MINNEAPOLIS -- When the season began, the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings were expected to be among the top teams in the NFC.The two teams had Super Bowl aspirations with talented rosters coming off last years playoff appearances. Minnesota started the year 5-0, while Arizona was 1/3 a month into the season.Since their undefeated start, the Vikings have lost four games in a row. The Cardinals (4-4-1) have used two wins against the San Francisco 49ers to jumpstart the second half of the season.Despite the differing paths, there is still a road to playoff contention as they meet Sunday in Minnesota.Weve been fortunate with some of the other things that have happened in the league that were still in a good place, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. We can go out and win. I know everybody thinks Im crazy, but my goal is to win the division. So, go out and get some wins and get going again. Thats all.The last two ball games have been (close and), honestly, could go either way. We didnt win them, so we just need to get a couple of these either-way games and win. Thats kind of what happened at the beginning of the season. So, its a seven-game season now.Minnesota is tied for the NFC North lead with the Detroit Lions at 5-4. Arizona is two games behind Seattle in the NFC West but still in prime wild-card position.Both teams have dealt with plenty of injuries, which will also impact Sundays game.The Vikings lost left tackle Jake Long for the rest of the season when he injured his Achilles in last weeks 26-20 loss at Washington. Long, signed as a street free agent in October, had already been an injury replacement at left tackle after starter Matt Kalil was lost after two games.Zimmer hasnt revealed his plans for his battered offensive line on Sunday. Jeremiah Sirles could join the starting lineup. Minnesota, which has also lost right tackle Andre Smith for the season, has T.J. Clemmings at the other tackle.Weve definitely been a little bit unfortunate as far as some of the injuries that weve had up front, quarterback Sam Bradford said. But like weve done in the past, we just have to keep moving forward. Obviously, Sirles and T.J., they started a couple of games together so we feel confident in them because theyve been out there, theyve done it before. Theyve played a lot of football. As bad as this is to continue to lose guys youve just got to try to stay positive and just keep moving forward.Arizonas injuries have hit hardest in the secondary.Safety Deone Bucannon missed Wednesdays practice with an ankle injury. Defensive back Tyrann Mathieu was limited in Wednesdays practice with a shoulder injury. Mathieu missed last weeks game with the injury. Both are questionable for the game.My shoulder feels fine, its stable for the moment, Mathieu told the Arizona Republic. Ill continue to put it to work during practice and see where Im at, at the end of the week.Cardinals coach Bruce Arians and Zimmer know each other well dating back to their time as coordinators in the AFC North. Arians was the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator facing Zimmers defenses for the Cincinnati Bengals.Ive always respected Zim as one of the most sound, aggressive defensive coaches that Ive ever gone against ... They dont beat themselves, Arians said via conference call. I think our defense, our defensive line is playing at a very high level right now. I think both offensive lines have their work cut out for them.Arizona owns the leagues second-ranked defense in terms of yardage, one spot ahead of Zimmers Minnesota crew. The Cardinals are allowing 295.2 yards per game compared to the Vikings 308.8 yards per game. But Minnesota is giving a league-low 16.9 points per game. Arizona is tied for third, giving up 17.8 points per game.I think this is going to be one of our biggest challenges of the year, Bradford said. Probably the best group that weve faced. So, I think its important that we have a great week of practice and get ourselves ready to go.Both teams also made significant special teams changes this week. The Cardinals brought back punter Drew Butler after Ryan Quigley didnt prove to be an upgrade the past six games. Quigley had the leagues lowest qualifying gross punting average at 41.6 yards per punt.Minnesota parted with embattled kicker Blair Walsh and signed Kai Forbath. Walsh had only made 75 percent of his field-goal attempts and hit just 78.9 percent of his extra-point attempts.It was just something we felt like we needed to do, kind of move forward, Zimmer said. Were all accountable for the things we have to get done, and I think we gave him a lot of opportunities. Although, Blairs a great kid, and it was hard to do. 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International Paralympic Committee president Sir Philip Craven said Rio 2016s financial position is precarious but dismissed rumours the Games would be cancelled.Amid rising speculation that Rio 2016s organising committee has effectively spent all of its money on the Olympics, Craven and his senior staff held crisis talks with them and Rio mayor Eduardo Paes at City Hall yesterday.Paes told the IPC he was ready to deliver 150 million Brazilian reals (£36.5million) to fill any hole in Rio 2016s budget, although there is currently a court injunction against the organising committee receiving any more public funding until it opens up its accounts.After the meeting in Rio, Craven and his vice-president Andrew Parsons went to Brazils capital Brasilia to meet government minister Eliseu Padilha, to impress upon him the importance of the Paralympics and the current problems it was facing.Craven described these meetings as very positive but said money was needed if Rio was to put on a Paralympics to be proud of.Although the situation is pretty precarious, rumours that the Games may not go ahead or that sports may be cut are totally unfounded and not true, said Craven.Our aim right now is to bring in additional funding and resources in order to deliver the Games at the service levels expected by all stakeholders, most importantly the athletes.If no extra funding is available then the organising committee will have to implement further cuts to the Paralympic Games on top of the cuts we have already made alongside the IOC and Olympics.Regrettably, if no more funding is available then thhe organising committees additional cuts will start to impact on the services offered to the athletes who have dedicated years of their lives to reach and compete at these Games.dddddddddddd This is the last thing that we want to do.Craven thanked Paes for his support but admitted the injunction was a hurdle.Clearly, the simplest and easiest way round this is for the Rio 2016 organising committee to be open and transparent with its financial records in order to allow this additional funding to come in, he added.This seems unlikely at the moment, as Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada has repeatedly stressed that Rio 2016 is a private company and there are no major financial problems, beyond the constraint of trying to stage a third major sports event after the World Cup and Olympics in two years while in recession.The organising committee is already more than two weeks late in paying travel grants to the various national Paralympic committees, with the British Paralympic Association owed what Press Association Sport understands is a six-figure sum.Not receiving that would hurt ParalympicsGB but not as much as it would completely scupper many poorer nations from coming to Rio at all.Craven, however, said Rio 2016 has now committed to paying these grants.Failure to do so could result in a number of countries being unable to attend the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, an event they have been planning and preparing for a number of years, the Englishman added. 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