Phillips, 44, was stopped on I-394 in Minneapolis and subsequently registered a blood alcohol content of 0.10 percent. The limit in Minnesota is 0.08 percent. He was booked in Hennepin County jail at 11 p.m. local time according to jail records. He was released a few hours later after posting $300 bond.
“Wes immediately notified the team following his arrest last night. This morning we contacted the NFL, and after internal discussion, made the decision Wes will travel with the team to Las Vegas this afternoon. We will continue to gather information regarding the incident and have further comment at the appropriate time,” the team said in a statement. Phillips has a court date for Dec. 21 in Minneapolis.
A recurring issue for the Vikings over the past month or so has been an inability to put teams away when they have a late lead. After famously going 11-0 in one-score games last season, Minnesota has played 11 one-score contests in 12 opportunities this year, losing six of them. One aspect of the problem that has been apparent is Kevin O’Connell’s tendency to get conservative with his play-calling late in games. It’s easy to second-guess when it doesn’t work, of course, but it has felt like O’Connell often plays not to lose — or puts too much on the shoulders of his defense — instead of going for the knockout blow. It mostly went unnoticed when it happened a couple times during the Vikings’ five-game winning streak. Up 22-17 against the 49ers just before the two-minute warning, O’Connell called three straight runs and settled for a 50-yard field goal that Greg Joseph missed — but Camryn Bynum saved the day with his second interception of the quarter. A few weeks later, the Vikings nearly blew a 24-3 halftime lead against the Saints. Up 27-19 with around six minutes left, O’Connell dialed up eight runs within his final nine offensive plays as the Vikings went three and out three times in a row. Fortunately, Jameis Winston threw two late picks as Minnesota survived. “I’ve gotta try to find that balance where — I do b
