Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer
After watching the tape a couple times, I feel like there was a lot of missed opportunities there, offensively and defensively. Then when you turn the ball over three times and you don't get any on defense, you really don't have much of an opportunity to win. The guys played really hard. For the most part, a lot of guys did what they're supposed to do. We just didn't quite get the job done. They were 1-for-1 inside the five. I think we were only down there once. As far as the status of Dalvin Cook, he does have a torn ACL and we will move forward from there.
Q: Will you sign another running back?
A: Maybe, yeah. We're looking at everything now.
Q: When will Dalvin Cook have surgery?
A: He has to wait until the swelling goes down. It's like every ACL, he has to wait until the swelling goes down and then he'll have it done.
Q: What have you seen from Michael Floyd over the last month?
A: He's good. He's been in the meetings. He's been on top of things. Stays in contact with me. So, it's been good.
Q: How is Dalvin? Have you met with him?
A: I talked to him after the game. I saw him this morning. He's a great kid. Extremely impressed with everything he's done, to this point. It's, obviously, a terrible thing for him and for us. We'll move forward and go on from there. He's a great worker and I have no doubt that he'll come back from this.
Q: Is there any other damage besides the ACL?
A: Like on most of these ACLs, there's a little bit of cartilage, I think meniscus, but, it's nothing. I mean, it's a normal, typical, ACL.
Q: Does the history of this training staff bringing guys back from ACL injuries give you confidence in his ability to bounce back?
A: Yeah, I talked to him last night about it. About the doctors who we have here and the medical staff. How they were able to rehab the last great runner here. I expect him to come back and be the same as he was.
Q: How do you feel about Latavius Murray taking over? He admitted his ankle is maybe not 100 percent. How do you think he is doing health-wise and how ready is he?
A: I think you misconstrued what he said because I talked to him about it and he said that no one is really 100 percent. Any time you have surgery on something, you're never going to be 100 percent. But he said he's ready to go and we are ready to have him go.
Q: Where is Latavius at with the offense?
A: Good.
Q: Latavius seemed really excited to show why you brought him here. He seemed more aggressive yesterday. Do you see that, too?
A: Not more so than normal. He is an aggressive runner. We see it in practice all the time. He looked like he normally does.
Q: How much do you anticipate Dalvin Cook's absence to impact your approach on offense?
A: I think the biggest thing was Dalvin had unbelievable big play ability in a lot of different ways. We are going to have to continue to look for more ways to implement some big plays in the offense, probably.
Q: With how well Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs are playing, how do you work Michael Floyd back into that mix and what is the approach?
A: We'll see how practice goes this week and we will continue to work forward with that. But at this point, we are just trying to get better.
Q: Is there hope Sam Bradford comes back this week?
A: Yes. Again, it's day-to-day. It feels better. Everything he is doing is feeling better. But obviously, we don't know.
Q: Trae Waynes got quite a bit of playing time. What was your assessment on how he played?
A: I thought he played a lot better. He covered his guys a lot closer. For the most part, he tackled well. He had the chance for the one interception in the end zone and didn't get it down. It would've been a tough play, but I thought he played better.
Q: Is getting him aggressive enough to cover been the biggest challenge this year?
A: Sometimes, again when you are a young player, which he still is a young player with the system and things, you tend to think a little bit too much. That was our emphasis last week. Here's what you do. Don't worry about all the little intricacies of everything. Let's just work on this part.
Q: Obviously Latavius Murray will take on a bigger role now. Do you anticipate Jerick McKinnon increasing his role too?
A: I believe so.
Q: How beneficial was it for Michael Floyd to go to all the meetings? Do you think he has a good grasp on everything?
A: I'm sure it's good. I think he has a good grasp of everything that's going on. Obviously it's a lot more beneficial being at meetings than hanging out at home.
Q: Case Keenum said yesterday that he wish he went to Kyle Rudolph on the third-and-three late in the fourth quarter. How do you start to get Kyle more involved earlier?
A: Every week it's by game plan. Sometimes we had him chipping the defensive end, sometimes it's working other areas. Kyle is a good player we'll get him involved.
Q: It seems like Xavier Rhodes is following guys a lot more this year. Why is that?
A: It's easier to tilt coverages different ways, stuff like that. We still give him help but it's just something that we decide to do each week. It may be different this week, I don't know yet.
Q: Case Keenum said that he got fooled on the third and goal sack. Did he explain to you what he saw?
A: Yes, he changed it. Thought it was zero, changed the protection, then got a couple guys dropping, but he dropped the protection. Change the protection and he's got to know which way the protection is going and if somebody comes off that side he's got to rid of the football.
Q: What challenges do the Chicago Bears present?
A: I have not looked at them yet. I've been busy.
Q: Where do you assess the season at so far given all of the injuries?
A: I assess it at 2-2. That's where we were. We had opportunities that we didn't get done. We played some good games. It is what it is.
