EDEN PRAIIRE, Minn. — Chad Greenway is hoping to roll back the calendar to 2012.
The Vikings started 4-1 that season before hitting a slump that landed them at 6-6, before Minnesota promptly rattled off four straight wins to claim a spot in the postseason.
Greenway sees some similarities in the 2016 edition of the Vikings. Minnesota started 5-0 but has dropped to 6-5 with five games left.
The Vikings linebacker said the mood of the team is still upbeat as Minnesota prepares to welcome the Dallas Cowboys to town for Thursday Night Football.
"I think we're fine. Honestly, it's the NFL and it's part of it. Guys who have been around it long enough know that good things still can happen to teams in our situation," Greenway said. "We were 6-6 in 2012 and won four in a row and made the playoffs. I don't know if anyone wanted to play us.
"We were playing as well as anybody, I think we can reference that team a lot," he added. "The NFL is about survival. It's a marathon, and you have to continue to push. That's why you can't get too up or too down, it has to be a one-week season."
Greenway didn't hide the fact that the Vikings past three losses, which have come by a combined 15 points, have been tough to swallow.
But he said Minnesota's mindset is to make a play or two down the stretch in a game that could help swing the outcome in the Vikings favor.
"We haven't played well in critical situations, and that makes it tough to handle," Greenway said. "I think it makes it emotionally tough on you after a loss knowing you just didn't quite execute well enough in those situations.
"We don't want that to be our season," he added. "We have five games left and can rewrite that and we want to take advantage of that this week."
One injury after another
Vikings right tackle Jeremiah Sirles left Thursday's game against Detroit with a hip injury.
Willie Beavers filled in for Sirles, but Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer said Monday that he is optimistic Sirles will be able to play Thursday against Dallas.
"I think he'll be alright," Zimmer said.
Center Joe Berger also sustained a concussion against Detroit and was replaced by Nick Easton. If either Berger or Sirles can't play against the Cowboys, the Vikings will use their sixth combination of starting linemen this season.
Easton and Beavers would be the 11th and/or 12th linemen to start for Minnesota this season.
Boone said he was flabbergasted at the amount of injuries the unit has endured.
"I don't think anybody has (ever seen this), to be honest with you," Boone said. "What is this, like player No. 12 coming in now?
"It's one of those things where we have to regroup," he added. "We have a huge game coming up Thursday night."
Zimmer said his team has just had a string of unfortunate injuries in 2016. The Vikings are down five offensive starters based off of training camp and preseason expectations.
"I honestly don't think it's anything to do with the strength and conditioning or any of that stuff," Zimmer said. "After the season, obviously, we're going to sit down and look at everything, look at that part of it.
"We're going to look at when guys got hurt, where they got hurt, how they got hurt, but at this point, it's just football things," he added. "We've obviously tried to put our finger on a lot of that, but we're not getting guys hurt in the weight room. Most every one of them have been on the field or during the games or something like that."
Thursday to Thursday a first
Having spent 13 seasons in Dallas, Zimmer was quite accustomed to playing on Thanksgiving Day, but he's never had games on consecutive Thursdays.
While 24 teams were playing on Sunday, the Vikings were having a "Wednesday" with practice and installation of the game plan.
"It's a little different," said quarterback Sam Bradford. "I've never done it before, but really, it kind of plays out like a normal week, given the fact that we've got seven days between games."
