Alrighty, since I didn't get this taken care of last week, here's this week's installment of Five Good Questions with Jimmy from Music City Miracles, SBNation's Tennessee Titans blog.

1)  The big story coming out of Titan-land over the past couple of weeks has been the saga of Vince Young.  With VY having issues other than the physical, can you speculate on what you see for Young's future with the franchise?

I have no idea how it will all play out.  It is all up to Vince at this point.  He has to develop the mental toughness that allows him to handle criticism and use it to make him better.  He has never had to do that before.  I have my doubts that he will be able too, but I sure hope he does.

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Pretty decent Minnesota sports weekend, overall.  Vikings win. . .Twins split with the Rays. . .Gophers win. . .Bears lose a heartbreaker. . .Lions get smashed in San Francisco. . .and the Packers get run off their home field by Minnesota native Marion Barber III.

Yep. . .it's a fine Monday to be a Viking fan.  Of course, every Monday is a fine Monday to be a Viking fan, just like every other day is a fine day to be a Viking fan, and to hell with anybody that says otherwise.  Really, it's just a matter of whether I spend Monday being Happy Gonzo, which is better for all of the people in my immediate vicinity, or Angry Gonzo. . .which is not as good for all the people around me, but much better for this website, since Angry Gonzo seems to be a much better writer than Happy Gonzo.

And now that I've celebrated my multiple personality disorder and referred to myself in the third person a few times, join us. . .er, me. . .in taking a look back at yesterday's Viking triumph over the Carolina Panthers.

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Well, folks, it's Friday, and that means it's time for a check of the injury reports for both of the teams involved in this Sunday's clash at the Metrodome.  Oh, and there's one name on the injury reports that Vikings fans probably aren't going to like too terribly much.

We'll start with the visiting Carolina Panthers.

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I told you yesterday in my late update that I had had a long day on Tuesday, but not the kind of "long day" that you look back on and are glad it's over.

See, as a military member, I have a lot of things that I have to do in addition to my "regular job" of being an instructor in order to keep things running smoothly.  Some require a couple of hours to take care of, some require a day, some require a few days, and they usually involve various types of training.  However, yesterday was almost like a holiday on the military calendar for ol' Gonzo.  Why?

Because yesterday was "M-16 Qualification Day."  It isn't a national holiday, but by God, it ought to be.

Yesterday, my day consisted of learning everything there was to know about the M-16 rifle. . .the different parts, the firing procedures, the different firing positions, and so forth.  We took the weapons apart, put them back together, and learned about each part, inside and out.  After that, it was out to the rifle range for practice and qualification.

The process at the range begins with what's called "zeroing" your rifle.  Basically, you shoot 5 groups of 4 shots a piece, and these groups of shots are used to make "sight adjustments" to the weapon. . .if you're firing too high or too far to one side or something like that.  After the zeroing process, you get to fire 30 practice rounds in groups of 6.  This ensures that everything is working okay with your rifle.  Then, the qualification process begins. . .50 shots, and depending on what classification you are, you have to hit the targets a certain number of times to be qualified.

It's actually quite similar to football, when you think about it.  (See, I'm going somewhere with this. . .just hang on.)  Your zeroing process is a lot like mini-camps and training camp, getting the basics in order and stuff like that.  The practice rounds are more or less like the pre-season games. . .an opportunity to implement what you've already started working on.  Finally, we get to the qualification, where things get to be "for real" and there's no realistic chance of going back and starting over.

Well, a weird thing happened yesterday out on the range.  There were about 10 of us out there at different positions doing our qualifications, and when we got to the qualification part, one of the females that we had out there with us had her weapon constantly jam up on her, leaving her unable to fire the appointed number of rounds in the allotted time.  Bad juju, right?

Our instructor did the best he could to come up with a solution.  He had brough an extra M-16 along with him in the bus for just such an situation.  He put a few rounds into a magazine, fired them at a practice target, did the best he could to get it zeroed in, and gave it to the airman to use.  Sufficient to say, she fired badly and, though she DID reach her qualification mark, she scraped it pretty closely.

How does this finally relate back to football?  Because the same principle that we're seeing happen with the Minnesota Vikings right now.

You don't go into battle with a weapon that you don't have faith in.

Now, this can be applied in two ways. . .the first being the obvious one, the switch from Tarvaris Jackson to Gus Frerotte at quarterback.  Brad Childress, who talked all off-season about how improved Tarvaris Jackson was and how he was going to be a bigger part of the team and this and that and blah blah blah. . .we know now that that was a bunch of crap.  Brad Childress doesn't (and probably didn't) really believe in Tarvaris Jackson or his abilities.  He simply stood in front of you and me and reporters and Viking fans everywhere and said those sort of things to soothe his own inadequacies.

Someone that had faith in his quarterback wouldn't have called the kind of football games that Brad Childress has called over the first two weeks of the 2008 NFL season.  And if he didn't have that faith in Tarvaris Jackson from the word "go" , as far back as the pre-season or even mini-camp, then he owed it to himself, to Tarvaris Jackson, and to the Vikings' franchise to step up and admit as much, and to get the Vikings to go another direction at the quarterback position.  But he didn't.  He's bought into his own hype about his ability to develop a quarterback and thought he could just throw Jackson out there with THIS game plan and THIS scheme and get the job done.

Really, what quarterback has Childress ever developed?  And please, PLEASE don't give me Donovan F. McNabb.  Color me crazy, but McNabb seems to be doing just fine without him, thanks.

So now, after an 0-2 start, Brad Childress has given into the most basic, yet most powerful of human desires. . .the desire to save his own ass.  And as of now, he thinks that Gus Frerotte gives him the best chance to do that.  Don't get me wrong. . .I'm never, EVER going to cheer for my team to lose. . .but I'm not sure if I'd be totally heartbroken if Gus didn't turn out to be a knight in shining armor for this team, because it would mean that Childress would be on a bus out of town after the season finale against the New York Football Giants.

To a lesser extent, the theory also applies to the gameplans that Childress has given the offense in the first two games of this season.  Clearly, Childress didn't have faith in Jackson to execute the entire playbook, which is nothing short of mind-numbing at this point.  Basically, if I can slip a movie reference in here, Childress sent Tarvaris Jackson out into the arena to face Maximus Decimus Meridius. . .and basically armed him with a spork.  If the playcalling doesn't change, it won't make any difference who's calling the signals. . .this offense is going to continue to be horrible.

I know that there are a lot of video gamers out there among you, so let me put it this way.  To the right, you can see an approximation of the Vikings' offensive playbook over the first two games of the 2008 season.  You can see that there's a run to the left for Adrian Peterson, a run to the right for Adrian Peterson, and some very basic pass plays.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Tecmo Bowl Offense.  Hell, it's not even the Super Tecmo Bowl Offense. . .Super Tecmo Bowl gave you EIGHT plays to choose from, which we all know is way too many.  And in the second half of the Colts game, Tony Dungy was picking Brad Childress' play every. . .single. . .time.  And we know what happens in Tecmo Bowl when you guess your opponent's play, don't we?

So, don't go into battle with a weapon you don't have faith in. . .whether it's war or football or paintball or even a battle of the wits.  Maybe Brad Childress will show a little more faith in his weapon now that he's gotten a new one.  If he does, that's really a sad, sad testament to his abilities as a head football coach.

Today on ProFootballTalk.com, the folks over there floated the suggestion that the Minnesota Vikings should make an effort to acquire QB Jeff Garcia from Tampa Bay in an effort to shore up their quarterback situation.

Please.

It's not that I don't think that Jeff Garcia is a good football player.  He clearly showed last season that he still has some juice left in the tank.  It's the fact that pretty much all mid-season trade rumors in the NFL strike me as a bit absurd, particularly those that involve players at the quarterback position.  After all, this isn't like baseball where things don't particularly change a great deal from one location to the next.  An illustration:

A Major League Baseball player that's been traded meets his new manager for the first time.

Baseball player:  Hey, skip, I'm happy to be here and I'm willing to do whatever you ask to help this team win!

Manager:  Well. . .what we want you to do is take one of those bats over there. . .go and stand in that batter's box. . .and hit the ball.

Baseball player:  Pretty much like I did for my old team?

Manager:  Yep, you've got it!  Go get 'em, slugger!

Now. . .to contrast. . .

An NFL quarterback acquired by his new team prior to Week 3 goes to meet his coach for the first time.

Quarterback:  Hey, coach, I'm happy to be here and I'm willing to do whatever you ask to help this team win!

Coach:  Good!

Coach proceeds to produce an 800-page playbook and tosses it on to his desk.

Coach:  Learn this.  Be ready by Sunday.

Quarterback proceeds to soil himself.

Coach:  And get yourself a fresh change of underwear.  Why are you still sitting here, anyway?  Shouldn't you be learning the playbook?

Yes, I realize that Brad Childress' playbook probably isn't 800 pages long and, in fact, could probably be contained within a Trapper Keeper.  I was talking about normal NFL teams there.

But if the Vikings were to acquire Jeff Garcia, by the time he'd really, REALLY be ready to make a significant contribution to the team, it might already be too late.  He'd have to learn the playbook, learn the terminology, develop timing with his receivers, and all of that stuff.  That's why teams have training camp. . .they work out all of that sort of stuff there before the season rather than trying to do it during the course of the year.

The other reason that it would be absurd for the Vikings to try to acquire Jeff Garcia is. . .and bear with me here. . .that with the way the offense is currently being called and run, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference WHO is taking the snaps.  It could be Jeff Garcia, it could be Tarvaris Jackson or Gus Frerotte or anybody else. . .as long as the offensive philosophy and the way the plays are called aren't changed, nothing is going to change with the offense, either.

I'm not sure why PFT is starting the "Jeff Garcia to Minnesota" rumors, but as of right now, I think they have all the validity and legitimacy of a tampering charge filed by Ted Thompson. . .and we KNOW how truthful and honest those are.

I apologize for the lateness of the hour of this update, everyone.  It's been a long day over here at the Gonzo house, and I've had about a thousand different things to do prior to getting around to this.

So, here are the official injury reports for tomorrow's game.  We'll start with the visiting Indianapolis Colts.

It's going to be quite interesting to see what the Colts try to do with Saturday on Sunday.  (And don't act like you didn't know that line was coming.)  The Colts have a relatively early bye (Week 4), and even with as bad as the Colts' line looked in their opener, I don't know why on earth you'd risk a guy so valuable when you can, essentially, give him three more full weeks off before throwing him out there.  His injury was rumored to be a 5-6 week recovery, and if he goes out there tomorrow against the law firm of Williams & Williams, he'll be out there WAY ahead of that.

If you'll recall my interview with BigBlueShoe from over at Stampede Blue, he said that Tamme was going to be one of the Colts' players to watch on Sunday in the potential absence of Dallas Clark.  Well, now we know that Tamme is going to be absent as well, leaving the Colts with Gijon Robinson and rookie Tom Santi at the TE position.  With that being the case, I'd expect to see a lot of 3 WR sets from the Colts in this one, which should only enhance Minnesota's ability to slow down the running game and focus on the pass.

Now for the Beloved Purple:

Williams will, hopefully, be back by the time the Vikings travel to Tennessee in Week 4.  I don't think Tyrell Johnson played badly against the Packers, but it sure will be nice to see what we're paying for with #20 back there with Darren Sharper.  The play of the safeties will be key this week in our attempts to slow down Peyton Manning and the Colts' passing game.

If Hicks can't go, I believe we'll be seeing Marcus Johnson get his first career start at LT, and he gets the relatively simple task of taking on Dwight Freeney.  Wait, did I say "simple?"  What I meant was, "Look out, Tarvaris!"  Then again, for a guy with zero game experience at the position, Johnson actually did a serviceable job on Monday night, so I shouldn't complain too much.

Alright, folks. . .kickoff is set for about 14 hours from now.  Channel all your thoughts into a big performance for the Beloved Purple, because that's exactly what they're going to need tomorrow to avoid an 0-2 start.  Until then, enjoy the rest of your Saturday!

Alrighty, ladies and gentlemen. . .after a bit of a delay, I've gotten the responses to my questions for BigBlueShoe, our Indianapolis Colts blogger from Stampede Blue.  He's already been over here answering a few questions about his team, which is great, but he are his answers to the questions I sent him the other day.  Enjoy!

Gonzo:  The big story coming out of Indy over the last day or two has been the arrest, and subsequent release, of DT Ed Johnson.  For those of us that aren't familiar with him, tell us exactly what his loss means to the Colts' defense.

BigBlueShoe:  Well, I'm not quite sure to be honest with you. Ed Johnson was really the anchor for the interior of the defensive line, replacing Anthony McFarland, who blew out his knee in training camp last year. Big Ed had a very troubled college career at Penn State. Despite his tremendous talent out of college, he went undrafted. The Colts took a chance on him, and he seemed to turn his life around in 2007. Players like McFarland (on injured reserve) took Ed under their wing and tutored him. He had a great season last year, and was picked as a potential breakout player inn 2008.

However, I find it very hard to believe that arguably the greatest talent evaluator of his generation (Bill Polian) would just up and cut his best interior d-lineman without having a plan. Say what you will about Big Ed's talent, but after a blow out loss against a medicore Bears team to open your club's brand new stadium, what did Ed Johnson do immediately afterwards? Did he get mad? Hit the weight room? Watch extra tape? Call a meeting and challenge his mates? No. He got high and got arrested.

That's not how professional football players are to conduct thmeselves in this organization.

Character means something, and adversity can reveal character. Cutting Big Ed sent a message to the rest of the team, and I think that message was received. So, when I say I don't know, the reason I don't is because I need to see how they respond against your Vikings after the fallout of last weekend's debacle and the Ed Johnson fiasco.

G:  We know all the big names on the Colts. . .Manning, Harrison, Wayne, etc.  Who's a guy that not a lot of folks know about that will have a huge impact on this Sunday's game?

BBS:  Two guys: Jacob Tamme and Gijon Robinson. Both play TE and H-Back in Indy's system, and if Dallas Clark cannot play, look for them to get involved in the passing game. Tamme is a Dallas Clark clone, while Robinson is more FB than TE.

G:  Peyton Manning didn't see any action at all this pre-season, and the rust was evident in the Colts' season opener against Chicago.  How long do you anticipate it will take the NFL's best quarterback to get back to his old form?

BBS:  This Sunday. No, I'm not kidding. Peyton is very upset over the Week One loss, and you know he'll be working like a mad dog this week to prepare for Minnesota. I'm looking for a big game from Peyton. When he gets mad, he drops 400 yards and 5 TDs on people. This is not a slight to Minnesota's defense, because I think they are good. I think Peyton has a pretty good idea of how Minnesota will attack Indy's o-line, and he is working this week to counter-attack against that.

G:  After getting gashed for 183 yards by Matt Forte and Kevin Jones last Sunday, what changes do you anticipate the Colts making in preparation for what might be the best 1-2 running back combo in the National Football League?
 
BBS:  The Colts won't change anything. They don't do that. They won't re-scheme things just to stop Adrian Peterson and the Vikes awesome running game. They will go back and re-work on execution. There's nothing wrong with Indy's scheme. That's been proven time and time again. Players need to execute better, and Tony Dungy will go back and fine tune their execution. History is on Indy's side with this, for what it is worth. Whenever teams do well running one week, the Colts have a knack for fine tuning themselves, coming in the next week, and stoning the opponent's offense.

G:  What do you feel the Colts need to do this Sunday to leave the Metrodome with a victory?
 
BBS:  Obviously, Minnesota's running attack must be destroyed. Not stopped. Not kinda slowed down. Peterson, Taylor, and the other backs  must be hit, knocked back, and stoned at the LOS. Tarvaris Jackson must then be forced to throw the ball. Key to this strategy is the Colts offense controlling the game, scoring TDs in the red zone and getting an early lead. If Jackson is forced to throw, and the running game obliterated, he will committ turnovers. And things will snowball from there. This will not be easy, but it is the tried and true strategy the Colts have used for years. Peyton Manning should be more comfortable, and he will likely stress the importance of running the ball. Minnesota will attack Indy's interior offensive and defensive lines, and it is up to the players in those positions to respond. Hook the chin strap and earn your six figures, or you're gone. that was the message sent this week.

We will see who responds. Look for big days from Manning, Sanders, and possibly Tamme. It should be a great game all-around, because both these teams are good.

Thanks to BigBlueShoe for taking the time to answer these questions, and be sure to keep checking out Stampede Blue over the course of the next couple of days as we lead up to what should be the best game on the Week 2 schedule.

Yes, I know exactly what you're thinking, because I thought it for a while last night myself.

Nine months of preparation. . .millions of dollars spent. . .an off-season of lies perpetuated by the Green Bay front office and placed at our doorstep. . .and the Vikings go out and put up a performance like THAT!?

But there are some important things to remember here.  By the end of last night's game, the Vikings were down to their third-string left tackle.  When you get down to the #3 guy on the depth chart at any position, the result is usually going to be less than optimal, but I thought that Marcus Johnson actually held up pretty well at a spot that, I'm assuming, he hasn't gotten a heck of a lot of snaps at.  I'm not sure how severe the injury to Artis Hicks' elbow is, but whoever starts at LT this coming Sunday is going to have to deal with Dwight Freeney, so this is something that needs to be resolved sooner rather than later.

The most important thing to keep in mind here is that this is, still, just one game.  Yes, it hurts worse and sucks more because it was a loss to Green Bay.  But there are still 15 more of these to go this season, and I have a feeling that things will be getting better the rest of the way.  Having my theory proven true hinges on the abilities of one man.

Brad Childress.

As of this moment, I've given up trying to figure out how Brad Childress constructs his offensive game plans.  The first half of last night's game was one of the single worst first halves of football I've ever seen.  Tarvaris Jackson had 7. . .yes, SEVEN. . .pass attempts in the entire first half, and only completed two for 16 yards.  Yes, we have Adrian Peterson at our disposal, and he was his usual God-like self last night, given the circumstances. . .but during the pre-season, we saw an improvement in Jackson's play.  Brad Childress told us all off-season about how Jackson had improved and was going to be a big surprise this year.

And then you go out in the first half and give him, basically, zero opportunities to make plays.

When I posted the injury report on Friday, I suggested that the Vikings would be wise to get Peterson and Chester Taylor out on the edges, as well as roll out Tarvaris Jackson frequently in an effort to get Green Bay's ailing defensive line to chase him around and wear themselves out.  Did we run a single time to the outside last night?  Was there a toss or a sweep play to be found anywhere?  If there was, I don't recall it.  When you have Steve Hutchinson and Matt Birk, two of the premiere "pulling" players at their positions, at your disposal, you should be running towards the edges a lot. . .and, for some reason, the Vikings seem to be content to just keep slamming people into the middle of the line repeatedly.

The offensive game plan simply MUST be more creative from this point forward if the Vikings are to reach the potential that we all know they have.  Granted, the absence of Bryant McKinnie plays a big part in that, but even with Hicks or Johnson out there at the LT spot, the Vikings need to start doing some different things with Jackson and with the best RB combo in football.

And yet, despite all of that and despite Brad Childress' terrible first half playcalling, the Minnesota offense outscored Green Bay's offense.  They actually outgained the Packers in net yardage, 355-317.  The Vikings had more first downs than Green Bay did (21-15).  Both teams were right around 40% on third-down conversions.  Tarvaris Jackson and Aaron Rodgers both had 178 passing yards and 1 passing TD.  (Granted, Rodgers looked far more efficient in doing so.)  It was truly a tale of two halves for Minnesota.  After letting the Packers win the time of possession battle in the first half, the Vikings had possession for a longer time in the third quarter than they did in the entire first half (12:08 TOP for the Vikings in the first half, 12:42 TOP in the third quarter).  There was a point in the second half where the Vikings had run 29 offensive plays to Green Bay's 3.

As is the case in the National Football League, one or two plays made the difference in this football game.  A few examples of such plays?

How's about back in the first quarter where the Packers' faced 3rd and 13 and ran a draw play to Brandon Jackson.  Jackson fumbled the ball forward, and it looked like numerous Vikings had a shot at recovering the football. . .but at the end of the play, Greg Jennings recovered for Green Bay on the other side of the first-down line, and the Packers kept possession.  A recovery there for Minnesota would have set them up at around the Packers' 30-yard line, and they likely could have gotten at least a field goal out of something like that.

The killer, of course, was Will Blackmon's 76-yard punt return in the third quarter.  That was a combination of a bad, line drive kick by Chris Kluwe and pretty terrible overall coverage by the Vikings' special teams.  Big returns will happen, of course, but usually Kluwe has significantly more hang time on his punts than he had one the one Blackmon took back.  Hopefully this won't become a trend over the course of the season.

Speaking of special teams, how much different could things have been had the Vikings recovered what was a perfectly acceptable onside kick by Ryan Longwell?  Granted, they got the ball back anyway, but if they could have set up shop in Green Bay territory (which is where they would have been, thanks to a dumb penalty on the Packers during the PAT after Adrian Peterson's TD run), they could have better capitalized on the momentum that they had built to that point.

Yes, last night's loss was disappointing, to say the least.  Yes, it's a game that the Vikings could have won.  Yes, Brad Childress is now 0-5 against Green Bay as the Vikings' head coach (and nobody is more infuriated with that than I am).  But it's only one game, and the time has come to move on and start looking forward to the home opener against Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon.  Hopefully things will take a much different path than they took on Monday night.

Alrighty, folks, since we're stuck waiting until TOMORROW to watch the Beloved Purple win their first game of the season and everyone else gets to have fun today (well, except for Bronco and Raider fans), let me get something up here that I've had sitting in my inbox since before all of my hurricane-related fun and excitement got started.

Bill Barnwell is one of the Football Outsiders.  I'm a big fan of their site, as anyone that's come here for any length of time already knows, and they've really taken football statistical analysis to a higher level.  They're also the folks behind the Pro Football Prospectus, where they take the statistics they generate and apply them to the upcoming NFL season.  The 2008 PFP is probably on a shelf at a bookstore near you. . .but, as I've said before, you can get it for less than $15 if you grab it through Amazon.com.

I had the opportunity to send Mr. Barnwell five questions about the Minnesota Vikings and their 2008 prospects.  Here, now, are those questions and their answers.

Gonzo:  The Vikings made one major acquisition on each side of the ball during this past off-season, signing Bernard Berrian on offense and trading for Jared Allen just before the draft.  Whose effect on the team will be more profoundly felt. . .Allen's or Berrian's?  And, as an off-shoot from that question, which will improve the Vikings' offense more. . .acquiring Bernard Berrian or getting rid of Troy Williamson?

Bill Barnwell:  If they both stay healthy, Allen by far. Berrian isn't a #1 receiver. He's yet to put up a positive DVOA as a full-time starter, and although he hasn't played with a great quarterback, well...he won't be playing with one this year, either. Berrian's a downfield target that keeps safeties honest -- essentially, what Troy Williamson was supposed to be. He might catch those bombs that Williamson dropped, and that'll add a few extra scores, but he's not a great fit for the West Coast Offense -- he is neither the route-runner nor the middle-range technician that the team needs.

Allen, on the other hand, is an elite defensive end. He takes a situation that was an absolute weakness (Minnesota ranked 28th in our Adjusted Sack Rate statistic last year, which takes into account context and opponent) and turns it into a strength singlehandedly. Allen will suffer some from not having Tamba Hali across from him, but there's every reason to think that Allen also creates separation for the Williamses and should benefit from being single-teamed more frequently. Certainly, at the end of the year, I think Vikings fans will be much more excited about having Jared Allen in purple and gold.

I pretty much have the tendency to agree here, although I think a bit more highly of Bernard Berrian than Bill does.  We have a couple of route-running technicians in Bobby Wade and Sidney Rice.  What the offense lacks is a guy to get open downfield and not have the ball clang off of his face mask.

G:  Tarvaris Jackson was selected by the Vikings in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft.  In that same year, the Tennessee Titans drafted Vince Young #3 overall, and the Arizona Cardinals selected Matt Leinart with the 10th overall pick.  After two years of putting up fairly similar numbers, why are Young and Leinart still viewed by many as potential franchise quarterbacks while Jackson is largely seen as some schlub that barely belongs on an NFL roster?

BB:  Well, because they haven't played at the same level. Using our stat, DYAR, Leinart's averaged 18.16 DYAR per game, Young's averaged 8 DYAR per game, and Jackson's averaged... -2.75 DYAR per game, despite having a much better offense around him than either player. Now, granted, Jackson was way better in 2007 than 2006. He also had more DYAR and a higher DVOA than Eli Manning.

The bigger factor for us, though, in doubting Jackson's future is our Lewin Career Forecast for Jackson. One of our writers, Dave Lewin, has found that the two biggest indicators for a quarterback's success in the NFL are their games started in college and the player's completion percentage in those games. Jackson couldn't beat out Matt Jones (albeit with a shoulder injury) in college, and he completed 55% of his passes on the I-AA level. It's almost impossible to find a quarterback who succeeded with similar statistics in college.

Stats and forecasts be damned. . .right now, I'll take Tarvaris Jackson over either Vince Young OR Matt Leinart.  I may be the only person in America that thinks that way, and I'm fine with that.

G:  As someone who's a bit further removed from the situation than most of us Viking fans are, what do you think of what Brad Childress has done in Minnesota in his first two seasons?  He talked about how great the Vikings' job was when he took it, yet he's spent the past two seasons leading this team to records at or below .500.  Do you think he can get it done over the long term, or is this team just treading water under the tutelage of the man who once beat Gerald McRaney in a Gerald McRaney look-alike contest?

BB:  It's hard to detach Childress' performance from the new level of spending undertaken by Zygi Wilf. That being said, there are many good indicators. Childress has hit on both his first round picks. He hit on his biggest free agent signing; it was unheard of to offer a guard $49 million for seven years when Childress offered it to Hutchinson, but a year later, every free agent guard was getting that much, and Childress had already gathered the best. His obsession with Tarvaris Jackson might be his weakest point, but it's still up for debate whether that's going to be a failure or not. I don't see a coach who would've done a particularly better job with what he's been handed and/or working with player personnel to acquire the right guys.

Many Viking fans, including myself, have had a love/hate relationship with Brad Childress over the last couple of years.  I think that this season, however, Zygi Wilf's patience with Dr. Funke Major Dad Coach Childress will be rewarded.

G:  We've been made well aware that the Vikings were "ranked last against the pass" in 2006 and 2007 in terms of yards allowed.  However, anyone that's read Football Outsiders or the Pro Football Prospectus knows that you folks look beyond yardage numbers when determining how good or bad different units are.  So, has the Minnesota pass defense really been as bad over the past two seasons as many people are led to believe, and have you seen anything that would lead you to believe that there will be an improvement in 2008?

BB:  It's been slightly below-average. In 2006, it ranked 15th in the league; in 2007, it was down to 23rd. The thing that we stress is that the relationship between a secondary's ability to cover and a pass rush are symbiotic; take the Giants, for example. A great pass rush masked up the deficiencies of a mediocre secondary who, because of the rush, only had to cover for three, maybe four seconds on a good amount of plays. How long did Vikings' corners have to hold their coverage? Realistically, it's a longer period of time. Adding Allen will improve the secondary, even though he doesn't play there.

G:  The Vikings are a chic pick to make a lot of noise in the NFC in 2008.  In your view, what's the realistic best-case scenario for the Vikings?  How do you see them faring in terms of the NFC North, and the NFC as a whole?

BB:  I think the Vikings could win anywhere from six to 14 games and I wouldn't be surprised. Honest. There's a huge level of variance in their performance dependent upon the difficulty of their schedule (specifically the four games against Chicago and Green Bay) and how healthy they stay. Our book projects them to win 10.1 games, and that sounds just about right to me.

I would like to thank Mr. Barnwell for taking the time to answer these questions for me, and I apologize to him and to everybody else for taking so long to get them on the site.

Back with more as the afternoon progresses!

Both the Vikings and the Packers released their final injury reports for Monday night's game yesterday, and things look a lot better for the Vikings on the injury front than they do for Green Bay, in my opinion.

Let's start with Green Bay's injuries first.

And now for the Beloved Purple:

As you can see, the Vikings will have almost their entire complement of players heading into Monday night's game, while the Packers are going to have some injury issues.

Take a look at all of the injuries that Green Bay has on the defensive side of the ball, particularly along the defensive line.  Ryan Pickett isn't on their injury list, but he's also been limited in his participation during the pre-season.  The injury report might say that he's recovered. . .and the Vikings would be well served to test that.

If I was Brad Childress, I'd take my Tarvaris Jackson. . .provided he has his full mobility. . .and get him to the edge on rollouts, sprintouts, and so forth.  Make Green Bay's big uglies run around a little bit.  Between the injuries and the lack of depth on the interior of the Green Bay d-line, it would help the Vikings later on in the game, in my opinion.  Get Peterson and Taylor out on the edges, too, on tosses and swing passes.  Hopefully we'll see that early and often on Monday night.

More on the game as the weekend wears on, folks. . .I'm going to go back to tracking Hurricane Ike.  Yes, ANOTHER freaking hurricane.  Hurricane season has to stop eventually, doesn't it?