Mike Zimmer turns 61 years old Monday. His birthday present is going back to work.
The Minnesota Vikings announced Zimmer has been cleared to return after an eighth eye surgery. He missed workouts the past two weeks.
Zimmer began to experience trouble with his eye in October 2016 before the series of surgeries. He missed an early December game against the Cowboys due to the issue.
Zimmer discussed stepping away from the team on March 22 during a radio interview with KFAN-FM in Minnesota.
"The doctors all got together and we had a long meeting about what's the best for my recuperation of this eye and they are saying I need to spend the next couple weeks working on my recovery," Zimmer said. "I just left the doctor's office, had really good news -- the redness looks great, the pressure in my eye is really good. At this point now, we just need to take it easy and make sure it continues in the right way.
"I'll be back hopefully shortly. They felt like it would be better for me to get away for a little bit and just relax."
We aren't sure how much relaxing Zimmer got done during his two-week hiatus. The team sent the coach film of organized team actitivies each day and was in contact with its leader throughout the process.
