EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — A day after his team suffered a 16-13 loss at the hands of the Detroit Lions, Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer turned the page and looked forward.

Minnesota sits at 6-5 and has five games remaining in the 2016 regular season. As the Vikings shift their attention to Thursday's game against Dallas, Zimmer said there are still plenty of positives surrounding the Vikings.

Zimmer said that even though Minnesota has lost five of its past six games, there is still hope as the Vikings prepare for a playoff push.

"Part of it is to do your job, and the other part is to finish and continue to play hard and believe," Zimmer said. "Even when we were in the playoff mix, we didn't ever talk about it.

"We just talked about the next game, and that's all we're going to continue to talk about, is the next game coming up and the next game after that and the next game after that," he added. "We'll find out how we want to fight and how we're going to go about our business."

Here are four other topics covered by Zimmer:

Eyeing critical situations

The Vikings were swept by the Lions for the first time since 2014, with both losses coming down to final seconds or overtime.

Zimmer said he expects the rest of Minnesota's games to play out the same way, adding that the Vikings simply need to execute better in crunch time down the stretch. 

"We do a lot of good things but, unfortunately, the way our football team is right now we have to make sure we execute better in some of these critical situations in the ball game," Zimmer said. "All these games are going to come down to the wire, probably, the way we are.

"We're just going to have to tighten it up a little bit and keep moving on," he added. "There's still a lot of football left, so we're going to keep going."

Evaluating Kendricks

Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks has battled a hip injury of late and played roughly half of Minnesota's defensive snaps Thursday against Detroit.

Zimmer said Kendricks "played pretty good" and that his playing time was based on a variety of scenarios.

"We were kind of doing it based on situation, personnel groups, things like that," Zimmer said.

Praise for the offensive line

Minnesota saw two more starters on the offensive line go down on Thursday. Center Nick Easton left with a concussion early in the second quarter, and right tackle Jeremiah Sirles exited with a hip injury in the fourth quarter.

Nick Easton filled in for Berger, and Michigan native Danielle Hunter stepped in for Sirles. Despite the constant turnover, Zimmer said he liked what he saw from his offensive line.

"(Vikings quarterback Kyle Rudolph) got hit three times yesterday," Zimmer said. "So, that was pretty good."

Zimmer praised the play of Easton, a second-year player out of Harvard.

"He did well," Zimmer said. "He was quick to get into where he went to. He had power, got to the second level, finished plays."

Zimmer did not have an update on the status of Berger or Sirles.

Offensive efficiency

Bradford completed 31 of 37 passes for an 83.8 completion percentage, his highest total of the year. He threw for 224 yards with no touchdowns and an interception, as most of his throws were shorter than 10 yards.

Zimmer said there is a balance between throwing short and deep, and that sometimes the shorter throws supplement the running game.

"There's so many different ways to do it, and I know everybody talks about it," Zimmer said. "But, sometimes some of these three-yard throws are runs and end up being five-yard plays.

"We're trying to get a mixture of runs and throws in there," he added.

Zimmer also said the Vikings need to be more efficient on third downs. Minnesota was 2-of-10 on third-down tries Thursday for a 20 percent conversion rate, its second-worst mark of the season. 

"We've got to do a better job on third down because obviously we didn't do a good enough job there yesterday," he added. "You know, when we've been more successful offensively this year, because I just went and checked all of the things, our third-down conversion rate has been pretty good.

"So, we've got to make a point of emphasis on that," he added.