Among the lingering concerns Vikings fans have despite a 5-0 start, these three stand out: the run of injuries that never seems to end, the play of the offensive line and the kicking of Blair Walsh.
If pressed, I bet a lot of Vikings fans would put Walsh at the top of that list. The other two could slowly and cumulatively put a damper on the Vikings' season; a Walsh miss at the wrong time could put an end to it — just as it did in 2015 against Seattle.
Interestingly, a Wall Street Journal piece suggests Walsh isn't alone in those struggles. In a story suggesting kickers have "post-traumatic miss disorder," the Journal looks at seven other kickers in NFL history who have missed important playoff kicks (including, yes, Gary Anderson).
It found that kickers who were 80.2 percent accurate for their careers before the big miss hit on just 65.5 percent of their field goals the following season.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
