Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer before an NFL game between the Minnesota Vikings and Kansas City Chiefs on November 3, 2019 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO. ((Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images))
MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Vikings open the regular season in about three weeks against the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium, and it’s unlikely that any fans will see it live due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $1 billion downtown Minneapolis stadium is usually filled with more than 60,000 screaming football fans on Sundays. Not so this year, due to the global health pandemic and a state mandate not allowing public gatherings of more than 250 people.
Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer isn’t happy about that, especially when other NFL teams are planning on having fans, albeit in a reduced capacity. He called it a “competitive disadvantage” on Friday.
“I think there’s some unfair things going on around it as far as some teams can have fans and some teams can’t,” Zimmer said. “It’s going to be very hard because some stadiums, they’re allowing people in and it looks like we’re not going to have any fans there early, which really stinks because we have unbelievable fans and they make that place rocking every Sunday.”
So while the Vikings will face their rivals in a mostly empty U.S. Bank Stadium, when the two teams meet at Lambeau Field on Nov. 8, there’s a greater likelihood there will be fans in some capacity since it’s an outdoor stadium.
It'll be up to them to generate their own energy.
"The best way to have home field advantage is to play really good, execute, make tackles, don’t make mistakes, commit penalties, turnovers, all those things. That’s why we’re going to have to be so disciplined in the way that we approach these things and go out and just be a better team than the team we’re playing," Zimmer said.
The Vikings wrap up their first full week of practices on Friday at TCO Performance Center. After an off day Saturday, they’ll get back to work on Sunday and the workouts will ramp up.
Zimmer said part of Sunday’s practice will include playing the last 10 minutes of the fourth quarter.
Then next Friday, the team will head to practice at U.S. Bank Stadium. That will feature playing a half of football that’s as close to the game day experience as possible. The scoreboard will be on, all the lights will be on and they’ll go through a game day routine.
“We’re going to do it exactly how it’s going to be in a game. A lot of these guys have never been to the stadium, they’ve never seen the locker room, they don’t know the pregame routine, they don’t know really anything about it. I’m just trying to acclimate them a little bit to that,” Zimmer said. “Practice halftime, these kids have never seen a 12-minute halftime before. Try to get them as used to it as they possibly can so the first day it’s not shocking.”
They’ll also be pumping in crowd noise at about 80 to 90 decibels.
Zimmer wishes Ron Riveral well after cancer diagnosis
Before Zimmer said anything about his team Friday morning, he took a moment to offer his prayers to Washington head coach Ron Rivera. It was revealed Thursday that Rivera was diagnosed with lymph node cancer, but he plans to continue coaching as long as his health will allow.
“Ron’s a good guy and we’ve had a good relationship for a long time. You wouldn’t wish that on anybody, but I understand the rigors that he’s going through with trying to coach a football team, trying to get his health back and all the things you have to do when you have some kind of sickness,” Zimmer said. “I’ve known him for quite a while and hope he pulls through this thing and stays healthy like the rest of us.”
Zimmer also said he reached out to New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton earlier this year. Payton tested positive for COVID-19 in the off-season, but made a complete recovery.