Dallas was a consensus choice to beat Minnesota last Sunday and many experts contend the Cowboys are the best team in the NFC and maybe 3rd, or 4th best in the NFL. The game turned out to be a frustrating defeat none-the-less because it was an upset special that Minnesota should have pulled off.

Fresh off their at-home 21-point loss to the Patriots the week before Dallas spent last week still living the Patriot game, reading their own press clippings, and not worrying about the Vikings very much. In a game like this when the much favored home team takes the opening kick-off and marches down the field to score 7 points, usually you can see them think, "that was easy", and visibly relax. The underdog then rises to play a great game and the home favorite is unable to "flip-the-switch-on" and revert to playing their best ball.

Leading 14-7 at half and receiving the opening 3rd-quarter kick-off you had to feel good about Minnesota's chances to steal this game. Good coaching would have seen a long, precision drive that led to a 2-score lead and ate up 7-8 minutes of game clock.

Instead the offense sputtered because Tarvaris Jackson is a terrible NFL QB. He will never be an adequate NFL QB because completing passes requires so much more than arm strength.  6 completions for an NFL QB is disgraceful and this is following a 9-completion performance the week before.

In a 32-team league his QB rating is 36th.

One has to assume that a fan base deserves an effort from a team's ownership and coaching to put on the field a product capable of making the play-offs. Hopefully owner and coaches realize that any blueprint-for-success in a "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately" sport had better include a respectable effort at winning.  To consider an entire season a rebuilding year is to accept failure and hope the fans will be patient while you field raw, inferior talent with the hopes that something less crappy emerges from the dung-heap.

In the NFC it will take a record of 10-6, perhaps 9-7 to make the play-offs as a wildcard. In the 10 remaining games the Vikes will have to finish 8-2 or 7-3 for a chance.  This won't happen with Tarvaris at QB. He has got to be related to Spurgeon Wynn - the horrible QB we once acquired from Cleveland....on purpose even.

So what can Minnesota do to quickly right the ship?

Kelly Holcomb starting might be the best chance to beat Philadelphia this weekend but he is not the future - he takes too many sacks and completes barely 50-percent of his passes. With him at the helm a 5-5 finish would be the upside potential and 7-9 won't make the play-offs.

Signing an old has-been isn't the answer either: I.e. Jeff George, Brad Johnson, etc.

One relatively cheap option is to acquire Charlie Whitehurst from San Diego. The 2nd year player, former Clemson QB, is third on their depth chart behind Billy Volek. He doesn't have the arm strength of Tarvaris but he is a far more polished QB. The rap against him in college was consistency. Some games he was very accurate, some games not. Tarvaris is consistently not accurate.

San Diego might part ways with him for a future draft choice. He was a 2nd round draft choice, I believe, but maybe they would consider a deal for Tarvaris, or Troy WIlliamson. The trading deadline was October 16th but this could still happen.

Our pass defense is rated 32nd and Frazier can't scheme his way to improvement with our two youngsters - Griffin and McCauley on the field. (why didn't we keep Davonte Edwards?)

The only way to help our pass defense is with a ball-control offense. A QB who completes 60-percent of his passes is a must.

Has there ever been a running back who could make such cuts and accelerate on grass like Adrian Peterson did Sunday? What an incredible talent, to bust off 3 long TD runs when the defense knows the offense is going to run is amazing.

20 carries for 224 yards, breaking Chuck Foreman's previous record of 200 yards rushing in one game.

Then to close the deal, when Minnesota couldn't hold onto a 31-17 lead with 10 minutes remaining, Adrian returns a kick-off 53 yards to set up Longwell's winning 55-yard FG.

Of Childress's 8 wins this is likely his biggest, ranking ahead of his victories over Seattle and Washington last season. The victory was not only over a divison rival, and on the road, but it keeps any hopes of making the play-offs alive. A loss would have meant 1-4 with five difficult upcoming games and another top-ten draft pick staring them in the face.

This was not a win you can puff your chest out and talk smack about. Other than Adrian, the Vikes did not play especially well. Two bright spots to note: only 2 penalties and Minnesota won the turnover battle 0-to-4.

Williamson had 2 receptions for 69 yards and a 60-yard TD! That's a positive. Tarvaris didn't throw any interceptions - another positive. Chester Taylor provided a counter-balance punch with 80 yards rushing.  Minnesota had 311 yards rushing - outstanding!

On the downside, once again Tarvaris couldn't manage a 50-percent completion rate and had just 9 completions. I counted 5 3-and-outs by the offense and in addition following Adrian's 53-yard kick-off return, three rushing plays intended to eat up the clock and position the ball lost yardage and Longwell had to make the longest kick of his life.

Our defensive secondary is not playing well, Dallas is going to give us hell. How do you give up an 81 yard bomb when you're protecting a lead? That was a beautiful pass from Griese to Hester, by the way.

Frazier needs to do some brainstorming - I wish him success.

In their 27-20 victory over Green Bay last Sunday night, the Bears looked improved with Brian Griese at QB. What a difference a year makes - a year ago Chicago beat Green Bay 26-0 on opening weekend with Grossman as QB.

This Sunday those without faith might hope the Bears overlook the Vikings - take our 1-3 record as an easy win and don't play their A-game. Unfortunately under Childress we've yet to demonstrate an A-game of our own and on our best days the past 20 games have brought our C-game.

Minnesota usually can run the ball effectively against Chicago so look for Adrian & Chester to have decent stats - Adrian might even have another 100-yard day. The last few games with the Bear's have featured Brian Urlacher as a one-man wrecking crew - involved in every play sideline-to-sideline. To neutralize him the Vikes need to pass to Shiancoe over the middle often. Last year Jermaine Wiggins was open all day over the middle but Johnson never threw to him but once.

If Tarvaris's groin is healthy enough there should be at least two designed QB draws or option roll-outs. Darrell Bevell seems to only call a trick play in the red zone or in a place where it kills a drive with a big loss. I'd like to see him use an end-around about the Bear 45 on 2-and-3 after an Adrian Petersen run. Then fake to him again and give to Troy Williamson to the wide side of the field.

Defensively we should be okay. The Bears don't have the personnell to play a spread offense. WIthout Thomas Jones their running game don't scare me. Griese is only an average QB so we may get an interception or two. I hope he don't play poorly - I could see Grossman coming in late and lighting us up - ala Jim McMahon in an '86 Monday night game. Rex isn't McMahon but still, I'd rather not see him on the field this weekend.

Chicago will likely beat us two ways - turnovers deep in our end of the field, or special teams. I don't care how macho it is to kick to Hester - don't do it. Don't let their best player beat you. I'd take a 35-yard punt out-of-bounds with no return anyday rather than a back-breaking long return. Hester can fill his highlight reel against other teams.

Good luck Minnesota - prove me wrong Childress, please. I suck at predicting scores so I won't bother embarrassing myself.

Denny Green divided the season into phases - five parts. Games 1-4 were phase 1. That's behind us. Were in phase two, a fresh beginning. We are 0-0 in phase two - time to get it right.

Due to the season-ending knee injury by Cadilac Williams, Tampa Bay has contacted Minnesota about a possible trade for Mewelde. This is disheartening news for me - I hope it will not happen. If it does, Minnesota should persue one of their wide receivers.

In my mind, a Chester Taylor for Michael Clayton trade would be better for Minnesota. A change of scenery could spark Clayton's career to follow a path similar to that of Cris Carter's, perhaps.

Mewelde offers a lot of flexibility and should be used extensively as a third-down back or as a slot receiver in a 4-receiver set. Moore has great hands and in my opinion, more "make-you-miss" moves than Taylor.

On a different subject - our pass defense - at least Frazier is trying. The results haven't been there and my thought is maybe he is being too "reactive" instead of "proactive". Opposing offenses are spreading us out. Our philosophy is to not give up big plays but to keep the plays in front of us. The corners are giving up too much cushion allowing opponents to "take what we give them" and move down the field.

Perhaps we could approach these spread offenses like defenses did the "run-and-shoot". Defenses started overloading the pass blockers - sending more rushers then there were blockers to handle the. Sort of like the old Bears "46" defense.  When the QB starts getting hammered before he has time to set up and throw, soon the offense has to start bringing receivers back in to block - ergo flankers become TEs. At the same time you do this you have to play the corners up in press coverage so the QB has no quick dump-offs. I know Antoine Winfield can handle this. Maybe Marcus McCauley can grow into a cover corner.

Until next time, hoping someone in the Vikings org begins to apreciate Mewelde and tells Childress to take advantage of his skills.

The 23-16 loss to Green Bay brings Childress to a 7-13 record as a head coach.  A .350 batting average will win you a batting title but any team with a winning percentage of 35% sucks - plain and simple. Is it the players, the coaches, or the organization?

Mike Tice stumbled along at a .500 clip for three years. The belief was the Vikings had a lot of good players and poor coaching. He would have been fired midway through his last season except there was no other coaches on the staff worthy of taking over.

Each of the past three off-seasons the talent level has dropped as players were released or traded for lesser value. We have nothing to show for losing Moss, Culpepper, Michael Bennett, Napolean Harris, Fred Smoot, and even Brad Johnson. These players were replaced with a draft bust (Williamson), and average nobodies (Shiancoe, Wade, Circui, McMullen, etc.)

Now we have Adrian Petersen, a definite improvement over what we had before. Still, the overall talent level has decliined due to coaching and the front office. Once again Mewelde Moore was inactive this weekend - let's not utilize a playmaker in favor of a third blocking fullback who can play special teams. Good thinking there Childress!

Two years ago the Packers were horrible and a lot of experts thought Brett Farve should retire.  McCarthy is an impressive coach and their organization does an amazing job of evaluating talent. Sure, they can't run the ball and eventually that will hurt them. But they are 4-0 with 4 quality wins and they are playing consistently - and smartly. The Packers turned things around very quickly. Aaron Rogers looked pretty good in the pre-season so even when Farve hangs it up, the Packers will still be good.

Frazier is no Mike Tomlin - who should be our head coach. It was a bad day for Minnesota when Tomlin left.

Culpepper looked good yesterday, but I can't get over how small his hands are for such a large man. He sure threw a beautiful strike to Jerry Porter for the TD.

Tonight is a treat: New England at Cincinnatti on MNF. I have Man-love for Tom Brady, I'm not embarrassed to admit. The Pats have the trifecta of what it takes to have a great team: Great players, Great Organization, and Great Coaching.

Minnesota's Great Players: Adrian Petersen, Kevin WIlliams, Antoine Winfield, Mewelde Moore. 4 is not enough.

Future Great Player: Brian Robison - get this man signed long term while he's cheap!

P.S.: What's with Adrian rushing for 108 yards in the first half and 4 yards in the second? Good job there Bevel and Childress - use him as a decoy!