What's wrong with Antoine Winfield?
It's a fair question to ask this morning and perhaps one Winfield is asking himself. What we know is that Winfield missed six games because of an injury to his right foot. He returned on Dec. 13 against Cincinnati and was outstanding. But in the Vikings' back-to-back losses at Carolina and Chicago, Winfield has looked nothing like the cornerback who made his first Pro Bowl appearance last season.
Winfield's performance Monday night ended with him getting beaten by Bears wide receiver Devin Aromashodu on Jay Cutler's 39-yard touchdown pass in overtime. At least last week it was established wide receiver Steve Smith of Carolina who had a big night against Winfield.
During his weekly appearance with Paul Allen of KFAN on Tuesday morning, Winfield said the foot is "coming along," but admitted he doesn't think it's 100 percent and admitted it won't be until he has an offseason to rest.
"I'm not going to say it's the foot," Winfield told Allen. "It's just me. I'm just not playing good football right now. If you turn on the film you can tell the difference in the way I played early in the year and the way I'm playing now. We don't have enough time to play like that. I have to correct my game, get my game back right and make plays that I'm used to making."
Continued Winfield: "I'm very disappointed in my play. To give up that last play. Like I said, we fought so hard and our offense did a great job of scoring 30 points and for me to give up the game winning touchdown is very disappointing. I feel like I let my teammates down."
Winfield said he feels some pain in the foot "every now and then" but doesn't think he should have to miss any more time. So if the foot isn't the major issue, what's wrong?
"I really wish I had an answer," Winfield said. "I don't know. I just don't feel effective right now. I feel good going into the game [but] late in the game where I'm just not making the plays that I need to make."
