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MINNEAPOLIS — Mike Zimmer does know how to smile. Laugh, too. His players on the Minnesota Vikings have seen it and heard it, and they understand that his gruff countenance and pipe-wrench bluntness belie a warm regard for their welfare.
Late Monday night, Zimmer stepped behind a lectern inside U.S. Bank Stadium looking as if he had just chugged a gallon of spoiled milk — which, to be fair, might have been more appealing than watching his team curdle on its home field against its fiercest rival with the N.F.C. North still undecided.
“That’s what happens when you don’t play as good as you can,” Zimmer said.