EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- While the Minnesota Vikings are going through organized team activities over the next three weeks, coach Mike Zimmer is holed up at his ranch in northern Kentucky, getting some rest and letting his right eye recover after his eighth operation last Wednesday. Even as he manages things remotely, however, the Vikings say there's no ambiguity about who's calling the shots.

"I know he's going to be out for a couple weeks, and we'll kind of re-evaluate where he's at, and when he can get back on the field," general manager Rick Spielman said Wednesday. "But I know there's no question he's still in charge of this football team and what's going on between the white lines."

Zimmer was driven to his ranch in Kentucky, has been cleared to watch practice film as his eye recovers and remains in "constant communication" with coaches, Spielman said.

"The biggest thing is, him being out here on the practice field, yelling and screaming, putting in the time and energy that he does in this job, to just get away and let it heal and let it recover," Spielman said.

Spielman wouldn't say whether Zimmer would be back in time for the Vikings' mandatory minicamp in mid-June, but made it clear that now is the time for the coach to resolve the vision problems that have lingered since last October.

"I will just say, Coach Zimmer is very hardheaded on a lot of things, and sometimes just like these players you just have to make sure that your health comes first," Spielman said. "Hopefully this surgery which we are very optimistic about, will be the surgery that corrects the detached retina."