It was a good week for Leslie Frazier and a not-so-good week for the perception that the NFL game has moved past the former Vikings head coach.
Last Monday, Bills coach Sean McDermott returned the defensive play-calling duties to Frazier, his defensive coordinator. Six days later, McDermott handed Frazier a game ball after Buffalo's defense manhandled the Vikings in the NFL's biggest upset in the past 23 years.
"If you look at where we were a week ago, 0-2 and coming in here to play a team that played in the NFC Championship Game, the stakes don't get much higher," Frazier said after the 27-6 victory at U.S. Bank Stadium. "It's not about me. It's a big day for our team. Big."
The Vikings were 16½-point favorites. Until Sunday, teams favored by 16 or more were 47-0 since 1995.
"You like that!" cornerback Tre'Davious White screamed to reporters, mocking the phrase now-Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins became famous for after leading the Redskins to a come-from-behind victory three years ago.
Frazier said he didn't like having his play-calling duties stripped from him while the Bills trailed the visiting Chargers 28-6 at halftime last week.
"But I told Sean that I've been in his seat before so I understood," said Frazier, who coached the Vikings from midway through the 2010 season through 2013. "But, yeah, you don't like it when stuff like that happens to you. You want to battle through it.
"But sometimes, in our profession, it requires patience. To Sean's credit, we sat down this past week and worked some things out and I'm back doing what they hired me to do for them."