The Minnesota Vikings locker room carried a serious tone to it after walkthrough Thursday during a chilly and damp day outside. The cool temperatures will prove to be a good preparation for Chicago as the outdoor conditions at Soldier Field will bring similar climates with temperatures set to be in the low 50s with the wind playing a factor.
If the Vikings want to overcome a devastating loss to the Philadelphia Eagles they will surely have to figure out how to protect their quarterback Sam Bradford better who was sacked six times. However, even more critical to Bradford’s lack of success was his inability to step into a consistent pocket, being hit 12 times and pressured a total of 20 plays, equating to over 40 percent of his dropbacks.
An odd situation was brought on as coaches felt the need to sprinkle newcomer Jake Long into the offensive line rotation for 13 plays, but he was unable to find any rhythm in his first game back from injury, playing a pivotal role in the unit’s detrimental play.
“It was good to get back in there and play at game speed, but i didn’t play well enough and I know that, and I have to play better. I’m excited for today to get back out there at practice and work on what I need to work on and keep getting better,” Long told reporters.
Long did state that the things he struggled with were fixable mistakes, and that with time there will be improvement.
“It’s definitely correctable stuff, but no excuses. I didn’t play well enough and I’ll get better.”
Meanwhile, defensive end Brian Robison wasn’t too shaken up about the loss and was encouraging fans not to hit the panic button.
“If you look at for the most part we pretty much shut down their offense, created turnovers, just at the end of the day we didn’t make enough plays to win the game, it’s the NFL sometimes that’s going to happen.”
Saying that, Robison also carried a very strong stance on not overlooking the Bears and their 1-6 record.
“They’ve got some running backs that can hit the gaps, and they do a lot of good things up front with their offensive line as well. When you look at their run game clips, you don’t understand how they haven’t won more games. I don’t think their record is indicative of the kind of team they are.”
The Vikings and Bears are one of the oldest rivalries in football with the purple and gold holding a 57-51-2 record against the black and blue heading into Monday night. The Vikings have had their struggles in Soldier Field, however. Up until last year’s 23-20 victory they had not won in seven years dating back to 2007, where it took all of rookie Adrian Peterson’s 366 all-purpose yards to take down the Bears 34-31.
Stay tuned for plenty more coverage of this week’s Monday night game on ColdOmaha.com.
Luke Inman
Luke Inman is Zone Coverage's resident NFL Draft guru and Vikings film junky. He's an aspiring scout and appears on The Zone Coverage Football Machine. Follow Luke on Twitter @Luke_Spinman.
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