vikings/nfl

Behind the castle walls, a starting quarterback stepped onto the practice field. Vikings staff members guarded the doors, ready to raise the drawbridge. Archers stood on the roof. Catapults were wheeled into place.

Although they had only 100 hours to prepare for Thursday's game at Green Bay, the Vikings took all precautions Monday -- real and imagined -- to conceal their decision to start rookie Tarvaris Jackson against the Packers. Coach Brad Childress skipped his regular Monday news conference, both Jackson and Brad Johnson were missing from the locker room during the media access period and reporters were dismissed from practice after watching six minutes of stretching.

During his contracted appearance Monday night on KFAN-1130, Childress said he was still "mulling" the decision. But two people with knowledge of the situation said Childress already had informed the team that Jackson would start, following up by having Jackson take the first-team repetitions during the closed portion of Monday's practice.

Barring an injury to Jackson, the decision means Johnson almost certainly has thrown his final pass for the Vikings. He is under contract through the 2008 season, but Childress has benched him in three games this season and never has seemed entirely comfortable with Johnson as the starter. Johnson, who was unavailable Monday, said Sunday that he and Childress "never talk."

Jackson, a second-round draft pick from Alabama State, entered Sunday's 26-13 loss for the final play of the third quarter and completed 14 of 23 passes for 177 yards, throwing one touchdown and one interception. He has a stronger arm and is more mobile than Johnson, but he has limited experience in running the Vikings' complicated offense.

As the No. 3 quarterback, Jackson exclusively ran the scout team in practice until he was elevated to the No. 2 position earlier this month. But assuming Jackson also starts the Dec. 31 season finale against St. Louis, the Vikings will have two full games to evaluate him before determining whether he can open the 2007 season as their unquestioned starter.

That move seemed logical enough that Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy appeared convinced the Packers would face Jackson, speaking at length about facing a quarterback with Jackson's skills.

"It's a challenge any time you play a new quarterback," McCarthy said, "definitely when they're physically, diversely different from the [previous] starter. I mean, that's a challenge in itself. Yes, he's young, inexperienced, but he's also got a very strong arm. He's athletic. So that's a challenge because it does affect the way you may set your edges and things like that when you get into defensive game-planning."

Childress attempted a similar charade two weeks ago when he refused to identify Johnson as the starter for the Dec. 10 game at Detroit, even after multiple sources confirmed the move. Monday night, Childress claimed he had not made a decision when in fact he had revealed it privately at Winter Park several hours earlier.

Asked if Jackson would start, Childress said: "You know what? We're still mulling that over right now. We just went through some preliminary practice today. We'll see how we go."

The Vikings' official depth chart, distributed Monday afternoon, continued to list Johnson as the starter and Jackson as the third-string quarterback behind Brooks Bollinger. That same document, however, also lists Marcus Johnson as the Vikings' starting right tackle (never mind that Johnson has been inactive for the past four games), and Artose Pinner as their starting fullback -- a position Pinner never has played for the Vikings.

Jackson will start against the Packers in part because Bollinger is still recovering from a partially separated left shoulder suffered Dec. 3 against Chicago. Had Bollinger not suffered that injury, there were indications he would have started against the Lions.

Indeed, Childress said in March that he did not anticipate using a rookie quarterback at any point this season.

"You wouldn't want [a rookie] on the field the first year," Childress said. "Maybe he would play in the preseason. You would have to say this: If he ... has to play in the first year, then things have gone wrong. That means some guys have gone down in a hurry."

Bollinger said he will "continue the process" of rehabilitation, but he might have to serve as the No. 3 quarterback once again Thursday at Lambeau Field. In that scenario, Johnson would back up Jackson.

At least, that's how it appeared Monday from the other side of the castle walls.

Kevin Seifert • kseifert@startribune.com