Big challenge awaits Vikings offensive line

When Vikings players arrived at Winter Park on Wednesday to begin their preparations for Sunday's rematch with the Detroit Lions, coach Mike Zimmer was armed with a stat sheet.

Rapid fire, he unloaded the numbers from the first Lions game on his players.

Eight sacks. Three turnovers. Three third-down conversions. Three points.

"If we do it again, it'll be painful," Zimmer later said.

The 17-3 loss to the Lions in Week 6 was the low point of the season for the Vikings offense, especially their offensive line and their rookie quarterback. The stat that stung most was the eight sacks allowed, though the entire offense had a hand in the season-high sack total, including Teddy Bridgewater, who was on the receiving end of several hard hits in his second NFL start.

The Vikings — now protecting Bridgewater better even though they are now starting the sixth, seventh and eighth linemen on their depth chart — know they must protect their quarterback better this time around as they cling to the slimmest of playoff hopes heading into Week 15.

"We just need to make sure we handle adversity better," center John Sullivan said, begrudgingly looking back at everything that went wrong in Week 6.

After Bridgewater threw his first career interception in the end zone on the team's first drive, he became gun-shy and held the ball far too long on several plays. It didn't help that his receivers, sometimes running the wrong routes, weren't open. And once the Lions' talented front four got to Bridgewater a couple of times, it quickly became a feasting frenzy.

Lions defensive end Ziggy Ansah beat left tackle Matt Kalil so many times he later would be selected the NFC's Defensive Player of the Week. Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh wreaked havoc on the interior of the offensive line. Seven Lions would have their hand in at least one sack, and three times the Lions had multiple players bring down Bridgewater at once.

"This is the first time since I've been in the league that I've seen a game like this," Nick Fairley, the Lions' fourth-year defensive tackle, said after the beatdown.

With Bridgewater under constant duress, some of it his own doing, he threw a career-high three interceptions, averaged 5.1 yards per attempt and had a passer rating of 41.3, the lowest of his young career.

But things have changed for the Vikings since, both in terms of their performance and personnel.

The Vikings entered the 2014 season with the same starting five on the offensive line as they had the previous two seasons, a rarity with all the player movement in today's NFL. Believing that the offensive line would be a strength, the coaching staff touted that continuity.

That group of linemen did not meet the high expectations, though, and arguably never has.

Kalil's disappointing fall from rookie Pro Bowler to third-year turnstile has been ­well-documented. Left guard Charlie Johnson has played just as poorly. Sullivan has been his solid self in the middle. But the Vikings lost right guard Brandon Fusco in Week 3 and right tackle Phil Loadholt struggled in pass protection before an injury ended his season three weeks ago.

Three of the five Week 1 starters have been injured, the latest being Johnson, who sprained an ankle in last week's overtime victory over the New York Jets and might not start another game for the Vikings.

Yet the offensive line has continued to improve in pass protection since the first Lions game despite a trio of lesser-known linemen being shuffled in and around the offensive line. Joe Berger has settled in for Fusco at right guard. Mike Harris has held his own filling in for Loadholt. And Vlad Ducasse could end up being an improvement over Johnson at left guard.

"Whether it's Joe, Mike or Vlad, those guys are doing a great job of filling in for the guys that we lost," Bridgewater said.

After being sacked 13 times in Week 6 and Week 7, Bridgewater has been sacked 13 times the past six games. While far from perfect, the offensive linemen, running backs and tight ends in protection did not allow Bridgewater to be sacked more than three times in any of those games.

It also helps that Charles Johnson and Jarius Wright have emerged, becoming reliable targets for Bridgewater, who has been more decisive and has shifted around better in the pocket in recent weeks.

Now here come the Lions again. The Vikings haven't faced a front four like the one that fuels the Lions' second-ranked defense in nearly two months. Typically rushing only four, the Lions, who boast three former first-round picks on their defensive live, rank seventh in the NFL with 35 sacks. And their top-ranked run defense will pose problems for the Vikings, too.

"They rely on just having good players," Sullivan said. "It's not very complicated."

But despite having to sit through some uncomfortable film sessions with tape of that Week 6 game, and despite Zimmer bombarding them with those painful statistics when they walked in the door, the Vikings are confident they will protect Bridgewater and put up a better fight Sunday in Detroit.

"I say I'm very different. I say this offense is very different and this team is very different. We have a group of guys who continue to just play for one another each week," Bridgewater said. "We show that whenever our backs are against the wall, we're going to answer."