Minnesota Vikings News and Links, 9/3

We're just a few more days away from the start of the 2014 NFL season, ladies and gentlemen. I mean, technically the season starts tomorrow, but who cares about all that? Everyone knows that Sunday is the big one.

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

-Head coach Mike Zimmer knows who all his starters are going to be when the Minnesota Vikings play the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. . .he just isn't telling.

-The Vikings have re-shuffled the practice squad again, bringing back offensive lineman Austin Wentworth (not Andrew, which is what I originally had. . .derp) and releasing cornerback Kendall James.

-Ted gave us a few things that we can look for when the Vikings and Rams match up.

From some other sources around the internet. . .

-ESPN's Ben Goessling takes a look at how the absence of Jerome Simpson affects the Vikings' receivers.

-Fran Tarkenton thinks that the Vikings can compete for the post-season now. (He's right, you know.)

-The "Cover 2" defense in the National Football League is pretty much dead. And not a moment too soon.

The rules of the Open Thread are the same as they've ever been, ladies and gentlemen. . .no politics, no religion, no feeding of the trolls, keep the language relatively clean (using spoiler tags, if necessary), and keep the GIFs relatively work-safe.

For today's musical entertainment, we bring you this.

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open for Wednesday, folks. Enjoy the rest of your day!