Moon Helps Put Vikings in Control Again : Pro football: Quarterback sets up tying and winning field goals in 13-10 victory.

Green Bay was five minutes from climbing back into the NFC Central race Thursday night. That was all the time Warren Moon needed to rescue Minnesota.

Hounded by the Packers’ relentless pass rush most of the night, Moon led the Vikings to a tying field goal with 17 seconds left in regulation and then to Fuad Reveiz’s winning 27-yard kick 4:26 into overtime and a 13-10 victory.

“This was a real character win for us as a team,” Moon said. “You pull out a game like we did and it gives the whole team a boost.”

Moon, sacked four times and intercepted twice, lifted the Vikings (5-2) into first place in the NFC Central, one-half game ahead of Chicago, which plays Detroit on Sunday.

The Packers (3-4) trail Minnesota by two games, but they aren’t conceding anything.

Known for slow starts and strong finishes in 2 1/2 seasons under Mike Holmgren, Green Bay nearly beat the Vikings in the Metrodome for the first time since 1991, despite losing quarterback Brett Favre in the first quarter because of a hip pointer.

Favre’s status for Green Bay’s next game, Oct. 31 at Chicago, was uncertain.

“We’ve lost tough games before, and it will happen again,” Holmgren said. “The measure of a team is how you respond to losses like this.”

Green Bay, which beat Minnesota, 16-10, in the season opener, harassed Moon for 3 1/2 quarters while backup quarterback Mark Brunell led the Packers to a 10-7 halftime lead that almost stood up.

Sean Jones had two sacks and Reggie White and Steve McMichael had one each for the Packers, and Terrell Buckley and James Willis had interceptions that stopped two Minnesota drives.

The Packers gave up only 252 total yards, but they also managed only 158 of their own and gave the Vikings one chance too many in regulation.

After taking over at his 34 with 5:32 to play in the fourth quarter, Moon completed seven of 10 passes for 58 yards to set up Reveiz’s tying 29-yard kick.

Moon was four of five for 57 yards on the winning drive.

It was the fourth time in five games Minnesota has beaten Green Bay since Dennis Green was named the Viking coach in 1992.

“It’s an emotional game whenever we play Green Bay, and to come back and win as we did means a lot,” said cornerback Anthony Parker, who scored Minnesota’s only touchdown on a 23-yard fumble return after James Harris had intercepted Favre in the first quarter.

Moon completed 31 of 50 passes for 271 yards.

Until his late heroics, it looked as if the Packers would have their first sweep over the Vikings since 1988, even without Favre.

Meanwhile, Brunell, a second-year player from the University of Washington seeing his first NFL action, led Green Bay to 10 second-quarter points, including his five-yard touchdown run 50 seconds before halftime.

Brunell, five of seven for 29 yards on the touchdown drive, finished 11 of 24 for 79 yards.

“I don’t think I’ve ever gone into a game with the stakes so high, against such a talented team,” Brunell said. “It would have been nice to win. When you have a defense like ours, you don’t have to score a lot of points.”