As an astute NFL observer said the other day about the Vikings’ surprising losses at Philadelphia and Chicago after opening the season with five straight impressive victories: “Once is an accident, twice is a trend.”
The Detroit Lions are in town on Sunday, and suddenly the Vikings are desperate to prove their recent play is not a trend. 
Two weeks ago, Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford was a candidate to become the NFL’s MVP, Minnesota’s Mike Zimmer coach of the year and general manager Rick Spielman executive of the year. Then on Wednesday, shockingly, offensive coordinator Norv Turner resigned.
Suddenly, the Vikings are trying not to disintegrate.
The guess is that the slumping Bradford isn’t bothered by Turner’s resignation — interim offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur was Bradford’s coach in St. Louis and Philadelphia.
With Shurmur calling plays, and the Vikings’ leaky offensive line, look for the Vikings against Detroit to go with shorter, quicker passes, similar to that of a West Coast offense. That’s been Shurmur’s philosophy. Turner preferred downfield passes.
Zach Zenner, the former Eagan and South Dakota State running back star, has the second-most carries (36) for the Lions team the Vikings host on Sunday.
The 5-11, 221-pound Zenner, 25, will have a mini-cheering section at Sunday’s game, with his father, Paul, wearing a No. 34 Honolulu blue Lions jersey.
“The good thing about a Lions-Vikings game,” Paul said, “is that I get to cheer for both sides, and that makes it fun.”
Zach, who majored in biology, business and pre-medicine at South Dakota State, has had his Sanford Medical School (S.D.) admittance deferred for a second year.
The Vikings next play the Lions in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day at 11:30 a.m. on WCCO Channel 4.
The Vikings, who a week ago were 9-to-1 odds to win the Super Bowl, now are 14-to-1, according to Bovada-Las Vegas. The Packers are 12-to-1.
The Cubs’ Ben Zobrist received a sparkling new Chevrolet Camaro SS sports car for being named MVP of the 2016 World Series. The 1991 World Series MVP, Jack Morris of the Twins, was given keys to a Chrysler van that was donated for him to a charity.
Morris did pregame and postgame World Series analysis for MLB.com. “The game is so different — there’s no glory in being a starter anymore,” he told the Pioneer Press.
Morris was glorious in Game 7 of the World Series at the Metrodome, pitching a 1-0, 10-inning victory over Atlanta.
“Joe Maddon is the new ‘Captain Hook,’ ” Morris said of the Cubs manager who inexplicably yanked starter Kyle Hendricks (Kyle’s father John, by the way, is from St. Paul) after 4 2/3 innings in Game 7.
“Hendricks was dealing and Maddon takes him out of the game — ridiculous,” Morris said. “It almost came back to bite him — he was overmanaging, in my opinion.”
With Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement to expire in three weeks, hall of famer Dave Winfield from St. Paul, as special advisor to Players Association executive director Tony Clark, has been involved in the union’s work.
Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona played for St. Paul native Jerry Kindall at the University of Arizona and was named most outstanding player in the 1980 College World Series. Kindall, now 80, coached Arizona to three NCAA titles.
After four games, Roseville native Mike Muscala, 25, of the Atlanta Hawks leads the NBA in field-goal shooting (71.4 percent).
Kansas is the latest school to offer a basketball tender to still-growing 6-foot-9 Cretin-Derham Hall junior Daniel Oturo.
The Gophers will play Stanford in the Foster Farms Bowl on Dec. 28 in Santa Clara, athlonsports.com projects. Cbssports.com agrees it’ll be Minnesota-Stanford, but instead in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27 in San Diego. Jerry Kill and Kansas State will play Navy in the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas, on Dec. 23, the website forecasts.
Glen Mason and Cory Provus, broadcasting the Gophers-Purdue game Saturday, were the best tandem the Big Ten Network provided all season.
Career home runs leader for the Cleveland Indians: Jim Thome, who also spent two seasons with the Twins, Cynopsis Sports points out.
The Herb Brooks bronze statue of the iconic hockey coaching legend that stood alongside the new “Herbie’s on the Park” restaurant is gone, but only temporarily.
“He was a hard guy to take down, but we got him,” Brooks’ brother Dave said.
Brooks died in a car crash 13 years ago. His statue, which was 6 feet tall, is being replaced by a 9-foot sculpture of him with eight decorating lights in a circle shining up at it. Plans are for it to be completed by the end of the month.
It hasn’t been determined where the former Brooks statue will end up, but the National Hockey Center at St. Cloud State, where Brooks also coached, and his alma mater Johnson High School are still being considered.
Meanwhile, Dave, who is a real estate developer, is building a 109-unit Marriott Hotel on Grand and Smith avenues, across from St. Paul Children’s Hospital, and hopes to begin construction before snow falls.
The University of Minnesota has a golden opportunity to elect South St. Paul native Jim Carter, the Gophers mega-qualified hall of famer who bleeds maroon and gold, to its Board of Regents.
There’s a write-in campaign for Carl Wetzel, the former North Stars goaltender, for mayor of Gaylord (Minn.).
Twins minor league catcher Mitch Garver of the Surprise Saguaros leads the Arizona Fall League in home runs with four. Nick Gordon, the Twins shortstop of the future, is hitting .340 for Surprise.
Twins first baseman Kennys Vargas is batting .143 in the Puerto Rican winter league.
It shouldn’t be long before ex-Timberwolves assistant Eric Musselman, whose Nevada-Reno men’s team won 24 games in his first season last year, moves on to a bigger program.
The Gophers women’s basketball program will retire ex-star Rachel Banham’s No. 1 jersey on Jan. 1, when it hosts host Maryland. Other Gophers whose jerseys have been retired are Lindsay Whalen, Linda Roberts, Laura Coenen and Carol Ann Shudlick.
Barb Hanson of Crosslake last week became the Minnesota Golf Association’s first woman president.
One of St. Paul’s greatest athletes, Bob Blakley from Central High, died at age 79 last week. Blakley holds the Minnesota state high school discus record of 172 feet, 3 inches, set in 1955. Son Robert Jr., also from Central, is one of four to hold the state 100-yard dash record of 9.8 seconds, set in 1978.
Besides track, Bob Sr., in 1954 as a bruising running back for Central in the Twin Cities championship football game against Minneapolis Washburn at Memorial Stadium, scored 27 points. Final score: Central 27, Washburn 7. Blakley scored four TDs and kicked three extra points.
“I was there and saw him in action for several years, and he was the best I had ever seen in our conference, and that holds true today, in my opinion,” legendary St. Paul coach Billy Peterson said. “He was an absolute stud.”
Blakley went on to play for Murray Warmath’s Gophers. His funeral is at noon Wednesday at Brooks Funeral Home in St. Paul, with viewing at 11 a.m.
Hall of Fame ex-Twin Rod Carew was thrilled when recently notified that he is the recipient of the Herb Carneal Lifetime Achievement Award as voted on by the Minnesota baseball writers.
Late Hall of Fame former Twin Harmon Killebrew has many fans, but none bigger than son Ken, who operates Killebrew Root Beer out of Cold Spring, Minn. Harmon give Ken one of his former Twins uniforms, but his son wanted another one to frame, so bought one at an auction.
“It wasn’t cheap,” he said.
Two former Twins employees, Ray Cook and George Kight, died last week. Cook, a retired St. Paul policeman and World War II vet, was the Twins’ beloved clubhouse security man. Kight worked tirelessly part-time for decades assisting promotions.
School Space Media at www.prepspotlight.tv plans to provide live coverage of all 28 state football quarterfinals.
The Lynx’s Sylvia Fowles scored 29 points with 11 rebounds, a blocked shot and three assists in her Beijing team’s 102-80 victory over Shanxi last week.
Ex-St. Thomas Academy hockey star Ryan Walters has been named assistant captain of the Phoenix Coyotes’ Rapid City Rush and is leading the ECHL in scoring with four goals and 12 assists in 10 games.
That was former Johnson High hockey star Justin Howell scoring his first collegiate goal for Connecticut against Notre Dame last week.
DON’T PRINT THAT
The Vikings, without a first-round pick in next year’s draft, still have picks in the second through seventh rounds, plus a fourth-rounder from the Sam Bradford trade that could improve if the team gets to the NFC championship game (third round) or wins the Super Bowl (second round).
The Vikings certainly will draft at least one offensive lineman and a running back. Vikings running backs Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata have proven not to be the answer. LSU’s Leonard Fournette is considered the top running back to be available, but he’s expected to go in the first round. The Vikings, who need an explosive running back, might have a chance at Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey, Georgia’s Nick Chubb, Ohio State’s Curtis Samuel or Clemson’s Wayne Gallman.
Pssst: Word in Cleveland via Minneapolis is that the Indians put a bunch of World Series tickets on StubHub knowing Cubs fans would pay far more there than the Indians could get at the box office.
The Twins are 100-to-1 odds to win next year’s World Series, according to Westgate-Las Vegas, with the Cubs 3-to-1 favorites. The Indians are 12-to-1.
Paul Pierce, a former Celtics teammate of Kevin Garnett, kiddingly wondered whether TNT will have a “cuss button” for Garnett’s NBA broadcast appearances this season, during an “Any Given Wednesday” interview with Bill Simmons. Garnett has a preponderance for profanity, as witnessed during his Timberwolves days.
No Twins are among finalists for Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. Former Twins who won include Jim Kaat (11 times), Torii Hunter (seven) and Kirby Puckett (six).
Ex-Gopher Tom Lehman, forced to withdraw last Sunday from the Champions Tour Schwab Cup playoff in Los Angeles because of elbow tendinitis, after seeing a doctor last Tuesday also withdrew from this week’s tournament to rest the elbow.
The St. Thomas-St. John’s rivalry football game at Target Field isn’t until Sept. 23 next year, but already there has been a significant demand for private and hospitality suite rentals. The same goes for the North Dakota State-Butler game on Aug. 31, 2019. It won’t be surprising if ESPN’s “SportsCenter on the Road” show, which featured last year’s St. Thomas-St. John’s rivalry in Collegeville, returns for the 2017 Tommies-Johnnies game.
Before the Twins even considered playing football at Target Field, they assured the University of Minnesota they would not schedule a game when the Gophers were playing at home. On Saturday, St. John’s dedicated a privately funded $2 million, 140-yard indoor practice field — the biggest bubbled Spinturf field in the Midwest — named after its iconic retired coach John Gagliardi, who last week celebrated his 90th birthday.
Defending national Division III champion Mount Union (Ohio), which defeated St. Thomas 49-35 in the NCAA title game last year, is off to an 8-0 start this season, same as St. Thomas, while alternating two freshman QBs. Mount Union is No. 1-ranked, St. Thomas No. 4 behind Wisconsin-Whitewater (No. 3) and Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas, No. 4).
Why hall of famer Bert Blyleven still takes pride in making a legible autograph for fans: “I was working at an Orange Julius in Anaheim, Calif., when I was a senior in high school and two Angels players came in after a ballgame. I knew who they were and I asked for their autographs, and they scribbled their names on a pad of paper I gave them. And I said if I ever get to the big leagues, people are going to be able to read my signature.
“Now, being in the Hall of Fame, if you look at Harmon Killebrew, Al Kaline, Willie Stargell, all those guys who played even in an era before me, they had great penmanship, great signatures.”
Ballots haven’t been finalized for next year’s Twins Hall of Fame, but they are likely to include Jerry Bell and Andy MacPhail among non-players. Among players, Michael Cuddyer, Dan Gladden and Mudcat Grant are expected to be listed.
Tickets for the Gophers football games against Purdue and Northwestern have been offered at a 25 percent discount for University of Minnesota Alumni Association members.
OVERHEARD
Bert Blyleven on some of today’s baseball players’ scribbled autographs: “I’m sorry, but Harmon Killebrew is rolling over in his grave on some of these signatures.”
