Minnesota Vikings News and Links, December 22nd and 23rd, 2018

Good Morning!

As mentioned yesterday I’m hunting through the weekend with my son. More importantly to me today is his 20th birthday. Big deal to us for several reasons. Our youngest son was born at 28 weeks gestation, and believe me it was a big deal back in 1998. We were initially given all the really bad diagnosis that goes along with that gestational age: cerebral palsy, blind, deaf, etc. With a lot of work on the part of my wife and a bunch of therapists he avoided all that. tl;dr. In the meantime while we’re waiting for the next Vikings game to start we’ll continue with our news and links full of beer recommendations, nap strategies, crock pot and smoker recipes. Have another cup of coffee and drop by for some fan wisdom, snark and a virtual donut. With that, let’s do this beat the Lions!

Around the DN since our last thread:

Eric and Chris have a spot where you can catch up on all the Vikings-Lions news.

Chris has your Minnesota Vikings Week 16 Cheering Interest Guide.

Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions: Final injury reports for both teams also by Chris.

Wludford ponders Kevin Stefanski and the Return of Pat Shurmur’s Offense?

Ted takes a brief look at Vikings/Lions history.

Vikings news from other sources:

From Vikings.com HC Mike Zimmer Zimmer talks “best team win of the season,” RB Dalvin Cook’s skillset, changes Detroit might make for Sunday’s rematch.

Winning Formula: Has this Vikings team finally turned the corner?

NOTEBOOK: DE Danielle Hunter donates $54,000 for new uniforms to his high school football program.

What’d They Say: Lions talk about the Vikings.

From Courtney Cronin at the ESPN NFC North Blog WR Aldrick Robinson is deep threat Vikings have been looking for.

At 1500espn Matthew Coller muses HC Mike Zimmer doesn’t want offensive coordinator changes to impact his reputation.

Also from Matthew, QB Kirk Cousins’ deep ball is key to Vikings creating a dangerous offense and the Lions will test the Vikings’ improvement on the ground.

NFC North Roundup:

At Windy City Gridiron the Chicago Bears received some good news today when veteran offensive lineman Kyle Long returned to practice.

Also, the Bears’ fans are the second most confident in the NFL.

From Pride of Detroit the Lions-Vikings injury report: Damon Harrison, 5 others questionable for Sunday.

Lions-Vikings preview podcast: Is John DeFilippo still a viable offensive coordinator candidate? (this was also on our front page).

Over at Acme Packing Company could Jets HC Todd Bowles could be a Packers defensive coordinator candidate? Doesn’t he already have a job, asking for a friend.

APC Podcast, 12/21: Packers head coach candidates with Justis Mosqueda.

League news:

Consistent with the weekend news and links I’ll post league news in the comments, might be delayed until I get back from the stand in the latter part of the morning.

We come to today’s media selection: Journey - Don’t Stop Believin (by request)

Again, we all know the rules, but in case someone is new:
-No discussion of politics or religion
-No feeding of the trolls
-This isn’t a male version of The View, so leave the gender hatred at the door
-Keep the bad language to a minimum (using the spoiler tags, if you must)
-Speaking of which, if discussing a newer show or movie, please use spoiler tags
-No pictures that could get someone fired or in serious trouble with their employer
-If you can’t disagree in a civil manner, feel free to go away
-While navigating the open thread, just assume it’s sarcasm.
With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open. Belly up & tie one on. Don’t forget to tip your waitress, try the shrimp and grits and as always, Welcome Aboard and Skol Vikings!