The Minnesota Vikings keep taking hit after hit.
The most telling statement that Mike Zimmer's squad has repeatedly been punched with devastating injury blows: Placing former first-round pick, left tackle Matt Kalil, on injured reserve didn't even earn a separate breaking news headline.
Think about that. A team loses the former No. 4 overall pick and blind side protector for a new quarterback, and no one blinks. Sure, Kalil wasn't playing well the last couple years, but the man did start 66 straight regular season games -- every game of his career. In other cities, losing a starting left tackle is followed by fan meetups at chapels to pray for the quarterback's safe fortune moving forward.
In Minnesota, it's an add-on to other, worse bad news.
Adrian Peterson could be done for the season. That news came three weeks after the franchise quarterback destroyed his knee.
Vikings players understand that none of their opponents are going to feel sorrow toward them for losing their starting quarterback, running back and left tackle with a month's time.
"That's the NFL. Everybody's going to get injured. Nobody is going to feel sorry for you," defensive end Brian Robison said, via the Minnesota Star Tribune. "You never want to see a guy go down, but at the end of the day, time is not going to stop. We just have to keep moving forward.
"We're stretched, but we'll be fine. We'll figure it out. We're tough. We're big boys."
It's Robison and the defense that provide the optimism that the Vikings can ride through the dark time and remain Super Bowl contenders. Even if Sam Bradford's play slumps from the incredible high of his first game in purple, the quarterback just needs to be adequate and not kill his team with turnovers. The defense will take care of most of the rest.
As for Zimmer, the no-nonsense coach shrugged when asked how his team will continue to bounce back from injury gut punch after injury gut punch.
"I feel like we have to go back to work and go play Carolina (on Sunday)," Zimmer said. "I expect (the players) to perform the way I always expect them to perform."
Have we mentioned how much we love Mike Zimmer?
