Mike Zimmer is not the kind of guy to take a day off unless it is entirely necessary. It became necessary for Zim to take some time off when he underwent his eighth eye surgery. Zimmer's eye condition has been a story for the Vikings all of last season. Zimmer underwent a number surgeries during the season and was seen on the sidelines coaching with an eyepatch. During the season, Zimmer took little to no time to recover from the surgery and this may have had something to do with the lingering of the injury. Zimmer admitted that he pushed back when the doctors told him that he needed to take a leave of absence from the team.
How did the injury start?
After a terrible loss to the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football on November 1 of last year, Zimmer went to see doctors about his eye. During the game, he had scratched his eye and had torn his retina. He had surgery about a week later and doctors thought that was the end of the procedure. Later on in the month, Zimmer experienced more vision issues and missed the Thursday night game against Dallas because of an emergency procedure for a detached retina the day before. Zim was back with the team the next week when they flew to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars.
In April Zimmer had surgery to put an oxygen bubble in his eye that was supposed to act as a sort of band-aid for the eye.
This procedure developed a cataract, so they needed to have a follow-up procedure to remove the cataract and put more oil back in the eye. The problems didn't end there, the silicone oil built up a dangerous amount of pressure in the eye that could lead to glaucoma if it was not treated. Another surgery was needed to remove the oil and put the oxygen bubble back in.
How will this affect the 2017 season?
Zimmer struggles with not being with his team, but he realizes that it is important to get back to full strength in order to make his eighth eye surgery his last. Zimmer stated that he was the one that was "pushing back" on the doctors' orders. He did this because he knew how imperative it is to spend time with the team.
He has delegated much of his coaching power to the remaining coaching staff and has faith in his staff to continue to improve the team.
Zimmer has stayed in constant contact with his coaches during Ota's. He has been receiving videos from practice and remains in contact with all of the coaches. Zimmer hopes to make it back by the start of mandatory mini-camps. The situation is far from ideal, but it is better to go through something like this when there are no games being played.
