Dan Bailey's kicking woes continue as Vikings lose to Buccaneers 26-14

TAMPA, Fla. - He'd used the phrase "I don't know" three times in responses to six questions about his kicker on Sunday afternoon (and, for all anyone knows, perhaps he said it another time in a response that was lost to history after his microphone was muted during on a postgame Zoom call).

But Vikings coach Mike Zimmer's seventh response about Dan Bailey, who missed three field goals and an extra point in a game the Vikings lost 26-14 to the Buccaneers, might have done the most to crystallize the coach's tension about a player he likes at a position that's given his teams fits.

"Like I said, I don't know right now," Zimmer said. "He kicked good during the week this week. So we'll just have to make a decision and go with it. I like the kid a lot. Like I said before, I've had tons of confidence in him. He's had a very good year. He's had a couple bad weeks now. But you know, we can't throw away 10 points and things like that. It's not just Dan Bailey. We gave up a 50-yard throw because a couple guys weren't in the right place. You can't do that either. If you guys want me to fire guys for making a mistake here, a mistake there, then we wouldn't have any players. Let's not put this all on Dan Bailey."

https://www.startribune.com/vikings-buccaneers-26-14-dan-bailey/600001303/