Mike Zimmer: Some Anti Vaccine Sentiment ‘Out There’
Nobody envies an NFL head coach during the Covid-19 pandemic, as Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer and his frustration illustrates.Â
It’s the second week of training camp, and the Minnesota Vikings are already struggling to keep the roster healthy. On Sunday, they were reduced to three of four quarterbacks due to positive tests and contact tracing.
Kirk Cousins, Kellen Mond and Nate Stanley were all placed on the Covid-19/reserve list on Sunday. This came just one day after Jake Browning was the only available quarterback on Saturday.
The Vikings are looking at a plan that would keep one quarterback separate from the rest of the room in order to ensure they always have at least one healthy. However, as with the pandemic itself, that depends on who’s vaccinated and who isn’t.
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Mike Zimmer couldn’t help but vent about the vaccination divide at a recent press conference. “I just feel like we’re going to have guys miss games,” Mike Zimmer said. “There are so many cases going on right now. We’re going to have guys miss some games and we have to be prepared for it.
“Going through all the things you had to do last year with masks, protocol, traveling, can’t leave for a day, can’t go out and see your family and all the things — can’t go out to dinner on the road, have to wear masks on the plane, all that stuff. It was just difficult,” Zimmer said. “I just don’t understand, I just don’t understand. I think we could put this thing to bed if we all do this. But it is what it is.”
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 “Like I said, these guys, some of them just won’t do it. I shouldn’t say it, but some of the things they read is just, whew, out there.
“It’s their beliefs, so. I don’t know if it’s misinformation. It’s their belief, so whatever they’ve heard or read or been told. Not from — maybe they don’t believe what [NFL chief medical officer] Dr. [Allen] Sills and the NFL is telling them either, so.”
