Vikings’ Zimmer on missed FG: ‘Got to make it’

“I actually didn’t see it. I was swimming at the pool, at the YMCA with my son”, Gostkowski said.

Special teams are often overlooked by those outside the game. Unspectacular, but quality and steady.

Walsh will go down in infamy after he missed a 27-yard field goal attempt that would have given Minnesota a two-point lead with 22 seconds left in their Wildcard Weekend matchup with the Seahawks on Sunday. He hadn’t accomplished that since 2012.

His 1,485 yards led the league, his third rushing title, and he posted seven 100-yard games. But by the end of the game, the Vikings had just 183 yards of offense and recorded 14 first downs, converting on just 3-of-13 third down plays. “He was just threading them all game”.

And, as expected, head coach Ron Rivera didn’t complain, taking a sensible approach to the matchup. The hard part, though, was finding a way to get past the late lapses against the Seahawks. It’s the first time he played in every game since 2012. There were just a few plays here and there that determined the outcome of it. And I’m not going to lay all the blame on Blair, absolutely not.

“There’s not too many times you have the opportunity to go back and have a re-do”, McCarthy said.

After the game, Burfict took questions at his locker but answered nearly all of them with the phrase “I don’t know”, not exactly owning up to his role in his team’s loss. “It was a great run this year and I’m very proud of this team”. The Seahawks were held to 0 points until the fourth quarter, but then Russell Wilson nearly getting sacked while losing the ball led to a great play and a touchdown to cap off the drive, one more field goal and the lead. Seattle recovered the ball at the Vikings 40-yard line. They’ve lost 23 of them.

Coming off what’s already been dubbed as one of the hardest Vikings’ losses in the team’s history, place-kicker Blair Walsh said Monday he knows he will come back next season better and more confident.

Minnesota’s passing game was not much better on the day, as QB Teddy Bridgewater ended up with decent numbers, 17-of-24 (146 yards), but no touchdowns.

But Floridians, however, seemed to have a lot more sympathy for him online. But they’re familiar enough from the teams’ history against each other that they know what kind of game Sunday’s promises to be.

“I’ve got long johns and some insulated trousers and some bibs and a jacket and about three sweatshirts underneath. For us to look down like it was the play that cost us the game is ridiculous”. He exonerated holder Jeff Locke, who had set the laces toward Walsh instead of away from him, as per standard fundamentals, and said he wasn’t immediately sure what went wrong.

HAPPY NEW YEAR: The Vikings, who will have the 23rd pick in the first round of the draft this spring, have a busy year ahead with their move into U.S. Bank Stadium.