“We were ready to go out and play”.
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ROAD WOES: The Zimmer-led Vikings are 0-2 on the road and were winless in three road games against NFC a year ago in his first season. Bridgewater is no elite quarterback, but he is determined, he completed 17 of 31 passes, and several of the short throws were thrown over. This made the Bears offense one-dimensional and held the Bears to multiple field goals.
While the Vikings’ running back seemed to be in his optimal condition and had appeared capable to play on Oct. 24, Peterson had been enlisted to questionable on Oct. 25. The television announcers said Peterson swallowed a wad of chewing tobacco on the flight from Minneapolis to Detroit.
FIRED-UP QB: Matthew Stafford gave a fiery, pregame speech to his team before throwing for 405 yards and four touchdowns to help the Lions end their season-opening, five-game losing streak with a 37-34 overtime win over Chicago.
“We should’ve been able to get that thing in”, coach Jim Caldwell said.
“I was trying to take a little time off the clock, give us a little more breathing room”, Zimmer said. It’s hard to be sure since the game took place in Detroit-and these things are as rare as a Sasquatch catching a pass from Joey Harrington-but Minnesota might have done a few coaching there. Stafford finished 18 of 26 for 256 yards with the two TDs. Trailing 17-6, the Vikings (4-2) reeled off 22 straight points before the Lions (1-6) scored again on an intentional safety when Minnesota punter Jeff Locke stepped out of the end zone with 59 seconds left. The Lions mostly bottled up Peterson, although he did break off a 75-yard run in the third quarter to finish with 98 yards on 19 carries.
The Lions paid quite a bit of attention to him, which opened up opportunities for Bridgewater in the passing game.
Detroit ran multiple blitzes created to stuff runs, quite similar to the approach that Kansas City implemented in Week 6 to limit Peterson to 60 yards on 26 carries.
Two failed runs and an incomplete pass later, Detroit had turned the ball over on downs.
Minnesota finally got their first touchdown of the day in the second quarter as quarterback Teddy Bridgewater connected with Kyle Rudolph for a one-yard score but Walsh would fail to convert the extra point. Ebron has been a major disappointment after being plucked in the first round of the 2014 draft, but the second-year tight end was impressive on Sunday.
The Vikings previously ruled defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd out of the game because of knee and ankle injuries. Chiefs wide receiver Jeremy Maclin is inactive because of a concussion.
The Minnesota Vikings already have as many wins as they did midway through last season. He was targeted six times but caught just two passes for 14 yards.
Pay no mind to Detroit’s two first-quarter touchdown drives against a soft-serve defense that rushed, tackled and covered like it was conducting a walk-through practice. He also accumulated 58 receiving yards for a total of 23.2 DKP.
EVERYDAY FANTASY: Stafford said the first question he gets from fans relates to fantasy football. I say they can cover their spread, it’s small, and that’s good because they surely aren’t going to win by much. “I mean, it’s my left hand”.
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Well, here’s how. Stafford was sacked seven times.
