MANKATO, Minn. -- Both Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer and linebackers coach Adam Zimmer were back with the team on Thursday, after a trip to Florida ended with some positive news about Mike Zimmer's ailing father Bill.

Bill Zimmer had a spinal stimulator put in his back about two years ago when doctors hit a nerve that made his leg go numb, Mike Zimmer said. "He hasn't eaten in about two weeks now," Mike Zimmer said of his 84-year-old father. "But he's tough. He's way tougher than I am."

Mike Zimmer and his three kids -- Adam, Corri and Marki -- all made the trip to Florida for Bill Zimmer's procedure this week. Mike Zimmer said his father had another procedure scheduled for Thursday. "I think, hopefully, today’s procedure went good and they’ll eventually get him to a longer term facility," Mike Zimmer said. "If today’s thing went good, I think he’s going to be OK."

The elder Zimmer coached his son at Lockport Township (Ill.) High School, where Mike played quarterback and linebacker. Ever the football coach, Bill Zimmer got a chance to watch some Vikings film on Mike's ubiquitous tablet during the trip.

"Corri says, ‘Dad, why don’t you watch football practice with him?’" Mike Zimmer said. "So I took the iPad out and he’s laying in bed flat and he’s got his hands under the covers and I put the iPad in front of him and I’m running plays and, shoot, he’s trying to get his hands on it and he’s holding that iPad and he must have watched it for five minutes. That was pretty cool."

If all goes well, Mike Zimmer said he didn't anticipate needing to make another trip to Florida. He'd been hoping to fly his parents to Minnesota in September, and sounded hopeful on Thursday that could still happen.

"[The visit] was really good for my mom, No. 1, and also my dad," Mike Zimmer said. "The nurse would tell him to do something he wouldn’t do it but if I told him to do something, he did it. It was good in that way."

Here are some other notes from Thursday's practice: