Vikes bounce back, bounce Bengals

That's how a team with championship aspirations bounces back from a tough loss against a playoff-caliber team at home!

(Can I just say, too, that I always appreciate the color combination when teams play each other. Dallas blue/silver versus Philadelphia green/white is nice. Green Bay green/gold versus Chicago blue/white is nice. Vikings purple/gold versus Cincinnati orange/black is hideous. I don't know why it bothered me so much.)

I know the Bengals' passing game isn't what it used to be, but limited Carson Palmer to 94 yards passing is sweet.

Adrian Peterson wasn't exactly explosive, and still only managed 3.7 yards per carry, but I'll definitely take it over last week's debacle.

The Vikings' 210 total net yards allowed was their second-lowest total this year, only exceeded by the Chicago game (169).

The last time the Vikings whupped the Bengals this badly in the Metrodome, Vikings' running backs coach Eric Bieniemy was in the building, but as a member of the opposition. As a side note, this was the only game of the 1998 season that I missed, as I was working that weekend. Somehow, I wasn't worried.

I'm still debating whether I want to go to the Panthers game next week. I probably have the chance to get a friend's season tickets, and the stadium is just a few miles down the road. But I'm weighing against it the fact that I'll be sitting at night in 40-ish degree weather for three-plus hours (I know, I know, I've become soft) when I could be sitting at home in relative comfort for a lot less money. If this game were in the afternoon in October, I'd go in a heartbeat. As it is, I'm iffy. Any suggestions?

Around the Internet on Thursday

In keeping with a tradition on this blog of regurgitating other people's hard work and creativity on a Thursday (going back one whole week!), here's some of what I've been reading this week:

First, the professionals:

* ESPN's Greg Easterbrook had an interesting observation with regards to teams extending mediocre head coaches part of the way through their "breakout" season:

Halfway through his first season as Notre Dame coach, Charlie Weis had a 5-2 record and immediately was offered a 10-year contract extension containing guaranteed payments that the school and its athletic donors now regret. Less than halfway through the 2008 NFL season, Dick "Cheerio, Chaps" Jauron had a 5-1 record and immediately was offered a three-year contract extension containing guaranteed payments that Bills owner Ralph Wilson now regrets. What's going on here? Why grant coaches extensions when they are already under contract, only to fire them later and be stuck with paying off the rest of the deal?

What's going on is that the general manager or athletic director, by offering an extension when the team is winning, essentially says to the world, "I am a genius for picking this guy." Later, when the same coach becomes a flop, the same front office spins things as, "We gave him everything he wanted and he still failed -- this guy is a failure." The extensions are all about the athletic director's, or general manager's, ego.

He doesn't mention Brad Childress in the piece, but I'm sure every Viking fan who read it was thinking of him...

* Joe Posnanski tells us that Brett Favre can actually be honest, when he wants to. I'm still not sure that I'm buying it.

* ESPN's Kevin Seifert thinks the Vikings shouldn't panic after their loss to Arizona. I, for one, am trying to maintain an even keel. A loss at home to the Bengals, though, might send me over the edge...

And now, the talented amateurs:

* Earlier this week, I was thinking that it might behoove the Vikings to spend a little extra coin -- say, $3 million or so -- on a good nickel corner in the offseason. Vikings Gab then reminded me that, in a way, we're already doing that.

* PJD has some ideas for Chad Ochocinco's touchdown celebrations (which we hope he won't have a chance to use) this week.

* And Joe Fischer tells us that the Vikings should both panic (Arizona could beat us out for the #2 seed) and not panic (Super Bowl teams have often absorbed crushing defeats). That's just the kind of schizophrenic "Our team's good but we'll do our best find a way to be bad" thinking I expect from a fellow Vikings fan!

Housh your daddy?

UPDATE: ESPN is reporting that T.J. Houshmanzadeh has signed with the Seattle Seahawks. Which is probably not a terrible thing for the Vikings. Now we just have Jay Cutler rumors to digest...

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It could be Zygi Wilf and the Minnesota Vikings. The team is reportedly very interested in free-agent Bengals WR T.J. Houshmanzadeh (referred to hereafter as "Housh"), who visited the team over the weekend. Housh's other suitors include his old team, Cincinnati, and Seattle, who might be more interested in signing a free-agent wide receiver now that Texas Tech WR Michael Crabtree, widely considered a lock for the Seahawks' #4 pick, missed most of the NFL combine events with a stress fracture in his foot.

The only problem is, I'm not sure signing Housh is a great idea for the Purple.

Let's face it: Bernard Berrian is overrated and overpaid. I don't really dislike his signing, or the amount of money he's making as a Viking; we had the cap money to spend last year and desperately needed to upgrade the passing game, and Berrian does just that. All things being equal, though, he's not worth top-10 receiver money, which is what he's getting. He just became a free agent at exactly the right time and the Vikings had the wherewithal to snatch him up.

Housh is nowhere near the same kind of player as Berrian. He's three years older (turning 32 in September), slower (11.4 yards per career reception, compared to Berrian's 16.0), and has just two 1,000-yard seasons in his career. Granted, 1,000 is an arbitrary number; Housh has topped 900 yards each of his last five seasons. His average over that time is 1,012 yards per season.

But here's the thing: Housh has put up those numbers playing for a very pass-happy offense with a #1 overall pick at quarterback. Carson Palmer's first year (2004) as a Bengals' starter wasn't impressive, and the Bengals' QB situation in 2008 was a mess, but from 2005 to 2007, he averaged 4,000 yards and 29 TD passes per season. Housh did OK those three years, but didn't put up the kind of spectacular numbers you'd expect from a wide receiver in that kind of offense.

Yes, he had Chad Johnson working opposite him, racking up huge numbers, and I think Housh is fine as a #2 receiver in an offense with another established threat -- in other words, the same situation he was in with Cincinnati. He can run the underneath routes and make catches over the middle, which would be fine if he was looking for #2 receiver money. But, as the best option in a weak free-agent WR class, my guess is that Housh isn't looking for #2 money. He's probably looking for something more like what Bernard Berrian got last year, and, for a guy who's about to turn 32 and whose yards per reception have dropped every year for the past four years, I don't want the Vikings to be the team that signs him.

If they can get him for a deal similar to the one inked by Sage Rosenfels -- say, two or three years for about $4-$5 million per, I could see the deal being done. But we've already got what appears to be a decent (but likely overpaid) slow, short option over the middle, only at the tight end position (and no, I'm not talking about the recently re-signed Jim Kleinsasser). Why do we need another? I'd rather take my chances with Bobby Wade and spend money earmarked for Housh on an offensive lineman for the right side.

Williams almost back? And more notes

It's a bye week for the Vikings, which means things are pretty quiet, though things are looking up for one of the Vikings' big off-season free-agent acquisitions.

* S Madeiu Williams finally looks ready to make his regular-season Vikings debut after suffering a neck injury in preseason that has kept him sidelined for nine weeks. Rookie Tyrell Johnson has started in his place and hasn't done much of anything to slow down other team's passing attacks, so Williams should be a welcome addition to a typically soft secondary.

* In other transaction news, the Vikings cut LB Erin Henderson, promoting LB Rufus Alexander from the practice squad, and then re-signed Henderson two days later, cutting Alexander. Bizarre.

* Speaking for guys who were cut and re-signed by the same team (and former Bengals, like Williams), it's a good thing Cincinnati re-acquired WR Chris Henry in the off-season, with owner Mike Brown essentially forcing him on head coach Marvin Lewis. No other multiply arrested, dumb-as-a-rock third receiver on an 0-7 team could have managed four catches in three games (Henry was suspended for the first four games of the season). Maybe when Lewis is inevitably fired after this season, he might be worth a look by the Vikings; I'd be interested to see what he can do when he doesn't have to babysit felons.

* Speaking of wide receivers who shouldn't be in the NFL, Troy Williamson -- who, as usual looked great in training camp and had many Jags fans thinking he was a "steal" -- still officially has just two catches for 11 yards with the Jaguars. The next time someone tells you that Usain Bolt would make a great wide receiver (and boy, did ESPN hammer that into our skulls for about two weeks), remind them that being fast doesn't automatically make you a good receiver.

* Pacifist Viking posts a great assessment of the 2008 Vikings and his (and, to a large extent) my feelings on their chance for success. Meanwhile, Brad Childress is up two points and is finally second in overall votes cast -- to a guy who was fired.

* Finally, after insisting that he didn't want to "wait for one of my fellow quarterbacks to suffer a serious injury," and retiring in September, Daunte Culpepper has taken the Brett Favre approach to retirement and is apparently looking for work again. Because, you know, teams need depth at the QB position because...wait for it...guys are getting hurt. Or in the case of Kansas City, who was apparently inquiring about Daunte's availability before signing Quinn Gray, all their quarterbacks are just awful.

The Vikings' first round picks in 1999 were Culpepper and Demetrious Underwood, who suffered from depression and tried to commit suicide. I'm starting to wonder which of the two was the bigger head case.