9Mike Zimmer – Vikings coach
Sean McVay deserves Coach of the Year award, and there is no doubt about it. However, Mike Zimmer also deserves some credit at least since he made and developed a Super Bowl-class defense that managed to keep opponents under 20 points in 10 of their 14 games. Zimmer, 61, had been trying for years to get a coaching position. ‘Others get it at a younger age and they get a chance at a younger age,’ Bill Parcells commented about Zimmer. ‘But his time came now and it looks like he was pretty well-prepared for it.’
Minnesota has constantly tormented opponents all season long — while other NFC rosters nab all the press — and plays Saturday night for a chance to seal up a first-round bye. The concept of Case Keenum predicting a Super Bowl start for the Vikings in their home stadium would have been considered a crazy wild idea in August. Now, however, it seems really plausible.
