the nights leading up to his first game as an NFL head coach, Mike Zimmer has had trouble falling asleep. But once he was able to last night, he had a vivid dream he hopes will one day come true.
"I had a heck of a dream last night," Zimmer said this afternoon. "I dreamt we won the Super Bowl. It was amazing. It felt real, too. I was getting ready to get up on that podium. And then I woke up."
Zimmer did not pull a Rex Ryan, though, and predict that the Vikings will win the Super Bowl.
But he did say he is proud of the way the team has responded to the coaching staff, and he is excited to finally see his new-look Vikings in a game that counts Sunday when they play the St. Louis Rams.
Zimmer added that he, not defensive coordinator George Edwards, will be making most, if not all, of the defensive calls against the Rams. He experimented with calling the plays while managing the game during the preseason, and evidently he felt juggling both wouldn't be too much responsibility.
He said after making his preseason debut that he is not a sentimental man. But we'll see if that changes Sunday for Zimmer, who was repeatedly spurned for head-coaching jobs before this year.
"It hasn't hit me yet, but it will," the 58-year-old coach said. "I'll be nervous. But I'm excited to watch this team play. If we play like we practice and do the things we did, I really shouldn't be nervous because we're doing the right things. It's just my nature. I'm kind of a high-strung type."
