Vikings co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson said he's bounced back from a tough bout with COVID-19, as the 61-year-old coach continued to conduct virtual meetings during an eight-day quarantine despite battling a cough and other symptoms that required medication.
Vikings' Andre Patterson says COVID-19 'hit me pretty good'
The team's co-defensive coordinator was away from the team for eight days after testing positive but continued to lead virtual meetings.
January 5, 2022 at 11:31PM
"I'm feeling a lot better now," Patterson said Wednesday in his first comments since returning last week. "It wasn't a lot of fun. It hit me pretty good."
Patterson, the longtime defensive line coach and confidant of coach Mike Zimmer, said the Dec. 26 loss against the Rams was the first game he'd ever missed in 40 straight years of coaching at the college and NFL levels. He wanted to send a message Wednesday about the potential dangers of COVID-19.
"People need to understand how serious this deal is," Patterson said. "It's not about you personally – it's about the people around you: your children, your parents, your grandparents. You don't want them to go through this and have to deal with the effects that come with it once you even get rid of it."
"A lot of times in life," he added, "we've got to make sacrifices for the people we love and for our community and surroundings. So, to be protected from this deal, I think it's very important; I'm vaccinated, I had the booster, the whole 9 yards, and I still got it. And it still knocked me down pretty good. It's scary for me to even think what would have happened to me if I hadn't been vaccinated."
Patterson said defensive linemen would reach out after virtual meetings to check in on their position coach.
"They could hear the difference in my voice," he said. "They could hear the coughing, they knew I was struggling with it, so after meetings were over and after practice was over, I'd get constant texts from all of them. I think they saw the seriousness of it."
Cook backs coaching staff
Running back Dalvin Cook, a team captain, offered his vote of confidence for Zimmer and the Vikings coaching staff when asked about the direction of the franchise after a second straight losing season.
"I had different coordinators every year, but my head coach and everything, I've been with these people five years, fighting and trying to win games, lost games, good times, bad times," Cook said. "I wouldn't want to go to war with nobody else but these people."
Masks required at Sunday's game
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Fans attending Sunday's regular-season finale against the Bears at U.S. Bank Stadium will be required to wear masks indoors unless eating or drinking, the team said in a statement on Wednesday after the reinstatement of indoor mask mandates in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
"Due to the city-wide mask mandate announced today by Mayor [Jacob] Frey and the City of Minneapolis," a Vikings statement read, "fans attending Sunday's Vikings-Bears game at U.S. Bank Stadium will be required to wear face coverings at all times inside the stadium, except when eating or drinking. As we have throughout the pandemic, we will continue to comply with the state and local guidelines in the best interests of health and safety."
Etc.
- Former Vikings tackle Phil Loadholt will reportedly join the football staff at the University of Oklahoma, where he became a 2009 second-round pick by the Vikings. Loadholt spent the past two seasons as an offensive line analyst for the University of Mississippi.
- Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson, the former Vikings' fifth-round pick, was named the AFC's special teams player of the week for the third time of the year. He is tied for fourth in the NFL converting 92.1% of his field-goal attempts.
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.
