The Minnesota Vikings have left some key points on the field during their four-game losing streak, and one of the men responsible has paid for it with his job.
The team released kicker Blair Walsh on Tuesday. The five-year NFL veteran missed his fourth extra point of the season in Sunday's loss to the Redskins, increasing the pressure on the front office and coach Mike Zimmer to make a change.
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Walsh also has missed four of 16 field-goal attempts through the first nine games. The Vikings contemplated pulling the trigger last week, bringing in six free-agent kickers to try out, but decided to hold off. The day after Walsh's latest failure, though, Zimmer was decidedly noncommittal about keeping him around.
"We’re going to see what the options are at kicker and then make a determination and go," he told reporters Monday, via the Pioneer Press.
Many Vikings fans were frustrated to see Walsh back in purple this season at all after he missed a 27-yard attempt that would have given Minnesota a 12-10 lead over the Seahawks in the closing seconds of a playoff game last season. The Vikings lost that one 10-9, and any optimism that spilled over into this year's 5-0 start has long since dissipated.
