Brett Favre made it clear late Sunday night after the Vikings' 26-7 loss at Carolina that coach Brad Childress had wanted to remove him from the game in the third quarter. Favre told Childress he wasn't going anywhere and would remain in the game.

Favre said he did not know what Childress' reasoning was for the move and some have speculated that the Vikings were playing so poorly that Childress wanted to protect the quarterback. Hogwash, I say. As Favre pointed out, the Vikings led 7-6 when Childress approached him and the two got into a heated discussion on the sideline that was caught by NBC's cameras. Also, despite the fact the Vikings had clinched the NFC North earlier in the day, they are still playing for the No. 2 seed in the conference and a first-round bye. The Eagles (10-4) are only one game behind the Vikings (11-3).

In other words, there was still plenty to play for and thus very good reason for your No. 1 quarterback to remain in the game. The only reason the 40-year-old Favre would have been removed would have been because Childress did not think he was playing well enough to remain in and wanted to give Tarvaris Jackson a chance.

As we wrote late Sunday night, or maybe it was this morning, this is not the first time Childress wanted to sit Favre. The first time came in the Vikings' 27-10 victory over Detroit on Nov. 15. ESPN is reporting that Childress also thought of benching Favre on Nov. 1 in the Vikings' 38-26 victory at Green Bay.

So what does Childress have to say about all this? We'll find out at 3 p.m. today when he holds his Monday news conference. It should be interesting and I'm guessing Childress tries to downplay the situation as much as possible.

The Vikings, by the way, can clinch a first-round bye with a victory next Monday in Chicago and an Eagles loss or tie against Denver next Sunday.