Welcome to Around the Horns, our daily look at what's happening on the Minnesota Vikings beat:
With the temperatures dropping in Minnesota, the most noteworthy part of the Vikings playing outdoors at TCF Bank Stadium for two seasons -- namely, their return to home games in cold weather for the first time in 33 years -- is drawing near. The Vikings will play half their home schedule from Nov. 23 to Dec. 28, meaning they've got a fair shot at some frigid temperatures for at least a couple of their home games.
Add a Nov. 16 trip to Chicago to the schedule, and the Vikings are likely to have their largest number of cold-weather games in years. They've played just six times in temperatures below 40 degrees since 2009, winning only one of those games (the infamous Tuesday night game in Philadelphia in 2010) and tying another (in Green Bay last year). If the Vikings are going to make their temporary stadium a home-field advantage, they'll have to be able to succeed in cold weather.
Coach Mike Zimmer has plans to prepare the Vikings for the cold, by putting them outside for practice more often in November and December. The Vikings often went indoors once the temperatures dropped in years past -- which made sense when they were playing home games at the Metrodome -- but now that they're outdoors, they'll practice in the cold. The Vikings will put a tarp and a heater on one of their two outdoor practice fields once the weather gets cold and the snow flies, and as long as they can work outside and still be productive, they will.
"If we're playing in Miami [on Dec. 21], we're probably not going to be outside," Zimmer said. "If the weather's bad and we can't get stuff done, that's one thing. But if we can get out here, I'll have some heaters out here going, and we'll try to get out here. In Cincinnati, we didn't have an indoor [practice facility]. We had to go outdoors. It is what it is."
In case you missed it on ESPN.com:
We took a look at what the Vikings are doing to help Teddy Bridgewater make quicker reads and find the weak spots in coverages more effectively.
The Vikings' run defense will be tested on Sunday by the Redskins' zone stretch play, a staple of their offense.
Everson Griffen was named the NFC's Defensive Player of the Month on Thursday.
Brian Robison returned to practice on Thursday, but the Vikings will work out additional practice squad quarterbacks after Chandler Harnish sustained a Lisfranc injury on Wednesday.
Best of the rest:
Jerick McKinnon has shown a knack for finding holes in his first full year as a running back, writes Mark Craig of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
The Vikings still have vivid memories of Robert Griffin III's 76-yard touchdown run against them two years ago, according to Brian Murphy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
The Vikings' rookie offensive linemen are putting in extra work to try and get themselves on the active roster in the near future, says Eric Oslund of Viking Update.