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          Mike Zimmer on Vikings' special teams: 'We have to get better'

          The problems on special teams for the Vikings in their win over the Lions extended well beyond Kai Forbath's kicking woes. AP Photo/Paul Sancya
          • Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff WriterNov 24, 2017, 07:43 PM
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              Courtney Cronin joined ESPN in 2017, originally covering the Minnesota Vikings before switching to the Chicago Bears in 2022. Courtney is a frequent panelist on Around the Horn and host of Best Week Ever on ESPN Radio. She also co-hosts The Chicago Bears Podcast on ESPN 1000. She previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News as a multimedia sports journalist.

          Mike Zimmer didn’t appear all that bothered with the issues in the kicking game following the Minnesota Vikings' 30-23 win over the Lions. None of Kai Forbath's missed kicks ended up altering the course of the game, and Zimmer affirmed those problems are fixable.

          That doesn’t mean there aren’t frustrations on special teams, which have mounted over the past couple of games. The issues don’t just rest with the kicking game, either. It’s special teams as a whole.

          “We have to get better in that area,” Zimmer said. “I don’t really think it was really the kicker. He didn’t really get an opportunity.”

          Forbath’s extra-point attempt after the Vikings' first touchdown was blocked by defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson. Zimmer noted a muffed snap as the reason for the miss where long-snapper Kevin McDermott was off target, forcing Ryan Quigley to extend in order to set the ball for Forbath. Adjusting his motion at the last second didn’t allow Forbath to have the smoothest execution.

          “Didn’t get the ball caught and put on the ground good enough,” Zimmer said.

          In the second quarter, Forbath had his 53-yard field-goal attempt blocked by Jeremiah Ledbetter. When a team comes out to kick a field goal, the defending team cannot line up over the center, which is a rule the Lions may have violated on the play. Detroit charged through the middle of the unit and crashed into McDermott.

          “Can’t hit him in the head and neck,” Zimmer said.

          Last week, Forbath missed field-goal attempts of 39 and 48 yards against the Los Angeles Rams. Through 11 games, the kicker has missed four field goals and five extra points, the latter being a league-high, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Forbath’s PAT conversion rate of 82.1 percent is among the worst in the league.

          The day wasn’t all lost for Forbath, who ended up making a 36-yard field goal with 3:42 to play in the game to give the Vikings a seven-point lead. Since he arrived in November 2016, replacing former kicker Blair Walsh, Forbath is 39 of 43 on field goals and 34 of 42 on extra points.

          Still, Zimmer said he saw other things on special teams that were just as problematic as the missed kicks. One example of that was Marcus Sherels' 38-yard kick return in the second quarter that was nullified by holding penalties against Blake Bell and Stephen Weatherly.

          "I don’t think it was really him [Forbath]," he said. “We had a couple poor punts, we had a couple good punts. We didn’t cover very well -- well enough, anyway. In general, we have to be better at special teams."