In my dream I'm watching film of the Cardinal's secondary with Chris Collinsworth and he keeps quizzing me on the coverages, but they won't stop moving around. I'm sweating and need to go to the bathroom. Then my mom brings us pizza and they start dancing... dirty... dancing...

Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you guys on a game well played and ask about that secondary play. Have you known your defense to disguise their coverages that well all season, or was that something new for this game?

The whole team played great, but that coverage was probably the best I've ever seen a defense put together. Between disguising the coverage before the snap to the aggressive play of the linebackers, corners and safeties covering their responsibilities, obviously I'm really impressed. I'm hoping we can use it to pull our heads together and take things up a notch before the playoffs. Maybe we'll get another shot at you then.

Listening to KFAN this morning and they had Zygi Wilf, Sidney Rice and Shank on.  They were in Austin MN doing some community outreach with kids.  Paul Allen was with them and they called in a couple segments.

The interesting thing about it was they asked Sidney what the big difference was from the last two years that has helped him come on so strong.  I'll try to quote him from memory:

The big difference is Brett Favre.  I think of him as a coach and a player.  Last year, you wouldn't see me going home with a laptop to study the other team's coverages.  That was the first thing Brett did when he got here.  We started watching film together and looking at the coverages we're going to be facing. We text each other all the time. He's always asking, "have you seen this, have you seen that?"  I've learned as much from him as I have from anyone in the last two years.

This mirrors comments Percy Harvin has made about Favre texting him about looking at other receivers (Wes Welker) for examples and he then downloads the footage onto his laptop.

Two things strike me about this.

One, you mean no one on the coaching staff was following up with Sidney last year and making sure he was putting time in his playbook (laptop) looking at opposing coverages?!  It was leaked to the media when Daunte turned in his playbook they checked the time logs and he hadn't even looked at any of the plays during his offseason rehab. Laptop playbooks were something Brian Billick started back when he was with the Vikings and took to a whole new level when he went to coach the Ravens.  Now all teams use them and can track player time on them.  Billick was famous for riding players that weren't putting enough time in their playbooks.  Apparently, our coaches are not so good at following up on that.

Two, I've heard a lot of people talk about Favre as a coach in comments here, but from what I'd heard about his time with the Jets and Pack I wasn't sure that made any sense.  He may have been better then I'd heard with the Pack, but it sounds like he's taking it up a notch in the mentoring realm knowing this is probably his last shot at a title.  Between what other players are saying and listening to the way he talks to his teammates (NFL video) on the field it really seems like coaching would be a great role for him to transition into if he wants to stay near the game instead of perpetually mowing his lawn in Mississippi when his playing days are over.

Although he may need to get over his spanking fixation if he wants his players to take him seriously a few years down the road.

NBC sports is conducting a poll on most and least likely coaches to get fired.

Currently Mike McCarthy is the 4th most likely coach to get fired while Brad Childress is the 4th least likely coach to get fired.  More interesting is that both coaches have the exact same win/loss ratio at 31-25 with McCarthy having one more playoff win than Childress.

It makes sense in light of two teams going in opposite directions from the beginning of their coaches' tenures up to now.  But I think another symmetry should be noted.  Since both coaches have taken over the Vikings have spent more money on players than all but two other teams in the NFL while the Packers have spent less than only two other teams.  Might this be a factor in team success?  At the bottom of the food chain things make sense since below Green Bay we find Tampa and the Chiefs.  At the top things are a little less clear thanks to owners that throw money around with no clue what they're doing (Dan Snyder and Jerry Jones I'm looking in your direction).

ESPN has been tracking fan ratings of coaches for some time and last season it was funny to see Childress bounce around the board from week to week based on weather the Vikings won or lost, though he did climb erratically higher as our record improved.  This year, according to the ESPN graph, Childress was a considerably worse coach because of the interception at the end of the Steelers game (and let's not forget that tripping call (am I right R4F?)) in week 7 than he was in week 5 when he single-handedly defeated the menacing St. Louis Rams.

Does anyone know of a website that rates teams, year by year, on criteria like, coaching, free agency, draft quality, player development, ownership situation, etc.?  Maybe even add to that player sets like O-Line, D-Line, RBs, WRs, QBs, Linebackers and Backfield.  Taking individual names out of the ratings should reduce the tendency to over apply blame or credit to individuals, give a better overall picture of the team's structure and health and, in regards to player sets, reward depth at those positions to take into account injury resiliency.

Or we could just keep assigning all credit and blame to the coaches...

First Tyler Thigpen and now John David Booty.

Booty had a tryout with the Houston Texans yesterday and today he signed with the Tennessee Titans.

With TJack  set to become a free agent after this year and the inevitable "will he, won't he" retirement drama coming this off season with Favre where does that leave the Vikings QB of the future? Sage Rosencopter?

Anyway, we've discussed variations on this theme before, but farewell Booty, I have only one regret, that I never really had the chance to chant your last name at the dome.

Booooottttteeeeeeeeeee!!!  Booootttteeeeeee!!!!

After listening to Jon Gruden talk about Favre like a teenage girl talks about her favorite boy-band member for three quarters I introduced my wife to the term, "bromance."

When Favre was a Packer and I had to listen to this twice a year it seemed unbearable. Now that he's a Viking I only find it slightly annoying. Which got me thinking, what was it like for those on the opposite side?

After years of fawning coverage over Favre as a Packer and then two years of Rodgers/Favre comparisons and commentary; what's it like to hear the announcer go on and on about the quarterback of your rival like he's the second coming of Christ?

Does him once being "your guy" make it more or less bearable?

I just watched the game this morning, so I'm sorry I'm so late with this but I felt the need to sympathize with you all. Had Gore been healthy... If your number 1 draft pick didn't have sawdust for brains... it probably would have been a different ball game. The 49ers had every right to win that game.

That said, being a Vikings fan we've lost a lot of games to Brett Favre in bizzare, or downright impossible fashion over the years. So I can't tell you how nice it was to see one of his last second comebacks and be able to cheer for, instead of against, him and come out with a win.

I hope Gore gets healthy quick and you guys get a chance for revenge against the Vikes in the playoffs.

It's of small consolation, but... good game.

Yahoo sports is reporting that AP was limited in practice due to a back injury.

Also EJ and Madieu Williams have shoulder injuries, although EJs injury sounds like the most serious of the bunch.

I hope we see a little, or a lot, more Chester Taylor and some passing this Sunday to take some of the load off Peterson.  I rather he miss most of a game than several games if he aggravates an injury.  Remember we got him in the draft because the previous six teams were afraid of his injury history.

Anyone out there using the new NFL Game Rewind service?  It sounds like exactly what I've been looking for, but I'm curious how long the delay is between kickoff and when the game becomes available.  They make it sound like it's almost a live stream, but it's not.  If it's less than 4 hours I'm all over it.

By the way I tried the demo on the site, and the quality was phenomenal.

Hey Everyone,

I'm a Vikings fan and I just had to join the Bleeding Green Nation to thank everyone for showing so much class on our board last weekend. I had assumed all fans were as irrational and immature as Packers and Bears fans but you've shown otherwise.

Best of luck to you all. I'd rather we lost to the champs then some chumps so I'll be rooting for you the rest of the way.

As of 2:00 AM Thursday morning I can't buy Vikings tickets via Ticketmaster. I can view them on their crappy site, just not buy them.

How is it the biggest ticket seller in the universe, with a virtual monopoly on ticket sales and all the profits that go with it, can't make a site as nice and functional as their lowly competitor StubHub.com and can't even keep the site up when they're supposed to be selling playoff tickets?

I know, check back in the morning... But you see, I'm tired and pissed off and I want tickets now. So I did the next best thing and posted to the DailyNorseman.