Late Wednesday morning, as Vikings players returned to work through the fog of Monday’s loss to Seattle, a long flight back from the West Coast and the sudden Tuesday firing of offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, center Pat Elflein walked into the team’s locker room to break the silence of a group that had played a conspicuous role in DeFilippo’s dismissal.
“It’s a sad day,” said Elflein, the only Vikings offensive lineman to speak publicly the day after DeFilippo was fired. “But at the end of the day, it’s a production business. I wish as players, we could have played better, but we didn’t get it done.