BLOG…Congratulations to the Lynx for winning the Western Conference Finals. This sets up a big basketball week for me despite the lockout – I'll be covering the Lynx in the WNBA finals, and Rick Adelman's introductory press conference.It's nice to be able to say this about Glen Taylor's operation without a hint of sarcasm: This is a great time to be a basketball fan in Minneapolis, even with a lockout.On to the Vikings' latest collapse. My column in the Monday paper will deal with the Vikings' quarterback situation. Right now I'll deal with the decision to try for a first down on fourth-and-1 from the Detroit 17 with 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.The Vikings led, 20-17, at that point. They hadn't scored in the second half. The field goal unit ran onto the field, then was waved off. Donovan McNabb handed the ball to Toby Gerhart, who was lined up as a fullback ahead of Adrian Peterson, and Gerhart was stopped.There are a number of problems with this sequence. Wouldn't you rather give the ball to the NFL's best running back? Yes. Of course.But the first second-guess is the best second-guess in this case. The Vikings should have kicked the field goal. (And, by the way, I believe in first-guessing. So you can go back and see on my Twitter timeline that I said, before the play, that I'd kick the field goal.)Even with Peterson carrying the ball, here's the problem with going for it on fourth-and-1 from the 17: Even if you make the first down, you aren't guaranteed an eventual touchdown. Odds are, you'd just wind up kicking a field goal, anyway. And you could turn the ball over, or take a sack, or get penalized, and wind up farther back than you started.Kick the field goal, and the Lions have to score a touchdown to beat you. The Lions didn't score a touchdown the rest of the way, winning the game with two field goals in regulation and one in overtime.But if you're going to go for it on fourth down, wouldn't you want Jimmy Kleinsasser leading Adrian Peterson? Don't you want your best player making the deciding play?Lost in the loss is the outstanding play of the Vikings' defensive ends, Jared Allen and Brian Robison. They dominated the line of scrimmage.Both came into the season facing questions. Allen started slowly last year. Robison is considered undersized, and I wondered whether he'd hold up over the course of a game. Both have been excellent and relentless.That's the troublesome part of the Vikings' struggles: They have a lot of admirable veterans who are seeing their last good year(s) wasted because the Vikings can't get decent play out of the quarterback position.I don't doubt the effort or will of many of the Vikings' veterans - Adrian Peterson, Antoine Winfield, Allen, Chad Greenway, E.J. Henderson, Steve Hutchinson. But the NFL is not about willpower; it's about coaching, design, and offensive skill players. Discovered this stat as I was researching my Monday column: As offenses explode all around the NFL, the Vikings and McNabb have produced just one pass play longer than 24 yards. It was a screen pass that Toby Gerhart carried 42 yards.That's pathetic. Gophers football coach Jerry Kill is having more health problems.I mean this seriously: He should take off the rest of the season. He needs to get control of his health. He also needs to understand that nobody ever wants to see him writhing on the sideline again.His health issues aside, the Gophers have lost to New Mexico State and North Dakota State at home. Kill and his staff deserve blame, especially for their handling of the quarterback position. I'll also blame Tim Brewster. He was supposed to be a great recruiter, yet the Gophers do not have better athletes than New Mexico State and North Dakota State. And their best athlete, MarQueis Gray, is playing out of position.Max Shortell hasn't won the starting quarterback job, but Gray has lost it. Start Shortell, start developing him, and put Gray at a position where he can help this team – slot receiver. You'd be improving two positions at once.