MINNEAPOLIS -- Mike Zimmers team lost a second straight game by a double-digit margin, with a depleted offense sputtering badly.The next day he needed eye surgery.The following morning, his offensive coordinator came into his office at Minnesota Vikings headquarters to inform him of his resignation.All this after overcoming the absences of several injured starters to take the NFLs only 5-0 record this season into the bye week.I feel the roller coaster ride, Zimmer said, flashing a smile thats been rarely spotted on his grizzled face lately.Thats the life of a head coach. Even for assistants. Zimmer took some time after a recent practice to recall his second year in the league, 1995, when he was defensive backs coach for a Dallas team that won the Super Bowl trophy.Beaten by then-rival San Francisco in the previous NFC championship game and again that regular season, the Cowboys slumped a bit in December and needed a win and a one-point loss by the 49ers on the final weekend of play to gain home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Green Bay knocked off San Francisco in the division round, and the Cowboys took down the Packers for the NFC title before beating the Pittsburgh Steelers for the championship.At the end of the year, regardless of what happens, I went in the locker room at the end of the game and said, `My God, that was a long season, Zimmer said. So I get it. Thats just how this thing works. Were not the only team to have ups and downs.Hey, its the NFL.The Vikings (5-2) host Detroit on Sunday, eager to return to raucous U.S. Bank Stadium where theyre unbeaten in three games. The Lions (4-4) know all about those ups and downs, of course, looking back to last years 1-7 start that rendered a 6-2 finish meaningless. This season, every game has been close, winning by four points or fewer each time for a cumulative margin of victory of 11 points. Four defeats, all by a touchdown or less, have come by a total of 18 points.Just take a look at it, and youve always got a chance at this point in time, right? Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. Goals are still in front of you.Here are some key angles to know about the game:MIDSEASON SWITCH: After losing to Minnesota 28-19 in Detroit last year, watching Matthew Stafford take seven sacks, Caldwell fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and both offensive line coaches. Quarterbacks coach Jim Bob Cooter took over the play calling, and Stafford and the Lions were far more effective after that. Theyve kept up that success on offense this season.What we had to do was work extremely hard. You had to little by little kind of piece something new together that we wanted to do, and go from there, Stafford said, recalling the challenge of the change.Though the circumstances are different, the Vikings would love a similar boost for their offense after Norv Turner left and was replaced by Pat Shurmur.Its not on coaches. Were the ones out there. Were the ones that need to play better, tight end Kyle Rudolph said. Moving forward, weve just got to get everybody to do their job. We have the talent and ability to make that happen.PROTECTING THE PASSER: Theres no question about Shurmurs top priority in taking over the offense. Bradford needs better protection than he received the last two games if the Vikings are going to get back on track. Bradford was not only sacked 11 times but hit hard on several other throws, sending him out of sync after playing so crisply and effectively before the bye.I dont think its a good thing, Bradford said. I think weve got to figure out a way to bring that number down.GETTING THERE: Lions defensive end Ezekiel Ansah, who missed three earlier games because of a sprained ankle, is still without a sack. Ansah, who finished 2015 with 14+ sacks, has five sacks in six career games against the Vikings.Maybe the first week or so he got maybe a little bit rusty, but I think without question hes still who he is, Caldwell said.STOPPING THE RUN: The issues with the offense had already been exposed before the loss at Chicago on Monday night, so the ease with which Bears rookie Jordan Howard ran through Minnesotas front seven and secondary was more alarming. Howard rushed 26 times for 153 yards and caught four passes for 49 yards.Thats inexcusable for us on defense, linebacker Chad Greenway said. Thats what we pride ourselves on and have for a long time.STAFFORDS SURGE: Over the last 16 games, mirroring Cooters move into the offensive coordinator role, the Lions are in the top three in the NFL in passer rating, touchdown-to-interception ratio, completion percentage, passing touchdowns and offensive points scored among other categories.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFLPuma Outlet Clearance .C. -- Chris Thorburn thinks one of the reasons the Winnipeg Jets have been successful under new coach Paul Maurice is that theyre playing together as a team. Puma Shoes Wholesale China . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. And although English league clubs are unlikely to splash cash in January, Arsenal and Chelsea could be tempted to strengthen their squads with new strikers. http://www.clearancepuma.com/ . PETERSBURG, Fla. Puma Shoes Discount Sale Online . Ancelotti says Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury but "but he doesnt feel comfortable yet so we wont risk him." Madrid is third in the Spanish league, six points behind leader Barcelona, going into Saturdays game against Valladolid. Puma Shoes Clearance Sale . Jordan Lynch, the all-purpose Heisman Trophy finalist from Northern Illinois, failed to make it into that exclusive club.Its all-out war at Mercedes declared Mondays papers following Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosbergs race-ending collision at the Spanish GP.The Silver Arrows team-mates crashed on the run to turn four on the opening lap, leaving both cars damaged in the gravel.Lewis Hamilton was left seething with arch-enemy Nico Rosberg after crashing out of the Spanish GP, wrote Ben Hunt in The Sun. The warring team-mates, who sensationally clashed at Spa in 2014, will now be hauled in front of their Mercedes bosses and warned about their future conduct.Tensions between the pair have simmered beneath the surface since that infamous incident in Belgium and Hunt is unsure if Mercedes can continue to trust their two drivers.Hamilton and Rosbergs clash lit the touchpaper and this inter-team row sets up the Monaco GP perfectly after Hamiltons meltdown there last season, he wrote.It also raises serious questions about whether Merc chiefs can trust them to race fairly in the future. Anthony Davidson looks at the collision between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg that wiped both Mercedes drivers out of the Spanish Grand Prix on lap one In The Times, Kevin Eason declared that Hamiltons relationship with Rosberg was at new low following their latest clash.The public faces were straight, but the inner turmoil was all too evident to those who watched Hamilton and Rosberg explain the circumstances of the incendiary accident that blew the Spanish GP wide open and detonated what was left of the pairs shattered relationship as Mercedes team-mates, he wrote.Eason described Hamiltons move as desperate and suggested there could be more clashes to come.According to some astute observers, both drivers have acquired a new personality trait: in Rosberg, there is a streak of aggression not seen before and which may have emerged in spades here yesterday; the word applied to Hamilton was bleaker - desperation, he added. Lewis Hamilton says he wont get involved in the blame game over who was responsible for his crash with team-mate Nico Rosberg in Spain The Daily Telegraph led their sports section with a picture of Hamilton stricken in the gravel under the headline Hamiltons stupid move.ddddddddddddThe stewards elected to punish neither driver, deeming it a racing incident. Tellingly, that was a verdict both Hamilton and Rosberg declined to endorse, wrote Daniel Johnson.The debate will rage just as fiercely as the pair fought over an ever-diminishing piece of track to the point of calamity.It began as soon as a furious Hamilton threw the steering wheel out of his car, mangled and beached in the gravel not far from Rosbergs and will go on and on as Mercedes face the tall order of keeping their two drivers from colliding again. However, Johnson believes the situation will be handled differently to the 2014 clash at Spa.Although it was more visually spectacular, the consequences of this crash for their feud are perhaps not as extensive as when they collided in the Belgian GP two years ago, he wrote.Then, Rosberg was forced to apologise and publicly humiliated. This time, the team will try to be more relaxed. What will define this season, however, is how both drivers respond.With both Mercedes eliminated, the F1 fans were treated to an exhilarating fight during the remainder of the race between the two Ferraris and two Red Bulls for victory in Spain.People here had seen enough Mercedes dominance to last them a lifetime and a change of pattern was welcome, wrote Jonathan McEvoy in the Daily Mail.In The Sun Hunt added: This race was a thriller, just what the sport needed. The Mercedes clash somewhat overshadowed a maiden win for 18-year-old Max Verstappen, with only The Guardian leading on the Dutchmans victory.Under the headline of Verstappens fairytale victory shakes up F1 Paul Weaver wrote the delivery of the prodigy Max Verstappen, who became the youngest winner of a Formula 1 race, brought and iridescence to a sport that for too long has laboured in the single colour of the silver of Mercedes.Everyone apart from the stricken people at Mercedes appeared to be joyous. Many sagacious voices said he was too young but there can be no doubts now.The Suns Hunt declared Verstappen F1s newest superstar, while McEvoy described the Dutchmans drive as sure-footed precocity.Also See:Spanish GP: Verstappen victoriousWATCH: Lewis-Nico crash analysedBrundle: Max F1s new start ' ' '