Vikings, Moss Shoot the Moon

The Minnesota Vikings were the team that didn’t belong in the NFL playoffs, the one that had lost seven of its last 10 regular-season games, the one whose leader only half-jokingly referred to himself as Coach Collapse.

Not only that, but in the week leading up to Sunday’s wild-card game at Green Bay, the Vikings had spent much of their time answering questions about locker-room tension born out of Randy Moss’ decision to essentially quit on his teammates a week earlier. In a season-ending loss at Washington, the star receiver stormed off toward the locker room in frustration with two seconds left on the clock. In a rare interview last week, Moss told ESPN that he was sorry about the decision but that he had tuned out center Matt Birk’s efforts to talk some sense into him.

In light of all that, it was especially surprising Sunday when the Vikings, after backing into the playoffs a week earlier when Carolina lost to New Orleans, rolled into Lambeau Field and acted as if they owned the place, cruising to a 31-17 victory over the Packers in a game more lopsided than the score suggested.

The game was not without controversy concerning Moss, who caught two touchdown passes. In the first quarter, TV cameras captured him on the sideline arguing with a fan in the stands. Moss used an obscenity to address the fan, pointing to the scoreboard and yelling, “Look at that, ... !”

In the fourth quarter, after reeling in a 34-yard touchdown pass, Moss sidled up to the goalpost, bent over with his backside to the crowd and pretended to pull down his pants.

“Randy’s Randy,” Birk said. “You take the good with the bad.”

There was nothing but good from Viking quarterback Daunte Culpepper, who threw four touchdown passes, picking apart Green Bay’s defense with ease. It was something he had done before -- he’s thrown 16 touchdown passes and no interceptions in his last five games against the Packers -- but this time his teammates pulled their weight.

“He’s tried to carry us to victory a number of times, and because we didn’t give him enough support his legs got heavy a few times before the game ended,” Coach Mike Tice said. “There have been a number of games this season when he did his part and a bunch of other guys’ parts too. He couldn’t cover and tackle some guys, so that was tough. But we thought about it.”

The Vikings, who avenged a pair of 34-31 losses to the Packers during the regular season, will play at Philadelphia on Sunday in a divisional playoff game. It will be a rematch of a Week 2 game in which the visiting Vikings blew two chances to score touchdowns from the two-yard line on their way to a 27-16 loss.

But Minnesota didn’t miss many opportunities Sunday. The visitors built a 17-0 lead in the first quarter before the Packers collected their second first down.

The Packers clawed their way back, cutting the lead to 17-10 in the second quarter. Every time they threatened to make a game of it, though, Minnesota would intercept another Brett Favre pass. The Vikings picked off four of them, at least two of those errant passes thrown squarely into the chest of a defender.

After winning 10 of his first 15 postseason games, Favre has lost four of five. After Sunday’s game he said he felt “terrible, and that’s an understatement.

“You know it’s a lame excuse, but I’m going to use it anyway: Some days it’s just not your day for some reason,” he said. “I know people will say, ‘It’s a home playoff game; it doesn’t get any better than that.’ And it doesn’t. I was prepared to play this game. How could I not be? We just played them two weeks ago. Our team was prepared. [The Vikings] were prepared too.”

The big question surrounding Favre, one that has swirled around his career the last few seasons, is, how long does he plan to continue playing? He addressed that Sunday.

“I don’t know, and I told [Coach] Mike Sherman just now that if I do come back I want it to be for the right reasons,” he said. “I don’t know how much I’m expected to be paid next year, but I hope that Brett Favre does not come back to play for the money. I’ve never done that before, and I don’t anticipate doing it.”

Favre and his wife, Deanna, who is battling breast cancer, plan to return home to Mississippi now and concentrate on spending time together as a family. Favre said he’ll try to “block this game out,” although that doesn’t figure to be a problem for other family members, especially his 5-year-old daughter.

“[She’s] back in Mississippi right now, her grandmother is telling her Mommy and Daddy are coming back home and she’s excited about that,” he said. “She doesn’t know that our season is over, nor does she care.

“It’s not about me anymore. My wife has gone through some difficult times, and continues to, and so that’s going to play into my decision-making. I know if my family was up here right now they’d say, ‘He’s coming back. We’re not going to let him go out like that.’ ”

The Vikings, meanwhile, were perfectly happy leaving Lambeau that way. They’re moving forward, playoff interlopers or not. No apologies given. And, after Sunday, none needed.

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Not All Sweeping Successes

The Minnesota Vikings became the sixth team to win a playoff game against a team that had swept their games in the regular season:

*--* YEAR SEASON 2-0 TEAM OPPONENT PLAYOFF WINNER 1982 Miami Dolphins New York Jets Dolphins, 14-0 1983 Seattle Seahawks Los Angeles Raiders RAIDERS, 30-14 1986 New York Giants Washington Redskins Giants, 17-0 1989 Houston Oilers Pittsburgh Steelers STEELERS, 26-23 (OT) 1991 Kansas City Chiefs Los Angeles Raiders Chiefs, 10-6 1992 Kansas City Chiefs San Diego Chargers CHARGERS, 17-0 1993 Los Angeles Raiders Denver Broncos Raiders, 42-24 1994 Minnesota Vikings Chicago Bears BEARS, 35-18 1994 Pittsburgh Steelers Cleveland Browns Steelers, 29-9 1997 Green Bay Packers Tampa Bay Buccaneers Packers, 21-7 1997 New England Patriots Miami Dolphins Patriots, 17-3 1998 Dallas Cowboys Arizona Cardinals CARDINALS, 20-7 1999 Tennessee Titans Jacksonville Jaguars Titans, 33-14 2000 New York Giants Philadelphia Eagles Giants, 20-10 2002 Pittsburgh Steelers Cleveland Browns Steelers, 36-33 2004 St. Louis Rams Seattle Seahawks Rams, 27-20 2004 Green Bay Packers Minnesota Vikings VIKINGS, 31-17

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FIRST LOOK

Divisional Playoffs

ST. LOUIS AT ATLANTA

Saturday, 5 p.m., Ch. 11.

* Records: Rams, 9-8; Falcons, 11-5.

* How they got here: Rams defeated Seattle, 27-20; Falcons received a first-round bye.

* Head-to-head record (2004): Falcons defeated Rams, 34-17, on Sept. 19 at Atlanta.

* Record vs. common opponents (2004): Falcons, 6-2; Rams, 6-3.

* All-time season series: Rams lead series, 46-24-2.

* All-time playoff series: Never met.

* NFL rank: Offense -- Rams, 6th; Falcons, 20th. Defense -- Rams, 17th; Falcons, 14th.

MINNESOTA AT PHILADELPHIA

Sunday, 10 a.m., Ch. 11.

* Records: Vikings, 9-8; Eagles, 13-3.

* How they got here: Vikings defeated Green Bay, 31-17; Eagles received a first-round bye.

* Head-to-head record (2004): Eagles defeated Vikings, 27-16, on Sept. 20 at Philadelphia.

* Record vs. common opponents (2004): Vikings, 4-5; Eagles, 9-0.

* All-time season series: Vikings lead series, 11-8.

* All-time playoff series: Eagles lead series, 1-0.

* NFL rank: Offense -- Vikings, 4th; Eagles, 9th. Defense -- Vikings, 28th; Eagles, 10th.