that we need. The one thing that we have in our corner is we have Jimmie Johnson. He is the one that makes things happen when we dont necessarily ha

MINNEAPOLIS -- One game was difficult enough for Mike Zimmer to miss. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping .He sure didnt want to sit out longer than that, even after major eye surgery.The hard-driving head coach has returned to work with the Minnesota Vikings, who announced on Monday that Zimmer is expected to travel with the team this weekend to Jacksonville.Thats a three-hour flight, a little bit more than a week after Zimmer had an emergency operation to repair a detached retina, but the Vikings (6-6) wouldnt have proactively declared him fit for the job again if there were still uncertainty about his status for the game on Sunday against the Jaguars (2-10).The matchup with a team with the third-worst record in the NFL has taken on an extra measure of significance, given the freefall Minnesota has experienced since a league-leading 5-0 start. The Vikings have dropped in the NFC North two games behind Detroit, which owns the division tiebreaker with a season sweep, and theyre on the outside of the race for two wild card spots. The 17-15 loss to Dallas on Thursday, with special teams coordinator Mike Priefer running the team in Zimmers absence, was their sixth in the last seven games.Vikings players had four days off after their second consecutive Thursday game and will reconvene for practice on Tuesday. Zimmers first news conference upon his return is scheduled for Wednesday. Zimmer had two surgeries on his right eye about a month ago, but his recovery was sidetracked last Wednesday when he developed vision trouble during practice and was sent for surgery that night. He had a fourth procedure on Friday, according to an ESPN report.Befitting his classic old-school personality, whose late father was a longtime high school football coach in the Chicago area, Zimmer was spending longer days than usual on the job last month, often arriving at work around 4:15 a.m. if he didnt sleep in the office the night before in an attempt to help the Vikings stop their slide.General manager Rick Spielman said Zimmers setback was unrelated to his unrelenting dedication to the job after the problem first surfaced in late October. Spielman, though, said he spoke with Zimmer last week about keeping perspective when the prospect of him missing a game surfaced.We had some pretty significant talks, one-on-one, heart-to-heart, on what is important in life and what isnt, Spielman said. I think after we met, I expressed to him specifically, that potentially going blind in one eye is not worth one game in the NFL. We have to look out for your long-term health.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Cheap NFL Jerseys China .S. hockey team after paying his dues as an NHL general manager for more than three decades and giving up a lot of his free time to help USA Hockey. Cheap NFL Jerseys . Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season. https://www.nflcheapjerseysfreeshipping.com/ .Y. -- Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse have another World Cup gold medal after winning the two-women bobsled race on Saturday in Lake Placid, N. HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Jimmie Johnson walked across the stage after driver introductions to find his car inexplicably missing from pit road.In a dramatic start to his race for a record-tying seventh championship, Johnson learned NASCARs inspectors had yanked his Chevrolet off the pre-race grid and sent it back through tech. The Hendrick Motorsports team had been accused of manipulating a body panel, and Johnson had to start last in the field.In less than 30 laps, he was sniffing the top-10.He come from last doing that? Joey Logano asked him team, Wow.The best was yet to come.For most of the day, Johnson was the worst of the championship contenders in a winner-take-all season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He needed only to beat three other drivers to tie Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt with a record seven titles, but he was clearly not in the same league as the other finalists Sunday night.Johnson, who seemed to have sensed the last 10 weeks that he was finally going to grab that special seventh title, never panicked.I felt like something was going to happen, and I was going to be OK with it, Johnson said. For a while I came to grips with the reality of (finishing) third, fourth, somewhere in there and shaking somebody elses hand and being happy for them.Then it changed so quick at the end.Johnson was practically gifted his seventh title when Carl Edwards aggressive attempt to win the championship ended in a wreck. Johnson got the restart of his life in overtime, took the lead on the very last lap of the race, won for the first time in his career at Homestead and grabbed the final Sprint Cup trophy.The win was the 15th for Hendrick Motorsports and seventh for crew chief Chad Knaus, who now only trails Dale Inmans record eight.When I was coming to the checkered flag, I had to really look closely at it going by to make sure it was, like, `Is this really happening? Johnson said.Johnson received kind words from Petty, while Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. represented his late father in victory lane.I told Jimmie I wish Dad was here to shake his hand, Earnhardt said. Dad would think hes such a bad-ass. Hes such a great racce car driver. Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping. How he won this thing tonight, I dont think a lot of people know, he can will himself to get (his all) out of a car when it matters. Theres a lot of circumstance that played into it, but he put himself in that position.Edwards seemed headed for the title until a caution with 10 laps remaining set up a wild sequence. Edwards tried to block Logano on the restart, wound up wrecked, and it was Johnson who drove through the carnage to take the championship lead.Johnson withstood two more restarts and dedicated the final two attempts at the win to the late Ricky Hendrick, who was one of 10 friends and family members killed in a 2004 plane crash.They were nowhere all day, and just kind of ran around, I dont know, probably, Id guess sixth, said 2015 champion Kyle Busch. Never really showed their hand at all and didnt really show any speed, never really led in the laps until the last one, and thats the only one that really matters.Perhaps its because Johnson had no plan. This was one of those rare days in racing when someone elses bad breaks benefited a driver who was prepared to pounce. Edwards accident gave him a chance Johnson didnt have a mere five laps earlier.It wasnt looking good, Knaus admitted. I still dont think that we necessarily had the speed that we need. The one thing that we have in our corner is we have Jimmie Johnson. He is the one that makes things happen when we dont necessarily have the race cars.When we do have the race cars that we need, he does phenomenal things.Also doubting the situation was team owner Rick Hendrick, standing atop the pit box and lamenting with 10 laps to go that it was over for Johnson. His wife told him Johnson was still going to win the race. Hendrick didnt take her seriously.When we had that last caution and he came out and took the lead, I couldnt believe it, Hendrick said. I was actually stunned because we had so many ups and downs in that race.Indeed, from last to first and the top of the record books.---More AP auto racing: www.racing.ap.org ' ' '