Minnesota Vikings News and Links, 11/13

We've made it to Thursday, everybody, and that means the start of Week 11 of National Football League action. Tonight's game should be a pretty decent one, featuring a matchup of one team the Minnesota Vikings have played (the Buffalo Bills), and one team that they're going to play (the Miami Dolphins, their Week 16 opponent). Should make for decent watching.

Since the last time we brought you an Open Thread. . .

-Ted started to size up the situation the Vikings find themselves in heading into Chicago.

-Di has once again opened up the DN Mailbag to answer some of your questions.

-CCNorseman has a closer examination of some of the matchups in this Sunday's game.

From some other sources around the internet. . .

-There was a bit of controversy yesterday concerning heating equipment at TCF Bank Stadium for this Saturday's game between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Naturally, the Vikings were involved, though it now appears that all the hand-wringing was brought on by the University of Minnesota themselves.

-Tight end Kyle Rudolph appears to be on track to play this Sunday in Chicago.

-1500 ESPN has a look at the matchup between Vikings' left tackle Matt Kalil and Bears' defensive end (and former Viking) Jared Allen.

The rules of the Open Thread are the same as they've ever been, folks. . .no politics (seriously, no politics), no religion (seriously, no religion), no feeding of the trolls, keep the bad language to a minimum (using spoiler tags, if necessary), and keep the pictures work-safe and appropriately sized.

Today's musical entertainment. . .I guess it is Thirsty Thursday, after all.

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for this Thursday, ladies and gentlemen. Enjoy the rest of your day!