Oct 25, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway (52) against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Metrodome. The Buccaneers defeated the Vikings 36-17. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Everything in the NFL is a fineable offense these days, even legal hits. So why shouldn’t joking also be worthy of a sanction? This is what Mike Florio would like to see. Fines for cracking jokes. Specifically, he wants to go after Chad Greenway for saying Viking fans should get “super duper drunk” ahead of Sunday’s game vs. the Bears. As if football fans ever needed such urging. No Chad, they were going to be stone sober. But since you asked? They’ll get totally hammered.

Florio made his case for fining Greenway in rather sanctimonious Costas-like fashion. “Binge drinking remains a serious problem in our society, and the NFL continues to struggle with striking the balance between selling beer to fans while also ensuring that those fans don’t become sufficiently intoxicated to ruin another fan’s experience at the game or an innocent stranger’s life while driving home,” Florio raved. “Public comments from players urging fans to get sloppy drunk become irresponsible in this context, especially since plenty of fans are young and male and more than happy to oblige the home team’s request for folks to be ‘super duper drunk.’”

Florio: It was a joke. Everyone understood it was a joke. Trust me dude, not one single Viking fan is going to get drunker than they were already going to get because Chad Greenway said get drunk. They already have more than enough reasons to get drunk. I mean, have you seen the Vikings’ offense lately? You have to be totally smashed to even endure that crap.

This is all a big “whatever” for me. I’m not offended by Greenway’s joke. I’m not really offended by Florio’s high-horse bullcrap because that’s what media people do and I get that. I am sort of amused by the idea that drunkenness can make a crowd more boisterous. I suppose it’s true but it’s really not the most effective way to get a crowd into a game. You know what works better? Completing passes more than five yards down the field. Fans like that kind of stuff, it turns out.

So maybe instead of urging the fans to drink, Greenway should implore Christian Ponder to not suck. Florio would probably want to fine him for excessive leadership.

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At least I think that’s what this means.

My ignorance of legal matters – thankfully, I haven’t had much experience with the insides of courtrooms, outside of jury duty – means I am entirely beholden to the opinions and conclusions of others when it comes to such stories.  And the first person I go to is PFT’s Mike Florio, because he is a lawyer, and presumably knows what he’s talking about.

And it’s Florio’s conclusion that the Williams Wall will now not be suspended.

The NFL can apparently still appeal, but the consensus seems to be that such an appeal would take so long to wend its way through the legal system, the season would be over before anything was resolved.

Again, it looks like we will have Pat and Kevin in the line-up for the full 16 game schedule.  And the playoffs.  And of course the Super Bowl.

The evidence keeps trickling out indicating that, indeed, Brett is not the #1 choice of everyone who will be suiting up for the Vikings this year.  “Per a source with knowledge of the locker-room dynamics in Minnesota,” reports Mike Florio, “there’s a ‘faction’ that still prefers Tarvaris Jackson.”

Yes, that Tarvaris Jackson.

According to Florio, this pro-Jackson faction, its size “undetermined,” believes Favre is over-the-hill, and that Jackson’s talent makes him more suited to lead the team on a championship run.

These T-Jackers had reason to keep their mouths shut a few weeks ago, when their guy was still gimpy from a training camp injury, and had been clearly passed by Sage Rosenfels as the starter.  But after Jackson’s brilliant performance against second stringers in the preseason game vs. the Chiefs?  They apparently have begun to stir.

Alas, amassing a perfect QB rating against a second team defense in an exhibition game does not an argument for starting status make.  It was nice that T-Jack did so well, seemed so motivated, but am I the only one who remembers his dreary performance against the Eagles in the playoffs?

Am I the only one who recalls how poorly he played the first two games of last season, leading to his benching in favor of another old gray-beard, Gus Frerotte?

Do I alone have a problem with Tarvaris’s career-long habit of missing time for injuries that other quarterbacks (some named Favre) may have been able to man up and play through?

The unnamed T-Jackers may be playing a Jedi mind trick on themselves, purging their own memories of the bad T-Jack stuff, and replacing them with happy dreams of what T-Jack could be if only Brad Childress shows enough faith in him.

As if Chilly hadn’t already invested sufficient faith in T-Jack over the years, even naming him the starter without a training camp competition the two seasons before this one.

The T-Jackers certainly can’t argue that Chilly hasn’t given their guy a shot.  And if they honestly think that one good stretch in a preseason game is enough to leap-frog him over Brett Favre?  Dwight Smith must’ve left some of the good stuff behind, and they must’ve found it and decided to smoke it.

That being said, I do believe it is necessary to be open-minded about this whole quarterback thing.  Yes, Brett Favre, by past history and everything else, has earned the right to be anointed the starter, even though he has completed exactly one pass in a Vikings uniform thus far.  However, I also think that Chilly has to have a quick hook if Favre begins showing signs that he is as finished as the T-Jackers already believe he is.

And if it becomes necessary to yank Favre as the starter, Chilly has only one choice:

Promote Sage Rosenfels.

Cause who in the hell wants to watch Tarvaris Jackson run around like a scared barnyard animal again?  I’ve had enough of that.  So has Chilly.  That’s why Sage was brought in before Brett was brought in.

Thankfully, football is not a Democracy.  The T-Jackers don’t get a vote in whether their guy is elevated on the depth chart.  It’s up to Chilly.  He’s the one who pulled the trigger on Favre (apparently against the wishes of Rick Spielman and others in the front office).  He’s the one who will have to face the music if things go belly-up.

And, he’s the one who drafted Jackson in the first place.  Jackson would’ve gotten no shot in the NFL at all had it not been for Chilly’s (some would say misguided) belief in him.  To paraphrase Bill Cosby:  Chilly brought Jackson into this world, and he can take him out.

So, no, in my mind there is no quarterback controversy in Minnesota.  Brad Childress has made his decision; he has cast his lot with Brett Favre.  You can argue the wisdom of that all day if you like.  The point here is, Tarvaris Jackson has already had enough chances.  It’s time for someone else to get the keys of the KAO.  If that someone can’t drive it, maybe Jackson gets another shot down the road.

The T-Jackers can pout all they like, but frankly, no one cares.  Least of all #4, who is used to his teammates hating his guts.