Sid Hartman: QB coach says McNabb must raise his game

Craig Johnson, the Vikings quarterbacks coach who helped guide Steve McNair, Vince Young and Kerry Collins to Pro Bowl selections over his 11 years with the Tennessee Titans, still believes the Vikings made a good move when they signed Donovan McNabb, even though the veteran has had his ups and downs in the first two games.

"In the first game [at San Diego] he played a good first half and struggled, as our team did, in the second half and definitely needed to pick it up," Johnson said. "I challenged him, and I thought he did a much better job in the second game. He had good rhythm. We still have not played four quarters as a team. We still need to do that, and he still needs to do that.

"It looks like to me, if he'll carry over his first-half performances all the way through the second half, I think he has something that can help us win."

McNabb completed only seven of 15 passes for 39 yards with a 47.9 quarterback rating in the loss to San Diego. He completed only one of six passes for 2 yards in the second half of that game.

In the loss to Tampa Bay, McNabb completed 11 of 17 passes for 153 yards in the first half but again slumped in the second half, when he completed only seven of 13 passes for 75 yards.

"Right now, [McNabb] is moving around pretty good," Johnson said. "[In the Tampa Bay game] he was able to scramble a couple of times and extend the play and made a couple of first downs running, which is what you're looking for. But like I said, it's not good enough, and we have to raise his game, and he does, too."

Johnson had no answer for why the Vikings have been so good in the first half of both their games and horrible in the second. He did say that he didn't believe that adjustments by the opposing defenses were behind the Vikings' inability to move the ball after halftime. "I think we need to focus more on what we need to do, and I think if we do that we'll be just fine," he said.

He added: "Right now, we just have not been able to play 60 minutes of a game as a team. We have to find a way to be more consistent -- obviously it would help -- and we need to do a better job of converting third-down situations in the second half."

Toby Gerhart didn't get the ball in the second half Sunday after an impressive first half spelling Adrian Peterson. While praising Peterson, Johnson said the team has to continue to find the right mix and get contributions from both running backs.

And Johnson said the Vikings expect to give Percy Harvin more touches, too.

Gophers can win Bill Miller, the Gophers linebackers coach under Jerry Kill, also was on the Gophers staff from 1986 to '88 under John Gutekunst, a period when the team was more respectable than it was during the Tim Brewster era.

Under Gutekunst, in 1986, the Gophers went 6-6, including a big victory at Michigan, and tied for third in the Big Ten before losing in the Liberty Bowl. They followed that by going 6-5 in '87 before slumping to 2-7-2 in '88.

Miller, who has seen the Gophers succeed in the past, is a firm believer that Kill can turn around the program.

"No doubt in my mind," he said. "We just have to keep working, keep the young men believing."

He added: "I think we got the good Minnesota kids. I think that was one of the things that we did, and I think that's one of the emphasis that Jerry and our staff is working on here, is keeping the Minnesota kids here.

"We just have to stay the course and roll up our sleeves and go to work."

One challenge Miller has this week is to make running back Lamonte Edwards into an outstanding linebacker.

"Edwards is an outstanding athlete and one of our best young players," Miller said of the former Woodbury High School standout. "We're trying to get a little more speed and athleticism over on defense. It's a great move. We're going to ... see how far we can go with the thing. He's a good, young football player in our program."

Miller has a great claim to fame in the fact that he coached Ravens superstar linebacker Ray Lewis at the University of Miami.

Jottings • Bobby Knight, who was in town Monday en route to Brainerd where he spoke for the Hormel Co., spent an hour with Kill and his coaching staff, along with anyone else in the Bierman Building who knew Knight was visiting. Kill was really impressed and said he learned a few things about coaching while listening to Knight, and it really made his day.

• No doubt the knowledge that Pat Morris learned in four years here had something to do with the way the Buccaneers blocked the Vikings defensive line while running the ball and protecting the quarterback Sunday. Morris is the former Vikings offensive line coach who now holds that job with Tampa Bay. Morris said the Bucs made no adjustments at halftime but simply played better in the second half.

• Allen Reisner, an undrafted free-agent tight end from Iowa, didn't make the team immediately out of training camp, but the Vikings promoted him from the practice squad before the season opener and he is one of four tight ends to have played in both games. Vikings tight end coach Jimmie Johnson said the staff has been impressed by Reisner's ability to catch the ball.

• Jahvid Best, the running back out of California who was drafted by the Lions with a 2010 first-round pick acquired from the Vikings, ran for 123 yards Sunday against Kansas City and will be in town Sunday. After the Vikings traded the pick to Detroit, they used a second-round pick to select Gerhart. ... And Nate Burleson, the former Vikings wide receiver who signed with Seattle after the Vikings signed Steve Hutchinson away from the Seahawks, is now an outstanding player for the Lions, catching seven passes for 93 yards against the Chiefs.

• New Mexico State might have proved it is a better college football team than people believed when the Aggies lost 16-10 to a decent Texas-El Paso team Saturday. ... And how about Wisconsin beating Kill's old Northern Illinois team 49-7 at Soldier Field?

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. • shartman@startribune.com