National Football League

Mike Zimmer won't coach in Thursday night's Vikings-Cowboys game

Published Dec. 9, 2016 12:56 p.m. ET

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Dan Graf

The Minnesota Vikings will be without coach Mike Zimmer when they play host to the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night.

Zimmer, 60, had emergency eye surgery Wednesday to repair an issue with his retina that apparently wasn’t solved by two early-November procedures.

Special teams coach Mike Priefer will fill in for Zimmer on an interim basis, according to the team.

General manager Rick Spielman told reporters Thursday morning that Zimmer’s vision in one eye “got significantly worse” Wednesday.

Zimmer’s Vikings are 6-5 and in second place in the NFC North after getting off to a 5-0 start. They’ll take on a Cowboys team that has won 10 straight games and has an NFL-best 10-1 record.

Priefer has no previous NFL head coaching experience but was suspended by the team for three games in 2014 after an independent investigation of the organization into claims by former punter Chris Kluwe determined that the special teams coach made a homophobic remark in 2012.

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