The fourth quarter turned into a comedy of terrors.  With the Vikings driving to get themselves back in the game, Brett Favre took a shot up under the chin, suffering a laceration that required him to be helped off the field, then driven to the locker room on a cart.  The shot of Favre being driven off looked for all the world like the final image we would ever see of the Silver Fox on a football field as a player, an image as startling and pathetic as the famous shot of Y.A. Tittle bloody and on his knees.  Favre as it turned out was not that badly hurt – a few stitches in his chin and some wooziness but probably not a concussion, and definitely not the broken jaw we all feared when we saw the shot of him lying on the cart apparently near expiration.  With Favre being tended to, Tarvaris Jackson entered the game and promptly hit Naufahu Tahi for a touchdown.  The two-point conversion to Percy Harvin was good, making it 21-18 Vikings with plenty of time left in the fourth.  Fans’ minds immediately went back to the end of the first half when Brad Childress passed up an easy field goal, electing to go for it on fourth and goal, only to watch Adrian Peterson get stuffed.  Would those 3 lost points come back to haunt us?

Well, as it turned out, the Patriots would follow the Vikings’ TD with a workmanlike, clock-eating scoring drive, putting the game out-of-reach with time running down.  The big play on that drive was a Danny Woodhead 16-yard-reception on 3rd-and-12, a conversion that could’ve been prevented had Asher Allen succeeded in making an open field tackle.  The Vikings defense by now looked utterly defeated and helpless.  For the first time all season, the D failed to come up big when it was needed.  One stop on a drive that featured two successful third down conversions of longer than five yards and the Vikes still would’ve had a shot, needing only a field goal to tie.  Once again, the Vikings were in it, but came one or two plays short.  Afterward there would be a lot of questions for Brad Childress, questions about his decision to go for the TD instead of the field goal at the end of the half, about his questionable challenge of the Brandon Tate reception on the ball Williams should’ve picked in the first half; questions about the defensive line’s inability to bring down Brady (though, in all fairness, they did get decent pressure on him at times), about Brett Favre’s health, about Randy Moss‘ dedication to the team after a ranting and bizarre post-game presser.  The Vikings face lots of such questions…and they are running out of time to get them answered.

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Brett Favre looked like he might be on the way to leading the Vikings to a comeback win against the Patriots, until he was hit under the chin by a Pats defender and suffered an apparently serious injury.  After Favre was carted off, the Vikings characterized the injury as a chin laceration, but no one who saw it – and no one who saw the image of Favre lying on his side, eyes closed as he was carted off the field – believes it was anything that mundane.

Tarvaris Jackson, who many fans thought should’ve started the game in place of Favre, entered in relief and promptly threw a touchdown pass to Naufahu Tahi, then converted a two-point conversion to Percy Harvin.  This gave the Vikings a chance.  Unfortunately, the defense was not able to stop the Patriots on their ensuing possession, allowing the Pats to run the clock down and score a game-cinching touchdown with 1:56 remaining on the clock.

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Brad Childress was visibly annoyed at the lack of pass protection during his press conference after the game, and though he didn’t identify Tahi by name, you had a feeling the fullback would be spending some time in the doghouse.  Indeed, when the Vikings inactives were released today, Tahi was listed among the players not suiting up for this afternoon’s tilt with the Cowboys.

I hope Brad will at least let Tahi have a blanket out there in the doghouse, so he doesn’t get too cold.

As further proof of the Vikings’ concern over pass protection, Childress has also elected to activate Albert Young today after leaving him off the active list the last several games.  Young is generally seen as a better blocker than Toby Gerhart but a less effective runner.  Contrary to an initial report saying Gerhart would be inactive this week, both backs are in fact up for this game.

I’m not sure what these moves can tell us about the Vikings’ gameplan today, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of max-protection, multiple tight end formations like the ones used during the Saints game.  With any luck, the Vikes will be able to get Randy Moss downfield in some of these sets and hit some big plays.

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