With the injured Antoine Winfield out for the season and Chris Cook fighting domestic abuse charges, the Vikings hired cornerback Benny Sapp to help out the sorry secondary. Sapp played for the Vikings in 2008 and 2009 before being traded to Miami.

The Vikings will likely be without two starting defensive backs when they try to stop Aaron Rodgers and the Packers Sunday. Cornerback Antoine Winfield and safety Jamarca Sanford are listed as doubtful in the latest injury report. Center John Sullivan is also doubtful with concussion symptoms.

The Vikings and Bears are expected to be without a defensive superstar on Sunday. Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield and Bears defensive end Julius Peppers are both listed as doubtful on the injury report. Winfield has a neck injury while Peppers has a sprained MCL in his left knee.

Antoine Winfield hasn't been a regular at voluntary workouts in the past, but this season he's showing up to get acclimated with a secondary full of new faces. "My door is open. My phone is available. They call me, I will help them with anything," Winfield said.

The last thing the Vikings need to deal with is injuries to its secondary, but that's exactly what the team is dealing with. Chris Cook is back from a concussion, but rookie Josh Robinson just suffered one of his own. Safety Mistral Raymond and three other members of the secondary are out as well.

Injuries kept Vikings' cornerback Antoine Winfield, center John Sullivan, and punter Chris Kluwe out of practice Wednesday. Their status for Sunday's game against Arizona is unknown. Safeties Husain Abdullah and Jamarca Sanford along with linebacker E.J. Henderson and tackle Charlie Johnson were all limited in practice.

Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield took part in full contact practice Thursday for the first time since injuring his neck nearly a month ago. He said it went well and and he hopes to play Sunday in Carolina. Head coach Leslie Frazier, however, isn't as optimistic.

Antoine Winfield missed Sunday's game against the Cardinals with a neck injury, but he's doing everything he can to get back on the field when the Vikings play at Chicago Sunday night. In an interview on KFAN radio, Winfield said he's feeling much better and put his chances of playing at 80 percent.