Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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EAGAN, Minn. — Mike Zimmer had a three-word question for Andre Patterson.
"Are you OK?"
The Vikings head coach checked in during lunchtime Thursday on his longtime friend and confidant who happens to be in his first year as the Vikings co-defensive coordinator.
"I could tell it was hard on him, all of the things going on," the head coach explained. "He said, 'It's hard, but it's because I'm a fixer and I want to help these players the best I can. He cares an awful lot about the players.
"He helps me in a lot of areas, as far as the way — because I don't know how to say things sometimes, he helps me with that," Zimmer added, "but we should be extremely proud of the job that he's done with the [Vikings] Social Justice group, leading them in the direction the players want to go. I think that's important."
Rather than a methodical continuation of Verizon Vikings Training Camp, Thursday's return to Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center after a players' day off, offered the opportunity to listen and learn about life experiences and focus on emotional external events.
Much like players in the locker room, Zimmer and Patterson have had different upbringings. Football brought their once parallel lives to an intersection, a brotherhood built on love and respect for one another.
Zimmer, 64, grew up in a predominantly white area of Illinois that differed greatly from the 60-year-old Patterson's experiences on the West Coast and during visits as a child to see family in the segregated South.
They've developed their "best-of-friends" connection over decades. They explained their togetherness and the team's approach to addressing major societal issues and external divisions during a video conference after practice.
Candid conversations, including some that haven't ended with a completely aligned ideology, have been part of the bonding through three years.
"We may not agree on how each of us sees it, but to me, the beauty of the relationship is that each one of us is willing to listen to one another and gain knowledge, whether I turn around and agree with how Zim' sees it or not," Patterson said. "At least I understand where he's coming from. And to me, I think that's the thing that we need in our society to make change happen."
There's not much that one man doesn't know about the other, but on Thursday, Zimmer learned that Patterson has been pulled over without cause on three occasions. None of the incidents resulted in a ticket — or worse — but that's not to say they were not hurtful experiences.
"That's not right," Zimmer's voice escalated before adding that a player shared a similar story.
Members of the Vikings Social Justice Committee, which formed in 2018, asked through Patterson for the time to have the meeting. Zimmer said he thought allocating that time for togetherness was more important than canceling football activities.
The Vikings have worked together through the aftermath of George Floyd's tragic death in Minneapolis in May. A police-involved shooting of a Black man named Jacob Blake in Wisconsin this week added to pain experienced by so many.
"We had probably a two-hour meeting, where a lot of the players expressed their opinions, their thoughts, and I think that was probably more important than sending people home today," Zimmer said. "So I'm proud of the team, the way that they went out and worked and practiced and also about the meeting, the way that they were able to communicate with themselves and one another."
Patterson said he thought Thursday's meeting was "outstanding."
"Like Zim' said, they spent over two hours communicating with one another and expressing things and coming up with ideas of the way that they can try to help make things better," Patterson said. "After they were done with one another, they called us as a coaching staff there with them to have us be involved in the conversation also. So for me it was a real proud moment to see the maturity that our football team has, how thoughtful our football players are and how caring they are."
Zimmer said "there really wasn't much discussion about not practicing." The focus instead was on how to make long-term positive impacts in multiple areas. Not practicing for a day, he said, wouldn't help achieve those goals.