EAGAN, Minn. -- Dan Bailey missed three field goals and an extra point in the Minnesota Vikings' 26-14 loss at Tampa Bay on Sunday, and as of Wednesday, the team had yet to sign a new kicker.
Coach Mike Zimmer was lukewarm in his commitment to keeping the 32-year-old kicker in place for Minnesota's Week 15 game against rival Chicago, answering "we'll see" when asked whether Bailey will kick Sunday and if the team plans to add any other kickers this week.
Bailey's four misses against the Bucs cost the Vikings 10 points. Zimmer noted disappointment in the kicker after the game, but on Wednesday, he reiterated that mistakes from other players also contributed to the loss.
"I don't think we have a kicker we can't depend on," Zimmer said. "There's all kinds of guys making mistakes throughout the course of the game. But that's just part of life, part of momentum. There's ebbs and flows to every game."
According to the NFL's transaction wire, the Vikings brought in free-agent kicker Chandler Catanzaro on Tuesday, the same day the team released kicker Tristan Vizcaino from the practice squad and worked out Taylor Bertolet, who has been on and off Carolina's practice squad since Oct. 24.
Catanzaro has appeared in 77 NFL games since 2014 but has not kicked in a game since 2018. He spent part of the offseason with the New York Giants before being released Aug. 17.
Though the Vikings haven't made any signings, either free-agent kicker could be available Sunday if they complete five days of COVID-19 testing before becoming eligible to play on the sixth day. Both began the testing protocol Tuesday.
According to a memo of updated protocols sent from the league office to teams Tuesday, "a free agent player who begins entry testing on Tuesday, December 15 will be eligible to join the team on Sunday, December 20. That player will be eligible to play in his new club's Sunday, December 20 game, however, he may not interact with the team before that date."
One day after the loss, Zimmer said he planned to talk to Bailey on Tuesday or Wednesday. When asked how he would evaluate Bailey's confidence and his ability to put two tough outings behind him and kick against the Bears, Zimmer noted he would need to consider the kicker's entire body of work before making a decision.
While Bailey missed more field goals (4) in Weeks 13-14 than he had in his first 11 games this year, the kicker was 10 of 12 (83%) from field goal range and made 26 of 27 extra points (96%) from Weeks 1-12.
Bailey entered Week 14 as the sixth-most accurate kicker in NFL history.
"You have to look at history, you have to look at past performances, you have to look at the person," Zimmer said Monday. "This guy is a solid kid.
"We are in the performance business, and these last two weeks hasn't been good. Like I said [Sunday], it's about if I cut everybody that made mistakes yesterday, we'd all be out of here, including me. We'll go with our gut and do what we believe and believe that whichever decision we make it the right one. It's all you can do."