Vikings notes: Walsh remains confident despite misses

DETROIT – In his first 44 games in the NFL, Blair Walsh never missed multiple field goals in a game. Now the young Vikings kicker has done it in consecutive weeks.

A week after he made only one of his three field-goal attempts in an overtime victory over the New York Jets, Walsh missed all three of his attempts in a 16-14 loss to the Detroit Lions, including two in the final eight minutes of the game. "I'm still confident. I know my abilities. I know how I've done in the past," said Walsh, who as a rookie was a first-team All-Pro kicker in 2012. "Yeah, we've missed a bunch the last two games and we do need to make up for that. But I think if you really break it down, I don't think there are any fundamental flaws going on. It's something I can easily fix."

Walsh's first miss came in the first quarter, when he pushed a 53-yard attempt wide right.

His second field-goal attempt, a 26-yarder that could have increased the team's lead to 17-13 in the fourth quarter, was blocked by Lions defensive end Jason Jones.

And his final try, which came with one second left, was well short from 68 yards out. Walsh said he lobbied the coaching staff to allow him to kick it. Had Walsh made that improbable game-winner, it would have been the longest field goal in NFL history. "The one you really, really look back on is [the 53-yarder]," Walsh said. Walsh has uncharacteristically missed nine of his 31 field-goal tries this season, but Vikings coach Mike Zimmer endorsed his kicker after the game — as if giving Walsh a chance to win the game from midfield hadn't already said enough. "I have not lost any confidence in him," Zimmer said. "At the end of the ballgame, he hit it pretty good. I thought it had a chance."

Wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, whose role on offense has been nearly nonexistent in recent weeks, played only a few offensive snaps in the first half. But because fellow wideout Jarius Wright got banged up in the fourth quarter, Patterson found himself on the field with the game hanging in the balance.

After Patterson's 51-yard kickoff return gave the Vikings the ball near midfield, Patterson replaced Wright and was targeted by quarterback Teddy Bridgewater on three of the four plays on the drive. Patterson caught the first two passes for 16 yards.

"I felt like it was a penalty, but they didn't call it," Patterson said. "It was probably a good call by the official. The ball was probably out of reach of me getting it, so it's a 50-50 call."

Defensive end Brian Robison injured his right ankle in the final minutes of the loss. He hobbled off the field with assistance after the Vikings stopped the Lions on third down with 3:43 left in the game, forcing what eventually was the game-winning 33-yard field goal.

Robison wasn't in a walking boot after the game, however.

"It feels OK right now," Robison said. "Bottom line, I know in a few hours it's not going to feel great. We'll see how it progresses and go from there. We'll see how it goes. I'll try to get as much treatment as I can to get back as quick as possible and hopefully won't miss any practice time this week. I don't want to leave my guys hanging out there."

Tight end Kyle Rudolph had his most productive game since returning last month from sports hernia surgery. Rudolph had a team-high seven catches for 69 yards.

"I'm just finally starting to feel good," Rudolph said.

Entering Week 15, the Lions were one of only two teams whose defenses were allowing fewer than 300 yards per game. The Vikings could muster only 212 yards against them back in Week 6.

But thanks to Bridgewater's hot start, the Vikings finished with 360 total yards and picked up 21 first downs, 10 more than the Lions had on offense.

Bridgewater was sacked four times, half as many times as he was in that 17-3 loss in October.

"They're a really good defense," Zimmer said. "Their front is excellent, their secondary is good, their linebackers are fast. We did some things today that allowed us to continue drives."

Both Detroit and Green Bay are 10-4, but the Lions technically are in the lead because they have a win over the Packers. Still, chances are the Lions will need to beat the Packers in the season finale Dec. 28 to win the NFC North.