It's Over (For Now): Vikings Players Clean Out Their Lockers
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Where do you go from here? You don't for a while, you sit and reflect and process what was Sunday and what has been the past year.
The Vikings cleaned out their lockers Monday and said good bye for now. WCCO's Mike Max was there.
Sunday will no doubt live in infamy, another chapter in the history of Viking near misses. On Monday, the man who missed it had a chance to digest it.
"You know I knew that coming into this league that you're going to be put in these pressure situations and if you want to succeed at this level you're going to have to take those risks and embrace those situations," Blair Walsh said. "Yesterday it just didn't happen for me and I've got to do better than that. I'll be the first one to tell you that."
Monday was about cleaning out lockers and saying good bye, and trying to remember the big picture of a successful season.
"It's tough but it's a very emotional time right now. Nothing in this league stays the same, this might be the last time you're in the locker room with some of these guys," quarterback Teddy Bridgewater said. "But it was a great run this year."
For Adrian Peterson, the offseason program is already set.
"The first thing to accomplish is making sure I put an emphasis on protecting the ball," Peterson said.
For most, it will take some time to remember the good times, and for the now raw and real pain to leave the body and the soul.
"It was rough. I couldn't sleep, I kept watching ESPN and the NFL Network and watched the game again on my iPad just to see what I could've did different," Captain Munnerlyn said.
So eventually the Minnesota Vikings will come to appreciate an 11-5 regular season and a division championship but today feels a little bit like Groundhog Day. Where he comes out, looks and sends a message: That the here and now is that we're in the midst of a cold winter.
Walsh noted that he has received a great outpouring of support from his teammates, but also from the public and the rare fraternity that is fellow NFL kickers.
Organized team activities will begin this spring.