Vikings secondary faces its toughest challenge yet in Gates

Darren Sharper gave a rather honest assessment a few weeks back when asked about facing the Bears tight end duo of Desmond Clark and Greg Olsen.

"I'm never concerned about a tight end," Sharper said. "I played corner when I first came into the league. If the tight end catches the ball on me, then I need to be fired."

The Vikings veteran safety might want a one-game retraction on that statement Sunday lest he finds himself looking for employment after the Vikings face San Diego's Antonio Gates.

Gates, of course, is a tight end in position name only. The former power forward on the Kent State basketball team has used his athletic ability to become one of the NFL's premier pass-catchers and is tied for fifth in the league with 46 receptions for 639 yards.

Former Giants quarterback Phil Simms, who has worked several Chargers games as CBS's lead NFL analyst, calls Gates one of the top five "wide receivers" in the league. "I don't care what you do, he's going to catch passes," Simms said.

This isn't good news for a Vikings pass defense that ranks last in the NFL and has had its problems with tight ends who would be considered very good but not in Gates' class.

Dallas' Jason Witten was the most recent tight end to have a big day against Minnesota, catching a season-high 10 passes for 86 yards in the Cowboys' 24-14 victory on Oct. 21. Kansas City's Tony Gonzalez, another former college basketball player turned NFL tight end, had seven catches for 96 yards against the Vikings in Week 3.

In seven games this season, a tight end has either led or tied for the team lead in receptions four times against the Vikings. Overall, the defense has surrendered 46 catches for 510 yards but no touchdowns to opposing tight ends.

Sharper admits that by its nature the Cover-2 defense the Vikings employ much of the time "is not necessarily designed to take away a tight end," but adds, "if we're in man [coverage], he should not catch a ball because you have someone on him."

The fact the Vikings have not given up a touchdown pass against a tight end means their scheme has had success in containing that position in the red zone this season. But the 6-4, 260-pound Gates has five touchdown catches this season, including one in Sunday's victory over Houston, and keeping him out of the end zone will be a difficult task.

"I just know he's a big, nimble athlete that can do all of the things," Vikings coach Brad Childress said. "Just like we talked about [versatile Eagles running back Brian] Westbrook and flanking him out and splitting him out, he can do those kinds of things away from the formation as well as playing next to the tackle and creating mismatches with linebackers and typically safeties, although corners will cover him a good bit."

Slowing Gates became that much more difficult when the Chargers acquired wide receiver and potential big-play threat Chris Chambers at the NFL trading deadline this month. Chambers was added to a mix that also includes Pro Bowl running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who will test the Vikings' third-ranked rushing defense.

Among the Vikings given the assignment of trying to keep Gates in check will be linebackers E.J. Henderson, Ben Leber and Chad Greenway.

"Gates is a whole 'nother level," Greenway said. "Obviously he's just good at getting off the line of scrimmage. He can get off a jam. He has those basketball instincts just to kind of leverage people and find a hole in places. Obviously he has done that well for a while now. He's pretty superior this year."

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Judd Zulgad • jzulgad@startribune.com