EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- The Minnesota Vikings will be without Pro Bowl cornerback Antoine Winfield when they face the Green Bay Packers in a pivotal NFC North game on Sunday.
Winfield was listed as out in Friday's injury report. He also missed last week's game against Pittsburgh because of the injured right foot.
Coach Brad Childress said he saw Winfield make progress throughout the week, but obviously not enough to get on the field for Brett Favre's highly anticipated return to Lambeau Field.
"He has progressed to where he's moving around a little bit," Childress said Friday.
The Vikings (6-1) have a bye after the game against Green Bay (4-2), so they could be playing it safe with one of their most important defenders.
Karl Paymah, Asher Allen and Benny Sapp played well in Winfield's place last week in Pittsburgh, holding Ben Roethlisberger to 175 yards passing and Hines Ward to one catch for 3 yards. They will have their hands full this week against Aaron Rodgers, Greg Jennings and Donald Driver in Green Bay.
"It's hard to replace a Pro Bowl corner in our league that does all the things that Antoine does for our defense, but it was great to see Paymah, Asher and Benny step in and play the way they played," defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said. "We are going to need it again this week."
Receiver Bernard Berrian was listed as questionable with a hamstring injury. Receiver and returner Percy Harvin returned to practice after missing Thursday with an illness and was listed as questionable, as were punt returner Darius Reynaud (hamstring) and reserve linebacker Jasper Brinkley (hamstring).
Favre (hip), Paymah (quad), linebacker Ben Leber (calf), linebacker E.J. Henderson (knee) and fullback Naufahu Tahi (knee) were all listed as probable.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
