Presser Points: Vikings Young CBs Learning on the Fly

[Viktor]

2. Revisiting – but not regretting – the fourth-and-1


Zimmer said postgame that he didn't regret the decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 rather than kicking a field goal inside the 2-minute warning.


He reiterated the sentiments on Monday.


"In that situation, I'm always going for the win. I don't care. We've done that many times, and we'll continue to do it," Zimmer said. "We had half a yard to go, we'd been running the ball really well. I felt like their defense was tired, and we hit two other fourth downs earlier in the ball game. I'll do it again next time it comes up. If you've got a chance to win the game, you've got to go for it."


He did offer a breakdown of the play itself, a run by Mattison for no gain:


"There was a good seam there. But you know, we kind of ingrain in these guys, 'Go get the first down.' What happened was, they kind of covered up the guards and tackles, and I think the linebacker came, and C.J. [Ham] met him in the hole. Then the defensive end kind of backed into him. Obviously if [Mattison] would have bounced outside, I'm sure he would have got it. There was a lot of space out there. Kyle [Rudolph] did a nice job blocking his guy. But it's kind of the way it goes."


3. The problem of holding penalties


The Vikings endured damage via a trio of offensive holding penalties called on right guard Dru Samia.


Zimmer said it was a matter of Samia "being in bad position most of the time or being over-aggressive" and that it's a work in progress.


"You've got to keep working on being in the right position and understanding that on double teams, you can go ahead and be as aggressive as you want. But if you're reaching a guy or cutting a guy off, you've got to make sure where your hands are," Zimmer explained. "Right now in the league, all of the offensive linemen are putting their hands outside the framework. It's just how well you get them back inside. Obviously the offensive holding calls have been down throughout the course of the league. And so we're just going to have to adjust. Once we do get them there, we've got to get them back inside."