Their deal goes down to the wire

Some coaches will go to extreme measures to get the player they want. With Minnesota’s Brad Childress and New England’s Bill Belichick, those extreme measures included a game of waiver-wire chicken.

First, a note of explanation: If a team intends to put a player on its practice squad, that player must first be released and put on the waiver wire for a day, which means he’s up for grabs for any other team to claim and sign. The following information came out in a revealing radio interview with Childress this week.

The Vikings wanted to claim Garrett Mills, a tight end the Patriots had released and were hoping to sign to their practice squad. The Patriots, in turn, wanted to sign linebacker David Herron, whom Minnesota had released and was eyeing for its practice squad.

According to Childress, the Patriots offered to back off Herron if the Vikings would agree to back off Mills. No luck.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m really interested in your guy, so we’ll have to let our guy slide,’ ” Childress said. “He didn’t really care for that. He was trying to leverage. You always find out who’s honest and straightforward.”

Strong-arm tactic or not, the Patriots did sign Herron, and the Vikings signed Mills. And, in the end, an embarrassed Childress was sheepish about saying anything about his conversation with Belichick, especially on the radio.

“That was a case of me being a little too colorful,” he said.

Colorful, as in bright red.

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Commercial appeal

LaDainian Tomlinson’s message to the Bears: Lighten up! The San Diego tailback responded this week to criticism by Chicago players about his latest Nike commercial. In the spot, he’s tearing through a wave of defenders, making them all look foolish, and they all happen to be wearing the uniforms of the Bears -- whom the Chargers play today.

“I didn’t make the commercial; I’m endorsing Nike,” Tomlinson said. “If that’s showing disrespect to the Bears, then I’m sorry for that. But it’s a commercial, so guys should take it for what it’s worth.”

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He’s still hanging

Cincinnati receiver Chad Johnson (above) said he has a special celebration in store if he scores Monday against the Ravens. And he should. . . because he hasn’t scored in his last six games. His seven touchdown receptions in 2006 were his fewest since five in 2002.

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‘Hey, what about us?’

About the only thing Colts quarterback Peyton Manning could find wrong with Thursday’s victory over New Orleans was he and his teammates weren’t on the field when the Super Bowl banner was unfurled. He hoped to at least see the celebration.

That’s not to say he wants to see flashy Super Bowl rings, however. He and other veterans have warned teammates not to wear the $5,000 rings in public. If they do, they’ll face fines from the guys in the locker room.

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That’s quite a sentence

Houston defensive end N.D. Kalu believes in the Texans.

He recently told the Houston Chronicle: “This season, when you mention Texans and the playoffs in the same sentence, it’s not tongue-in-cheek.”

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Is it soup yet?

Pretty impressive move by Vince Young, turning down a Chunky Soup commercial because it would have meant filming in Toronto while his Tennessee teammates were working out at practice in the off-season. He handed over the gig to Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew.

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sam.farmer@latimes.com