MINNEAPOLIS -- Blair Walsh. Kai Forbath. Daniel Carlson. And now, Dan Bailey.

These names may trigger Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse-type vibes for the Minnesota Vikings, and for good reason given the repeated blows this franchise has suffered at the foot of its kicking game. You can even throw Kaare Vedvik's name into this mix of kicking pariahs, though that disaster was contained to a three-week stretch of 2019 training camp but remains an embarrassment for this franchise.

Minnesota suffered a 12-point loss (26-14) to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday with Bailey missing 10 points worth of kicks. The 32-year-old kicker, who was signed to replace Carlson in September 2018, missed an extra point and three field goals at Raymond James Stadium.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer has been down this road too many times before. Why it keeps happening is perplexing, especially since the Vikings made a change at long-snapper a few weeks ago that seemed to remedy some of their issues. And Bailey entered Week 14 as the sixth-most-accurate kicker in NFL history.

But with three weeks to go in a stretch where the Vikings (6-7) need to be nearly perfect to make the playoffs, kicking concerns are a major obstacle that might be too much to overcome. If they're not fixed immediately -- and there's no guarantee that cutting Bailey and signing whoever is available on the free-agent market will be an easy fix -- Minnesota's day of reckoning will come sooner than expected by the one phase of the game that's haunted them for years.

Bailey didn't get a vote of confidence from Zimmer that his roster spot would be safe after a rough few weeks.

"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."

That observation is a far cry from Zimmer's infamous "It's a chip shot. He's got to make it" assessment of Walsh's missed 27-yard field goal in the 2015 NFC wild-card round or the time he sent a curt message to Carlson after a preseason game, saying "if he's going to miss them (field goals), I'm going to go for two."

Zimmer has learned that committing psychological warfare on a struggling kicker only makes things worse. He's not trying to throw salt in the wound of a veteran kicker who appears to be broken, and pointed out other areas that contributed to the loss.

But Bailey's misses took a toll on his team's psyche and strategy. Even Zimmer admitted that Bailey continually coming up short "let a little bit of air out."

The Vikings were dominating the first quarter when Bailey missed an extra point after Dalvin Cook ripped through the Bucs' top-ranked run defense to fight for a touchdown. They should have been up 10-0 with 9:34 to play in the first half after Bailey pushed a 36-yarder wide right. When Zimmer called for a 54-yard attempt with under five minutes to play in the second quarter, he probably knew deep down how things would play out.

"I really had no choice," Zimmer said. "We got sacked twice and it's fourth-and-20. I would've went for it on fourth down if it was reasonable."

And that's what the Vikings did repeatedly throughout the second half with a failed comeback attempt. Any time Minnesota had a chance to go for it on fourth down, it did. Kirk Cousins hit Tyler Conklin for a 7-yard gain on fourth-and-6 in the third quarter, which led to the Vikings' second TD, and he found Justin Jefferson on fourth-and-6 and Adam Thielen on fourth-and-5 in the fourth quarter.

When faced with a fourth-and 13 from Tampa Bay's 17-yard line with 9:34 to play, Cousins was sacked and lost a fumble.

The Vikings' unconventional decisions on fourth down couldn't have helped the psyche of Bailey, whose confidence was already shot.

The Vikings' playoff hopes took a major hit with the loss in Tampa Bay. They sit one game behind the Arizona Cardinals, who won on Sunday, for the NFC's final wild-card spot with a home game against the Bears next on Sunday.