What’s more challenging than bouncing back from an embarrassing loss at home? Preparing to travel and play one of the NFL’s premier teams on a short week.
As much as the Minnesota Vikings might want to retake the field and erase the memory of last Sunday’s debacle, there’s nothing comforting about what awaits Minnesota in Los Angeles. Head coach Mike Zimmer said it Tuesday at his press conference: He’s not a fan of playing on Thursdays.
“It’s a problem,” he said. “We haven’t had a home game on a short week since I’ve been here in five years. It is what it is. We go out and play the schedule however they do it. I know the statistics about going to the West Coast on a short week and all of that.”
The Vikings are 1-4 on Thursdays under Zimmer — 1-3 on the road. They did have a home game in 2016 on a full week of preparation, but they were forced to scramble for a different reason when Zimmer underwent emergency eye surgery and missed the game.
As Minnesota can attest, whether it’s an injury to a coach or a player, Thursday games can put teams in difficult positions, as the Vikings have learned the hard way over the last five seasons.
Let’s look back at their recent history playing on Thursdays.
Oct. 2, 2014: Packers 42, Vikings 10 (The Ponder Game)
The franchise was riding high after Teddy Bridgewater’s first career start. Their rookie first-round pick had thrown for 317 yards and rushed for a touchdown in a win over Atlanta the previous Sunday, but he tweaked his ankle late in the game, putting his status for Thursday at Lambeau Field in question.
With original starter Matt Cassel already out for the season, the Vikings turned to another former first-round pick: Christian Ponder.
It was clear Ponder was headed out of Minnesota once his contract expired, but this unexpected opportunity gave him a shot to audition for future jobs. Instead, Ponder looked skittish and ill-prepared as the Vikings lost yardage on two of their first three drives and the Packers quickly mounted a 14-0 lead.
Ponder threw a pick six in the second quarter to make it 21-0, and threw another interception on the ensuing drive to set up a fourth Packers score. The 28-0 halftime deficit opened up to 42-0 by the end of the third quarter as the Vikings limped to a humiliating loss. Ponder would never start in the NFL again.
Quotable: “It was embarrassing,” Ponder said. “I feel bad I put the team in this position.”
Dec. 10, 2015: Cardinals 23, Vikings 20 (The Strip Sack Game)
Minnesota was coming off a 38-7 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks and down four defensive starters: Andrew Sendejo, Harrison Smith, Anthony Barr and Linval Joseph.
Their opponent, the Arizona Cardinals, was an NFC powerhouse.
Things were bleak.
As massive underdogs, however, the Vikings performed admirably. Bridgewater led them back from a 20-10 deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 20-20, but the undermanned defense surrendered a go-ahead field goal with 1:23 to go. Bridgewater marched the Vikings into field-goal range in the closing minutes and faced a 3rd and 10.
The Vikings ran a long-developing play to flood the right sideline with receivers. Meanwhile, left tackle Matt Kalil got beaten by Dwight Freeney for a strip sack that effectively ended the game — the second time Minnesota had a late drive foiled by a strip sack that season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABmEaVWbPUo
The playcall caused some tension between Zimmer and then-offensive coordinator Norv Turner, who resigned the following season.
Quotable: “In retrospect,” said Zimmer, “we probably could have called something else or kicked the field goal or whatever.”
Nov. 24, 2016: Lions 16, Vikings 13 (The Aretha Franklin Game)
First off, who could forget Aretha Franklin’s memorable national anthem that delayed the kickoff?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZLWHz8ekgw
The Vikings were losing their grip on the division lead after a 5-0 start, and they needed a win against Detroit to right the ship.
Minnesota’s offense had become anemic behind a turnstile offensive line, and it was never more greatly exemplified than this game against Detroit. In an effort to mitigate their protection issues, Minnesota threw short, quick passes almost exclusively but didn’t get the results they were hoping for. The Vikings went 2 of 10 on third downs in the game. They completed passes short of the sticks seven times on failed third downs, and Sam Bradford threw a detrimental interception to Darius Slay on the eighth.
Slay’s interception led to a walk-off field goal for Matt Prater, and the Vikings fell out of first place.
Quotable: “A heartbreaker like that,” left guard Alex Boone said, “believe me, it hurts.”
Dec. 1, 2016: Cowboys 17, Vikings 15 (The George Edwards Game)
The Vikings had back-to-back Thursday games, which gave them a normal week of preparation — or so they thought. Zimmer, who had been dealing with a torn retina for a month, was forced to have emergency eye surgery the day before the game, forcing special teams coordinator Mike Priefer into the head coach’s spot and defensive coordinator George Edwards into a play-calling position.
Playing the NFC’s team top in the Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota looked like the better club. But the Viking settled for field goals, while Dallas capitalized on Adam Thielen’s muffed punt return to take a late lead. Thielen was filling in for the injured Marcus Sherels.
Down 17-9, Bradford engineered a two-minute drill to score a touchdown, bringing the Vikings within two points, but the two-point conversion failed as Bradford overthrew Kyle Rudolph while taking a hit to the helmet that looked like it should’ve been a penalty. But the Vikings had put themselves in a bad spot by false starting on the first two-point attempt to move the try back five yards.
Minnesota fell to 6-6 with the loss, their fourth straight loss by six points or less. They ended the season 8-8.
Quotable: “I’m sick and tired of the reffing in this league right now,” Vikings defensive end Brian Robison said. “I’m sick and tired of it. You’ve got holding calls all over the place that people don’t want to call. Bradford gets hit in the face at the end of the game and you don’t call it.”
Nov. 23, 2017: Vikings 30, Lions 23 (Finally, A Victory)
Technically, you could say the Vikings have a one-game winning streak playing on Thursdays. Minnesota went to Detroit for a second straight Thanksgiving and fended off a late charge from the Lions last season to win by seven and take a stranglehold on the division race.
The game wasn’t without late drama. Detroit climbed back in the game after trailing 27-10 to pull within four at 27-23, but the Vikings came up with two defensive stands, including a Xavier Rhodes interception, to put the game away. The Lions blocked a field goal for a touchdown that appeared to tie the game with just over a minute remaining, but Darius Slay was ruled offsides.
Case Keenum threw for 282 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Quotable: “Case Keenum is one tough human being,” said WR Adam Thielen. “When he’s hanging in there — giving you time to get open — you feel like you’re letting him down if you can’t do it. He’s willing to get crushed to make a play, and that makes us want to come though on our end.”
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