As Vikings prep for Pack, Zimmer tries to keep team grounded

As Vikings prep for Pack, Zimmer tries to keep team grounded

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.

(AP) — One of coach Mike Zimmer's favorite warnings for the Minnesota Vikings is this: 'Don't take the cheese.'

The advice to stay hungry and avoid complacency, analogous to a mouse sniffing a trap set with a tasty snack, will be especially pertinent now that they've moved past the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North.

'I'm sure you're all aware, all right, that we're in first place,' Zimmer told the players after a 30-14 victory Sunday at Oakland in a video posted on the team website. 'You know what that means? It means nothing. It's not where we are.

It's where we finish at the end of the year.'

If the Vikings beat the Packers for the first time since Dec. 30, 2012, they'll have a two-game lead in the race that would be more like three with six to play because of the tiebreaker edge.

Considering how Zimmer has consistently pushed his players to disprove whatever external doubts about them exist, an attitude he has acknowledged is rooted in his own personality and experience, the Vikings might as well be in last place. 'We have to continue to stay motivated and continue to play with that chip on our shoulders,' quarterback Teddy Bridgewater said. 'Don't believe everything you hear.

Don't believe everything you see.'

The Vikings would actually like to take down the cheese this week, with the Packers and their fans from the dairy state due to arrive.

Their biggest rival, winners of four straight division titles plus the Super Bowl after the 2010 season, is reeling.