Dein erstes Forum » A season of ups and downs for the Minnesota Vikings

First up are the banged-up Lions Shareef Miller Jersey , who have already been eliminated from postseason contention, but with so much at stake, the Vikings can’t afford to look too far ahead.“We know what we’ve got to do at this point. We know how we’ve got to play,” running back Dalvin Cook said. “There’s little time for error right now. We just have to go out there and play clean football and win football games.”Article continues below ...Minnesota won just one of its first four games this season, and the Vikings haven’t come close to matching last year’s 13-3 record. There will be no division title — Chicago already clinched that — but if the season ended now, the Vikings would be in the playoffs, so they still have all sorts of opportunities ahead of them.First, they’ll try to take care of business in Detroit.While Minnesota (7-6-1) has been underwhelming this season, the Lions (5-9) never really looked like contenders. They dropped their first two games, traded receiver Golden Tate and have now lost a handful of key players to injuries. Rookie running back Kerryon Johnson, defensive end Ziggy Ansah and wide receiver Marvin Jones are all on injured reserve.Detroit hasn’t scored more than 22 points in any of its last eight games.“Obviously the playoffs are, that’s the goal and that’s what you’re shooting for every single week,” said Matt Patricia, the Lions’ first-year coach. “The thing that’s different, I think Zach Brown Jersey , is that every week you don’t walk into the room and talk about playoffs. You just kind of walk in and talk about the game that week. … The fact is, we still have to go play a really good Minnesota team this weekend that’s coming off a huge win.”The Vikings beat Miami 41-17 last weekend.A few more things to watch when the Lions host the Vikings:STACKS OF SACKSThe Vikings set a franchise record with 10 sacks in a win over the Lions earlier this season , and they’re coming off a nine-sack performance against Miami. They lead the league with 47 sacks.“You know that they’re going to come out there, they’re game-planning against what we’ve done the first time,” said defensive end Danielle Hunter, who’s tied for second in the NFL with a career-high 14½ sacks. “We’d expect to see more max protection, them running the ball and all that. Stuff like that.”Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has been sacked five times or more in 16 games of his 10-year career, and seven of those were against the Vikings.STREAKStafford missed 19 games in his first two seasons while plagued by injuries. He’s started every game since, a streak of 126, not including the playoffs.“It means a lot. Well documented, first two years, (I) missed a bunch and I wanted to prove to my teammates, this organization, myself, everybody Devin Bush Jersey , that I could be out there for extended periods of time,” Stafford said.Stafford has been limited in practice recently because of back issues, but he pushed back against the idea he should sit now, with the playoffs out of reach.“I spend all offseason and all season working hard to play in games with these teammates and for this organization,” he said. “(I) take no games for granted and go out there and play whenever I feel like I can.”READY TO RETURNThe first of five career punt returns for touchdowns for the Vikings by Marcus Sherels came on Sept. 30, 2012, at Detroit. Last week against the Dolphins, Sherels had a 70-yard return and totaled 116 yards on five returns.“We kind of challenged him a little bit this last week at being more aggressive,” coach Mike Zimmer said.Detroit has activated returner Jamal Agnew off IR. He was an All-Pro last season.ANOTHER OPTIONWith opponents frequently sending double teams at Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, the Vikings have needed other pass catchers to step up for quarterback Kirk Cousins.Aldrick Robinson, who was signed as a free agent two weeks into the season, has shown some potential. His 40-yard touchdown reception against the Dolphins gave him five scores in 10 games. He’s reached the end zone on nearly 30 percent of his 17 receptions.MARK OF FAILUREFrom 2001-12, the Lions had double-digit losses 10 times in 12 seasons. It hasn’t happened since that 2012 season, but Detroit needs to win its final two games to avoid it this year. BOURBONNAIS, Ill. (AP) — A few days after Bears training camp began Diontae Johnson Jersey , coach Matt Nagy decided to test his wide receivers and defensive backs with one-on-one deep passing drills while the rest of the team watched the matchups.It wasn’t surprising when Allen Robinson emerged as the first receiver to beat a defensive back deep to haul in a touchdown pass from Mitchell Trubisky.“Being with him that whole year last year and this past OTAs, him at practice, him at meetings, he’s one of the top players I’ve every coached,” Nagy said.Robinson hasn’t resembled the tentative player who started his first Bears camp last summer and has been more like the player who finished off the playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles with a Chicago postseason record 10 catches for 143 yards.Well past a 2017 torn anterior cruciate ligament and several other nagging injuries suffered last year, Robinson has started to look more like the receiver the Bears thought they had when they signed him as a free agent for three years and $42 million.“Last year, I don’t think I started running routes until about June,” Robinson said. “Being able to have the whole OTA time (this year), training before OTAs, going into OTAs, being able to train after, I think that’s definitely going to be big for me.”So will going against Pro Bowl defensive backs such as Eddie Jackson and Kyle Fuller in practice every day at full speed.“When you have a good offense and a good defense, that’s what makes a good team,” Robinson said. “Iron sharpens iron.”Robinson never got the chance to hone his skills to a sharp edge last season.After he was over the ACL tear, a groin injury took him out of the lineup for two games and he had to fight through hip and rib injuries. He never approached the career high numbers he put up in Jacksonville in 2015 of 80 receptions for 1 Justin Layne Jersey ,400 yards and 14 TDs, although his big playoff game came while nursing broken ribs.General manager Ryan Pace saw a different player in offseason work, and now it’s carrying over to the practice field at Bourbonnais training camp.“I think you see it in his route-running,” Pace said. “(He’s) just more explosive in his breaks and in and out of his cuts. For his size, he’s a really natural route runner.”As a result, Robinson would appear destined for bigger stats. However, he won’t predict it.“I’ve said this since my second or third year: I don’t really get into numbers predictions-wise, but I definitely expect to have a big year,” Robinson said. “I have that expectation for myself. That’s what I’ve trained for this offseason.“I definitely expect to go out there, have some big games and help my team win a lot of games.”Nagy calls Robinson one of the most team-oriented players among a deep group of receivers.“I have big expectations for him but that’s not saying anything because I know he does too,” Nagy said. “Again, last year being injured and not being here until training camp was hard, it wasn’t easy.“I think as the season went on everybody here could probably sense the connection between him and Mitch in the games. You saw it in the Eagles game and that’s what we’re hoping for as we go.”The Bears can use Robinson’s abilities at this point because their deep receiver group has been a bit depleted early in camp by injuries.Fourth-round draft pick Riley Ridley suffered a hamstring injury in the first day of practices, while former CFL receiver Jordan Williams-Lambert has a hamstring injury and rookie Emanuel Hall a groin injury.“We have a lot of depth at wide receiver,” Nagy said. “I think that’s what you are going to see and what we’re going to be able to see as we go here through the preseason.”The move the Bears want to see is Robinson becoming the go-to receiver for Trubisky they anticipated. Last year he led the Bears in receiving yards with 754 Benny Snell Jr. Jersey , but Tarik Cohen (71) and Taylor Gabriel (67) had more than his 55 receptions. Nor did he lead the team in TD receptions, as Anthony Miller (seven), Cohen and Trey Burton had more.The second year in the offense working with Trubisky for Robinson, and all the Bears receivers is expected to be a big asset.“For us, just how we dissect the defense now is a lot better,” Robinson said. “I think that as soon as we line up, we’re seeing the coverages that we want. We’re getting into the stuff that we want. We know the spots that we need to be in.“The timing, everything, stuff like that has been good for us.”NOTES: Tight end Adam Shaheen missed Sunday’s practice with back soreness. … The kicking competition continues. On Saturday, kicker Elliott Fry went 7 for 8 in the middle of practice while kicking against a rush, and capped it off with a 60-yarder. On Sunday, Eddy Pineiro went one better and hit 7 of 8 but finished by making a 63-yard field goal with some room to spare. Pineiro’s miss was from 53 yards and Fry’s from 33. Both kickers had wind aiding them. “Everybody knows that we gotta get this thing right,” Nagy said of the kicking job.