Asked on Monday to assess a working relationship now in its second decade, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer touched on long-familiar themes shared between himself and general manager Rick Spielman: their perfervid personalities, their Rust Belt upbringings as the sons of no-nonsense high school coaches.
"Most importantly, we really love football," Zimmer said. "We love the process of all this. We love trying to put together a championship-caliber football team. We love the discipline we have to have within this building of trying to make sure that guys are doing the right things, they're studying the right ways.
"All the way along we've had a really good relationship, and obviously it's grown.