1.  The few of you who actually pay attention to what I say on this blog will note that, for the last couple of weeks, I have been lamenting the ease with which teams have been slicing through the Vikings‘ defense, and have sounded a warning bell about what would happen if some team ever started converting those opportunities into points (instead of fumbling them away like the Rams).  Well, that nightmare scenario finally came to fruition Sunday against the Ravens.  They chewed us up in the middle of the field, and put the ball in the endzone.  Granted, it took until the fourth quarter for them to do this consistently, but still – it happened.  Just like I feared it would.

Now the natural reponse here is to say that things would’ve been different with Antoine Winfield in the game.  And I grant you that; Winfield makes a big difference.  But, even with Antoine in there for 5 games plus part of a 6th, the secondary was average at best.  That mediocrity got exposed by Joe Flacco and some very ordinary receivers.  Also, Ray Rice‘s performance reminded us what a good receiving back can do to this team.  Anyone else remember the way Maurce Jones-Drew tore us up last season?  Rice did it to us again.  And of course we remember the screen play to Brian Westbrook that broke our hearts in the playoffs.  I don’t know why, but it seems like, as the game wears on, our linebackers and defensive backs get more confused about where they’re supposed to be.  I’ve now turned on E.J. Henderson too – I think he’s only an okay MLB.  People refer to him as the “spiritual” leader of the defense, but what this defense needs is a cerebral leader.  A Ray Lewis-type would do the trick.

2.  On Brad Childress electing to run the ball and chew clock going into that last field goal rather than try to score a touchdown:  My reaction at the time was mild annoyance.  “Typical Chilly,” I thought to myself, “doing the safe thing instead of going for the jugular.”  But I was not outraged or angered or anything like that.  I thought it was a lame call but not a total dumb-ass one.  Until the Ravens got the ball back and looked like they were going to march down the field and score.  That was when I started getting a little simmery.  Now I’m on the verge of pissed.  Now I’m thinking to myself, “Is that how Bill Belichick would’ve handled that?”  I think we know the answer to that question.  Belichick would’ve stuck the dagger in the heart.  And twisted it.  And yanked it out and licked the blood off and done a caveman victory dance.

Childress may be an okay coach but now I wonder if he has the killer instinct.  I know Brett Favre does.  And that’s why Favre was reportedly a little annoyed on the sideline after the play-it-safe field goal too. And Chilly says Favre needs to approach it like a serial killer?  Actually, I think Chilly is the one who could stand to be a little more Hannibal Lecter and a little less Mr. Noodle.

3.  The passing game and running game have taken on the same character:  Dink-and-dunk, then go for the big one.  Adrian Peterson now either gets 2 yards or 50 with seemingly nothing in between.  The passing game is either a 5-yard slant or a bomb down the field to Sidney Rice.  The Vikings have apparently succeeded in removing the concept of an intermediate gain entirely from the game, at least on offense.  It’s fine as long as you keep converting in the redzone as the Vikings have done all season (though not as successfully Sunday, at least after the first quarter).

4.  After his 176-yard performance, Sidney Rice is now 9th in the league with 409 yards.  He is just the latest in a long list of okay receivers who became Pro Bowl caliber thanks to The Favre.  Robert Brooks?  Javon Walker?  Antonio Freeman?  They would’ve been nothing without Brett.  Rice was nothing before Brett and will likely go back to being nothing after Brett.

5.  Visanthe Shiancoe is tied with Larry Fitzgerald for the league lead in receiving touchdowns.  Remember last year when he couldn’t catch?

6.  I fear Percy Harvin‘s shoulder problem is going to dog him all year.  It was iffy going into the game, and didn’t get helped when he was driven into the turf on a kick return.  I love Percy on returns but I think Chilly might want to consider relieving him of those duties for his own good.  He is too valuable as a receiver.  By the way, the latest word is that the shoulder is no worse now than it was last week.  So I guess that’s good to hear.

7.  Karl Paymah is on the active roster every week because he is good on special teams.  Unfortunately, he is also our first corner off the bench in the event of injury.  He made one good play jarring the ball loose from Derrick Mason, but other than that, was unspeakably awful.  The belief is that, if the Vikings lose Antoine Winfield for an extended period, they will try to make do with Paymah and rookie Asher Allen, rather than swing a trade for a corner ahead of the deadline.  In other words, Antoine better not be hurt bad (today’s MRI showed a sprained foot).

8.  The tackling sucked yesterday.  Sucked.  I better not hear anymore clueless national media figures referring to the Vikings’ “great” defense.  It’s maybe a good defense if everything works right and Karl Paymah isn’t playing the #1 corner spot.  Yesterday, in the fourth quarter, it was like the Wasswa Serwanga/Robert Tate era had come back.  That’s the worst insult I can throw at a defense.

9.  Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf still don’t know that Antoine Winfield got hurt in that game.  Honestly, why do they bother having announcers?  They should just play music over the game or have some chick breathe heavy into the mic.

10.  I just wanted to give a shout-out to the folks at The Marketplace in Hayward, Wisconsin, home of the world famous beer-loving bear. Down with Balloon Boy, up with Beer Bear.

About as fast as Joe Flacco can fire the ball down the field for a touchdown pass against a woefully over-matched back-up corner.

As fast as Adrian Peterson can get his ankle rolled up on, forcing him to limp off.  As fast as Percy Harvin can get his bad shoulder banged into the turf, sending him to the showers early.

As fast as Ray Lewis can come unblocked and plant Brett Favre into the ground.

It was all going so well for the Vikings.  They held a 20-10 lead going into the fourth, and looked well on their way to a 6-0 record.

And then the fourth quarter happened.  One of the craziest fourth quarters you’re ever going to see.

Baltimore put up 21 points on a Vikings defense that went into the game rated among the best in the league.  Meanwhile, that proud Ravens defense recovered itself after being battered early in the game.

It would take some heroism from Brett Favre for the Vikings to avert a stunning loss.  Luckily, as has been the case for much of his career, Favre was up to the challenge.  He hit Sidney Rice on a 58-yard bomb to put the Vikings in position for a field goal that left the Ravens behind with less than two minutes to play.

The Ravens would need some magic of their own from Joe Flacco, who spent much of the second half peeling himself off the Metrodome turf.  Flacco did lead Baltimore into field goal range, but they didn’t get close enough for Steven Hauschka who missed a 44-yarder with 2 seconds on the clock.

So, in the end, the Vikings did go to 6-0.  But it was ugly.  Actually, it was more than ugly – it was hideous.  The defensive performance in the fourth quarter was an embarrassment to the entire proud history of the Vikings and all the greats who have lined up on that side of the ball.

A victory is a victory, but this game leaves Vikings fans with a sour taste in their mouth nonetheless.

It was a sad day in Cleveland when Art Modell packed up the beloved Browns and moved them to the greener pastures of Baltimore.  The team of Paul Brown, Jim Brown and other people actually not named Brown had broken the hearts of fans who, every Sunday, came out to the freezing cold stadium and waved around rubber dog bones in expression of their undying love.

Cleveland would spend four years in NFL gulag before being awarded an expansion franchise.  Thankfully, Art Modell had left behind the team’s name and colors (why the hell would he want them?), guaranteeing continuity with the former Browns at least superficially.

Thus far, the new Browns have had very little in common with the old Browns beyond those ugly helmets and that boring nickname.  In their first decade in the NFL, the old Browns won three championships.  In their initial ten years, the new Browns made the playoffs once, and finished over .500 exactly twice.

Most painful for old school Browns fans, however, was having to witness Art Modell’s success with the Ravens in Baltimore, culminating in a Super Bowl championship in 2000.  “It could’ve been us,” the Dawg Pounders wept as they watched Modell attempt to dance in celebration alongside knife-happy Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis.

It’s nearly ten years later, and the weeping still hasn’t stopped.

But, perhaps the franchise has at last given its fans reason to hope.  After last season, the organization bade farewell to Romeo Crennel, and replaced him with another former Bill Belichick assistant, Eric Mangini, who was himself booted from the Jets after failing to make the playoffs despite acquiring Brett Favre.

Mangini’s biggest task in Cleveland was to settle the lingering quarterback controversy.  Would it be Derek Anderson?  Brady Quinn?  Would Mangini somehow lure Favre to Cleveland and once again entrust his future to that aging right arm?

Thankfully for the Browns, Cleveland was never on Favre’s radar.  Unfortunately for Mangini, that left him having to choose between two guys who both basically stink.

Mangini spent the off-season giving off subtle indications that he would rather jam a sharp object into his own urethra than have either Quinn or Anderson as his quarterback.  Meanwhile, he traded away the team’s former franchise tight end, Kellen Winslow, and also apparently mulled trading franchise receiver Braylon Edwards, who contributed mightily to the team’s QB issues in 2008 by refusing to catch most of the balls they threw at him.

Mangini may have garnered a reputation as a boy genius while under Bill Belichick’s protective wing, but prognosticators are skeptical that he can bring that magic touch to the Browns.  SI, for instance, has picked them to finish dead last in the grueling AFC North.  And pretty much everyone else who picks football seasons ahead of time, because it’s their job or because they just like futile exercises, agrees that the Browns have no shot at going anywhere this year.

Of course, sometimes teams can surprise us.  Nobody saw the Browns going 10-6 two years ago and almost making the postseason.  There’s always a chance that the Ravens and Steelers could have unusually bad years, and that the Browns could get a couple of fluky wins and wind up taking the division at something like 9-7.

It’s more likely, however, that the space-time continuum will remain intact and our universe will not shift into bizarro mode, meaning the Browns will end up with about 5 wins…just enough to grab third place ahead of the Bengals.

Yes Browns fans, you always have that one thing to hang your hat on, don’t you?  At least you aren’t the f**king Bengals.