Coach Leslie Frazier kept the doors open at the Vikings' practice facility to try and mimic the outdoor temperature the team will face in Green Bay on Saturday night.
CB Antoine Winfield broke his hand two weeks ago in Texas, and missed half the game last week with the Packers when he re-aggravated it. Winfield missed practice all week, but said after practice on Thursday that he would be playing on Saturday against the Packers.
To pull off a second consecutive win over the Packers, the Vikings will have to contend with the cold weather -- and Aaron Rodgers -- on Saturday night in the wild-card game at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
The Vikings will pay the price for their turnaround from a 3-13 team in 2011 to 10-6 and the playoffs in 2012. They will face seven playoff teams next year, and two -- Giants and Cowboys -- who were eliminated the final week of the season.
Vikings coach Leslie Frazier says it doesn't bother him that WR Percy Harvin, who was put on IR Dec. 5 because of an ankle sprain, is rehabbing in Florida rather than at the team's training facility in Minnesota.
Vikings RB Adrian Peterson and CB Antoine Winfield didn't practice Wednesday, but both are expected to be ready for Saturday's wild-card playoff game against the Packers.
RB Adrian Peterson, CB Antoine Winfield, LB Tyrone McKenzie and S Harrison Smith did not participate in Tuesday's practice, which was held in the team's indoor facility at Winter Park.
Vikings CB Antoine Winfield hurt his hand in Sunday's win over the Packers, and it was so swollen afterward that it looked as if he was wearing a pad. His status for Saturday's playoff game in Green Bay is uncertain.
They say that every rose has its thorn, and Sunday's finale that launched the Vikings into the playoffs still carries a slight sting of disappointment for RB Adrian Peterson, who came up nine yards short of the NFL single-season rushing record.
The Vikings know how to finish a season. In the last regular-season game at the Metrodome, they hosted the Packers to one of the great games in the history of their rivalry. It wasn't perfectly performed, but for drama's sake it's has few to match it, as the Vikings outlasted the Packers and earned the opportunity to meet them next Saturday in the playoffs at Lambeau Field.
The Vikings used a last-second field goal from rookie Blair Walsh to defeat the rival Packers 37-34 on Sunday and set up a rematch in the first-round of the NFC playoffs in Green Bay.
