Will Green Bay fans roast Brett Favre on Sunday? Or will they toast him with moonshine and paint thinner. Ah, those are the big questions. But the bigger ones are these: What are the on-field implications of a victory for Minnesota? Or Green Bay? And the undeniable answer is that it's a huge swing game in either case.

A win for the Vikings would put them at 7-1, two up in the loss column on Green Bay and essentially three up considering they would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. After the bye, the Vikings have four games they should absolutely win (home games against the Lions, Seahawks, Bears and a road game at Carolina), two games we give them 65/35 odds of winning (home against the Bengals and Giants) and two games that are true toss-ups (at Arizona and at Chicago). If the Vikings win at Green Bay, stay healthy and continue playing even at a level close to what they have through seven games, the worst we can imagine them going is 5-3 in the last eight games. That amounts to no-worse than a 12-4 record and almost certainly an NFC North title (and probably a first-round playoff bye). It's not inconceivable the Vikings could finish 13-3 or 14-2 if things fall into place.

A win for the Packers, however, makes the teams essentially tied in the division (the Vikings would be 6-2, the Packers would be 5-2 with a game at Tampa Bay the following week during the Vikings' bye, meaning both could be 6-2 when the Vikings resume play). After that Tampa game, Green Bay has three games it absolutely should win (home against San Francisco and Seattle and at Detroit), two games in which it will be a slight favorite (home against Baltimore and Dallas), two 50-50 tossups (at Chicago, at Arizona) and one game in which it will be the likely underdog (at Pittsburgh).

While the Vikings' final 8 games are slightly more favorable schedule-wise (five at home as opposed to four for Green Bay, while the Packers still have to play at Pittsburgh), a real division race could certainly materialize if Green Bay wins Sunday. And as we've said many times, just getting into the playoffs isn't enough for this team. They need a bye and as many home games as possible to keep Favre out of the elements in January -- particularly if those elements came via the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field in a playoff game. If you can't bear the thought of having to worry about that down the stretch, you'd best hope these three hours Sunday go the way of the purple, regardless of what kind of reception Favre receives.