The elephant in the room went unnoticed for one more day as the news media and Vikings coach Mike Zimmer met Friday via Zoom to put an awkward 5½ minute bow on the final week of preparation for what could be his 129th and final game in Minnesota.
Vikings' Mike Zimmer keeps his focus on the Bears, not the elephant in the room
The coach put an awkward five-and-a-half-minute bow on the final week of preparation for what could be his 129th and final game in Minnesota.
January 7, 2022 at 8:24PM
"Good week of practice," Zimmer opened with. "Bears coming into town. Very stout defense. Sounds like we're going to see Andy Dalton, which we were with in Cincinnati for a long time. They got some speedy receivers. [David] Montgomery's a really good back.
"And we're excited to get out there and go."
OK then.
The injury report was read, per usual, with nose tackle Michael Pierce (illness) listed as doubtful, and guard Wyatt Davis (illness) and cornerbacks Mackensie Alexander (ankle) and Kris Boyd (ribs) as questionable. Of the four, only Davis practiced Friday.
Pierce won't play for a ninth time this year, which means he will have missed more than half his second season in Minnesota after opting out of his first because of COVID-19 concerns.
Zimmer was asked to reflect on the injuries, illnesses and COVID absences on a defense that ranks 31st in yards (385.4 per game) and 25th in points (25.6).
"I haven't been able to reflect on the season or anything like that," he said. "We've just been focused on Chicago. I think that's probably something to think about in the offseason or maybe after this last game."
For the record, of the defense's 11 starters and top nickel corner (Alexander), only safety Xavier Woods and Alexander have played every game.
Danielle Hunter will miss his 10th game Sunday; Everson Griffen will miss his eighth. Anthony Barr missed six games this season, Patrick Peterson four and Harrison Smith two.
Linebacker Eric Kendricks, who has missed one game, remains on the reserve/COVID-19 list but could come off in time for Sunday's game at U.S. Bank Stadium. Zimmer didn't address Kendricks' status, but said he expects starting left tackle Christian Darrisaw and starting left guard Ezra Cleveland to come off the reserve/COVID-19 list on Saturday.
Though Zimmer wasn't in a reflective mood about his defense's season-long performance, the good buddy he's been coaching on and off with since 1988 at Weber State was.
"It's hard to get continuity when you're playing a bunch of different guys," said Andre Patterson, co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. "That's the thing that's been our issue from the beginning. Because of injury, because of COVID, I think we've never played a game with the 11 guys on defense that we thought we were going to have starting in training camp.
"You're disappointed because that hasn't been us. … But you are what the numbers say you are."
Speaking of numbers, they're low at cornerback. Besides Boyd and Alexander being questionable and not practicing, the Vikings also have Harrison Hand on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
The Vikings are, however, expected to get Cameron Dantzler (calf) back this week. That leaves him, Peterson and practice squad corners Tye Smith and Bryan Mills, who was signed this week.
"We'll be OK," Zimmer said when asked about his cornerbacks.
The Bears, meanwhile, listed defensive tackle Akiem Hicks (ankle) as out and defensive end Robert Quinn (shoulder), nose tackle Eddie Goldman (finger) and defensive back Duke Shelley (heel) as questionable.
With one more game left, Zimmer feels he doesn't have to address the elephant in the room or anything but the Bears on the field. As far as he's concerned, he's 71-56-1 (.559) and looking only at trying to reach 72-56-1 at the end of his eighth season in Minnesota.
"First of all, the guys came out and practiced really well this week," Zimmer said. "It was pretty much business as usual. I get these questions about, 'Are we going to play young guys?' The preseason, training camp, preseason games, that's for those guys to play.
"This is a regular-season game and we approach it the same as we would the first game of the year and the last game of the year. We grind the same. We do everything pretty much the same. Other than we backed down a few reps, but we do that at the end of the year anyway. This isn't the preseason, so we just go about our business the way we always have."
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.
