From KFAN.com

With the Brett Favre-led Vikings hosting the Packers on Monday Night Football, and with the Twins playing a one-game playoff against the Detroit Tigers for AL Central supremacy, October 5th and 6th, 2009 may be remembered as the 24-hour period where Minnesota, and more specifically the Metrodome (er, uh, Mall of America Field) sat squarely at the epicenter of the sports universe.

Phase one of this scenario certainly did not disappoint, as the Vikings handed the Packers a convincing 30-23 loss, thanks in large part to a not-so-washed up quarterback with gray hair.

Some might say Favre had this date circled on his calendar as far back as summer of 2008, when he originally butted heads with Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson over his attempted comeback. The Packers refused to cave into any circumstances that allowed Favre to play for the Vikings.

Of course, we all knew this epic clash was inevitable when Favre finally rode into town shortly after the Vikings returned from training camp in Mankato. And even though both head coaches and Favre himself downplayed the significance of Monday night’s game, it’s hard to deny the emotions and electricity that surged through Mall of America Field.

“They are excited I didn’t give them a Dale Carnegie or Knute Rockne last night,” head coach Brad Childress said. “Matter of fact, I got a little hand. There are games that take care of themselves and other games you need to stoke them a little bit.”

This game clearly needed no stoking.

“I was about as nervous as I’ve ever been before a game going into this one,” Favre admitted. “I didn’t think I would be. As the week progressed I felt fine, but when I got to the hotel yesterday it kind of dawned on me.

“I felt a lot like I did when my dad passed away. Both games I played well, so maybe that’s a good thing.”

‘Played well’ is probably an understatement. Favre dissected his former mates with timely pump-fakes, perfect deep passes, and laser slant throws that whizzed by the ear holes of green helmets. The future Hall of Famer finished the game 24-for-31 for 271 yards and three touchdowns.

“He’s still got great command of the football,” Childress said. “Whether the command is touch or velocity or being able to pump it and let it go, he still has great command of the football. He is what he is. He’s a great competitor. He’s steely-eyed when it comes to competing. Some games tickle you a little bit more than others.”

After so many stalled drives and inconsistencies over the last three years, it’s easy to forget what a high-caliber passing attack looks like. Long gone are the days of Cunningham to Moss and Culpepper to Carter, but at the same time, long gone are the days of Holcomb to Williamson and Jackson to Tahi (although Tahi did make a couple appearances in the passing game on Monday night).

“That’s what we want to do,” said Visanthe Shiancoe, who caught the first touchdown pass of the night. “We want to show teams we are a balanced offense. We’re not just a running offense. We made it a point to show the Packers that we could throw the ball and to show the NFL that we can throw the ball as well and prevent them from stacking the box the way they do to prevent Adrian from running loose.”

And make no mistake, it’s not all about number 4. Favre certainly brings an elite field vision and a rocket, precision arm, but the offensive line was absolutely fantastic against the Green Bay 3-4 front. Favre had all night to pick apart the secondary — a huge improvement from the first few weeks of the season.

“Pass protection was great,” Favre said. “Their style of defense has obviously been chaotic for the teams they’ve played, and they mixed it up again today. I thought we had a good mix of short passes, and just in general, the passing protection was awesome.”

At 4-0, the Vikings are one of only five remaining unbeaten teams. Next week they will face a St. Louis Rams team that hasn’t won a game in nearly one full calendar year. After that, the Baltimore Ravens — widely regarded as one of the best teams in the NFL — will visit Minnesota.

Fun times in Vikingland.

Defense overwhelms beleaguered Packers offensive line

The Packers offensive line came into Monday night having allowed 12 sacks on the season, which is the most by any team in the NFL. With starting left tackle Chad Clifton out with an ankle injury, the Packers were forced to shuffle. Daryn Colledge moved from left guard to left tackle, Jason Spitz moved from center to left guard, and Scott Wells started at center. Halfway through the game, Colledge left with a leg injury.

Needless to say, the aforementioned circumstances did not bode well for Green Bay. In fact, their offensive line played like a tattered, wet paper towel. Jared Allen tallied 4.5 sacks (including a safety) and Aaron Rodgers ran for his life for three hours.

“A couple times he ran right into me, a couple times it was coverage and just hustle and stuff,” Allen said. “I’m exhausted, and it was fun.”

“Jared Allen is a beast, man,” Favre said. “That guy is good, by the way. I just wanted to tell you that. Our defense, they are pretty good. I would much rather have them on our side.”

The Packers did accumulate over 420 yards of total offense, including 342 through the air, but the Vikings forced two turnovers, a safety, and stuffed Green Bay on a goal line stand in the second half.

“It’s a mindset that we don’t even have to talk about,” said Ben Leber about the goal line stand. “Nothing extra needs to be said. We all feel it. It’s juts something that makes this defense great. Everybody knows what to expect, and everyone just gets after it.”

Interesting post-game quotes

“I didn’t expect him to do that. I thought we would have played better but obviously we didn’t, and I give them a lot of credit. He played a great game and apparently he got his wish tonight. He stuck it to us pretty good. All I can do is take my hat off to him. He played a great game and their team played a great game.”
- Packers CB Charles Woodson on Brett Favre

“I knew everywhere you go there’s a camera in your face. The only reason I go out, I’ll be 40 on Saturday, I think, and I need to go out and kind of get loose and throw the ball a little bit, but I felt like it would be more of a zoo than it needed to be.” – Brett Favre on why he waited longer to come onto the field for pregame warmups.

“We definitely fed off of it. We wanted to get this win to move on to 4-0. Me personally, I can speak for myself, I wanted to definitely get this win for Brett. It was a big game for him, even though he downplayed it a lot, but you just knew it. You could see it in his eye.” – Adrian Peterson on the hype and emotion of Monday night’s game.