Vikings energized coming back from week off 
Oct 15, 2015 A year ago, the Minnesota Vikings were sluggish coming out of their bye
and lost at Chicago to a Bears 
team they should have beaten. This year, the Vikings appear to be alert and energized by last week’s bye and should have no excuses for failure heading into a home game against a wounded Kansas City Chiefs team missing running back Jamaal Charles, its best player.
“It’s time for us to play our best football and not worry about what anybody else is doing,” said linebacker Chad Greenway. “We need to win all of our home games and then sneak enough wins on the road to get back to the playoffs.”
Under head coach Mike Zimmer, the Vikings are 7-3 at TCF Bank Stadium, including 2-0 this season. The Chiefs won their season opener at Houston, but have since lost four straight, including two on the road.
The Chiefs were believed to be a victim of the schedule-maker when they gave up 31, 38 and 36 points in losses to Denver, Green Bay and Cincinnati, three teams that are a combined 15-0. But then came last week’s stunning loss to a
Bears team missing two starters on the offensive line and two starting receivers.Not only did Kansas City lose 18-17 as a 9½-point home favorite, they also lost Charles, their offensive identity, for the season when he tore the ACL in his right knee in the third quarter. The Chiefs led 17-3 and were inside the Bears’ 10-yard line when Charles went down. But they would have only two first downs while being outscored 15-0 the rest of the way.
“It changes things for them with Charles out because of how much he ran the ball and how many passes he caught out of the backfield,” said nose tackle Linval Joseph. “But this is the NFL. They have more than Jamaal. No team has just one player.”
Charles did, however, account for 30.9 percent of Kansas City’s offense since 2012. It was the shifty, deceptively powerful and versatile back who continuously bailed out a deficient quarterback, Alex Smith, and a passing game that went more than a full season without a touchdown catch by a receiver until two were caught this season.
“I don’t think they’ll change their offense,” Joseph said. “They’ll probably plug Knile Davis and (Charcandrick) West in there and keep going. We need to stop the run and put the game in Smith’s hands. If we do that, good things will happen.”
Davis has two career 100-yard games. West, a second-year player who worked his way past Davis as the primary backup, has only 12 career carries.
“West is probably the most similar player to Charles,” said Greenway. “So we have to keep an eye on him because he could be good.”
The Vikings’ defense comes out of the bye with a new three-down middle linebacker in second-round draft pick Eric Kendricks. Already the nickel linebacker who was beginning to play more than half the snaps anyway, Kendricks takes over in the base defense for Gerald Hodges, who was traded to San Francisco last week for a sixth-round draft pick and rookie center Nick Easton.
Hodges, a career outside linebacker, had never played middle linebacker until this preseason. Kendricks set the tackles record at UCLA and has the speed, quickness and instincts to upgrade the position.
A win Sunday would send the Vikings into a two-game road trip to Detroit (0-5) and Chicago (2-3). They should be 4-2 and anything but sluggish heading to Soldier Field in two weeks.
Vikings notes-- Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is coming off a seven-sack beating at Denver two Sundays ago. Sure, he’d like better protection, but the youngster also knows how to score points with his pass protectors.
By not pointing fingers and mentioning what he can do better to help the protection, Bridgewater is creating a stronger bond with the big fellas up front.
“Teddy, I love the guy,” right guard Mike Harris said. “He never points a finger.”
Said Bridgewater, when asked about the pass protection, “For me, I can continue to get the ball out of my hands as fast as I can and make fast decisions to help out the protection.”
The seven sacks were one short of Bridgewater’s career high, set last October against the Lions.
-- The Vikings have been weak at the strong safety position in the 20 games that Zimmer has been the head coach. Robert Blanton has started 14 of those games, including 13 last year. Andrew Sendejo has started the other six, including the final three last year and the first three this year before a knee injury sidelined him at Denver in the game right before the bye.
Bye weeks tend to be when teams make changes. The Vikings already dealt their starting base 4-3 middle linebacker to the 49ers. Might they pull another trigger and give second-year safety Antone Exum his first career start on Sunday against Kansas City?
For obvious reasons, Zimmer was dodging that question on Wednesday.
Asked about the strong safety position, Zimmer said, “It’s fluid. Just keep working them.”
Exum has been the preferred candidate to step up and seize the position since the end of last season. But the coaching staff remains reluctant because Exum hasn’t proven that he understands the defense well enough.
Asked if Exum has finally shown some progress, Zimmer said, “Some. We’ll see how he does this week.”
Asked if he could see more playing time this week, Zimmer said, “Potentially. If I feel good about him.”
-- WR Mike Wallace was wearing a brace on his left knee and running with head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman during the portion of practice open to the media on Wednesday. Wallace finished the Denver game, but sustained the injury when he took a helmet to the knee early in that game. Wallace said Wednesday that the knee felt “extremely good” and that he will play on Sunday.
-- FS Harrison Smith, who led the Vikings in tackles last season, leads them again this season with 36. Since entering the league in 2012, Smith is the only NFL player with at least 11 interceptions and four sacks.
-- DE Justin Trattou, a backup and special teamer, did not practice Wednesday and will be out for a while with a foot injury.
-- WR Charles Johnson, who missed the Denver game because of a rib injury, returned to practice Wednesday, but was limited.
-- WR Jarius Wright, who played only one snap in the Denver game because of a hand injury, was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice.
-- RCB Xavier Rhodes is the team’s best cover corner and has been used to shadow the other team’s top receiver. But he’s also tied with teammate Everson Griffen for most penalties per game (1.8). To help teach Rhodes to grab less, the Vikings have had him wear boxing gloves during parts of practices this week.
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Topic: vikings 2015 (Read 64753 times)
