Controversial first down sets up TD, leaves Childress fuming

NASHVILLE — Vikings coach Brad Childress likely will be talking today to Mike Pereira, the NFL vice president of officiating. Odds are it won't be a pleasant exchange.

After the Vikings' 30-17 loss to Tennessee on Sunday, Childress was upset about referee Pete Morelli's refusal to overturn a call that led to a Titans touchdown in the second quarter.

Tennessee was leading 13-7 and faced a fourth-and-2 from the Vikings 3-yard line when Titans coach Jeff Fisher decided to go for it. Quarterback Kerry Collins hit Justin Gage with a short pass to the right. Gage was met quickly by cornerback Antoine Winfield, then linebacker Chad Greenway.

Gage lunged for the first-down marker and appeared to lose the ball just before the whistle, creating the potential for a turnover. But the play was ruled dead and the ball was spotted inside the 1 for a first down.

Childress did not immediately throw his red challenge flag. The Titans quickly tried to run another play, so Childress called a timeout, talked to the officials and then finally dropped the flag.

Replays seemed to indicate that Gage was short of the first-down marker. However, Morelli did not overturn the ruling, and the Titans' LenDale White scored on the next play.

Minnesota also lost two timeouts, one for the challenge not being overturned and the other because Childress had to buy time.

"Damn disappointing is the only way I can say it," Childress said of the decision by Morelli. "You can't fumble the ball on fourth down was one of my contentions, and have someone else recover it.

"[The official] ruled [forward] progress. His progress was stopped. From what I was seeing, the progress didn't make the line. I got something about 'We don't have that many cameras at the game.' Clearly that wasn't a first down, and you are not going to convince me that was a first down."

Childress' players also believe they stopped Gage short of the marker.

"That was frustrating, but what can you say?" Greenway said. "You just have to keep playing ball."

Dan Bell, a spokesman for Fox Sports, said the network had eight cameras in use Sunday. That is the same number of cameras used for all Fox NFL telecast except its "A" game, which gets 12 cameras. Bell disputed that a good look of the play wasn't available.

"We're very confident that we provided every replay possible from our allotment of cameras," Bell said. "Especially the sideline camera that we had positioned right on the goal line for that play."

The Vikings were 7-for-15 on third-down conversions. That's above the league average -- and downright sensational when you consider the distances from which they were trying to convert.

The Vikings actually faced 16 third downs. They got off the hook on a failure from the Tennessee 6 when the Titans' Kyle Vanden Bosch was called for roughing quarterback Gus Frerotte.

The Vikings were third-and-1 once and third-and-4 twice. The other 13 were longer, from third-and-5 to third-and-13. The average distance faced was third-and-7. A contributing factor was seven offensive penalties (six assessed).

"If you're getting beat physically, you're getting beat physically,'' Childress said. "To beat yourself and not be zeroed in ... that ends up being focus and concentration. I don't know how many times today we were first-and-10, back to first-and-10, or second-and-9, back to second-and-14. It's hard to continually overcome those things."

Adrian Peterson bolted to the right and went 28 yards on the first play of the second quarter. That gave the Vikings their first touchdown and cut Tennessee's lead to 10-7.

It was about the only daylight Peterson saw against a Tennessee defense that's rugged from the middle of the line to the safeties.

There were back-to-back plays early in the fourth quarter when Peterson went right for no gain and left for a 3-yard loss. On both occasions, there were nine Titans running to Peterson, hoping to get a hit on the running back.

He had 18 carries for 80 yards -- not an intense workload, but he was moving more slowly than usual after the game.

It was mentioned the Titans "came in waves'' and Peterson said: "We came out in the second half knowing what they were going to do. We knew they were going to do what they could to take away the run, then try to pressure the quarterback."

Peterson had his first lost fumble of the year. It gave Tennessee the ball at the Vikings 11 in the second quarter. A touchdown followed that made it 20-7 for the Titans.

"I didn't get the ball tucked away completely firm, and it just came out,'' he said.

A week ago, the Vikings had good balance with their two backs; Peterson had 17 carries and Chester Taylor had 11.

On Sunday, the Vikings fell behind and threw 43 passes and rushed 20 times. Peterson had 18 carries and Taylor only one. Peterson was on the field for roughly 49 snaps and Taylor for 20, including only five in the first half.

Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie, suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy, is eligible to return to Winter Park today and can play next Monday night at New Orleans. McKinnie spent much of the time during his suspension working out in the Miami area and is believed to be in good condition.

Childress was asked after the game if McKinnie is assured of taking back the starting role from Artis Hicks.

"[I] just need to evaluate where he's at before you go there," Childress said. "He left as a starter, just see if he's physically ready to be [a starter]. I have a pretty good idea of where he's at based on what I've heard and how he's worked. But I'll reserve judgment until I see it with my own eyes."

It was pointed out that starters rarely lose their jobs because of injury but that in this case McKinnie was serving a suspension.

"That's kind of what I'm saying," Childress said. "But he can't come in and weigh 400 pounds and still go back in as a starter. If that's the case, he probably won't be the starter."

Taylor returned the opening kickoff for 23 yards. That gave him seven kick returns this season for an average of 26 yards. Aundrae Allison also returned three for an average of 17 yards.

Childress put Maurice Hicks in the kick return position for the first time late in the first half. Hicks wound up returning four kicks for an average of 27.5 yards.

Defensive end Ray Edwards was among the Vikings' inactives after suffering a shoulder injury early in last Sunday's game against Carolina.

"I felt ready to go," Edwards said. "But I don't make that call. The coaches make that call. They felt I couldn't go."

With Edwards out, Otis Grigsby started at left end. Brian Robison also got plenty of work in that spot. Robison had two tackles and Grigsby none.

The Vikings' top statistical defensive players were Greenway (seven tackles, four assisted tackles) and cornerback Cedric Griffin (seven tackles).

Wide receiver Sidney Rice returned from a knee injury but played only sparingly and caught one pass for 6 yards. Linebacker Vinny Ciurciu was inactive after injuring his right knee last week. Fullback Thomas Tapeh was inactive for the second consecutive week.

Judd Zulgad, Patrick Reusse and Chip Scoggins contributed to this report.