Continued: Edwards optimistic after injuring knee

Vikings defensive end Ray Edwards is expected to have an MRI this morning after injuring his left knee Sunday in the second quarter of a 20-19 victory over the New York Giants at the Metrodome.

Edwards suffered the injury when he tackled Giants running back Derrick Ward for a 3-yard loss. "My leg just swung around and the running back kind of hit me," Edwards said. "I was in the air. It was kind of an awkward thing, and he caught my knee at the same time."

Vikings coach Brad Childress described the injury as a "knee strain." Edwards was optimistic after the game. "I think I'll be good," he said.

With cell phone technology, it wasn't too hard for anyone who wanted to know the Houston-Chicago score on Sunday to find it. But with a Bears loss assuring the Vikings of the NFC North title no matter what happened, Childress elected to not have that score flashed on the Metrodome scoreboard.

"You don't want anything to distract you," he said. "There was a game on the field that we wanted to control. ... On Friday I told you that A, the Bears are going to go to Houston and beat Houston and B, New York was going to come out here and give us their best shot. Let's just set that all aside. It's human nature to want the easy way. Let's get that stuff out of our mind right now and know that we're going to have to grind for it and compete for it."

The Bears lost 31-24, a fact Childress said he was not aware of until his team won its game. However, several Vikings players admitted they knew the Bears were trailing late. "We got an update with like three minutes left that Chicago was losing," cornerback Antoine Winfield said.

Said wide receiver Bobby Wade: "The majority of the players on this team, guys didn't really care how that game played out. All we were focused on was beating these guys one way or another. Like I said, it wouldn't have been as deserving if we would have did it that way."

Bernard Berrian has made big plays look routine this season and he added another one -- with a little help. Berrian scored on a 54-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter after cornerback Terrell Thomas fell near the line of scrimmage.

Berrian was wide open for the pass from Tarvaris Jackson and broke toward the middle of the field, using his speed to reach the end zone. The TD cut New York's lead to 19-17 .

"It was a simple go route [and] the defender ended up falling," Berrian said. "Tarvaris didn't try to do anything special. He just made sure to get it to me, and I made sure I could do the rest."

It was Berrian's fifth touchdown catch of at least 40 yards this season. Berrian's 964 receiving yards this season are a career high and his 20.1-yard average per catch led the NFL.

Rick Spielman, the Vikings vice president of player personnel, played a key role in the team's offseason pursuit of free agents such as Berrian and safety Madieu Williams and also the trade for defensive end Jared Allen.

"It's like when you bring pieces together, I think it takes time for everybody to jell and get to know each other," Spielman said when asked about the fact the Vikings rebounded after a 1-3 start. "That's the patience you have to have because you know the ability [of the players] that you evaluate and that we all evaluate and then it's just a matter of getting into the system, getting comfortable with each other. I think you've seen a lot of the guys, as we went through the season, kind of start to jell and progress. Hopefully, that will continue through the playoffs and even into the future years."

Maurice Hicks had his best performance as a Viking after losing his job last month. Hicks returned three kickoffs an average of 36.7 yards.

Signed as a free agent last offseason, Hicks was inactive for three games after losing his job to rookie Darius Reynaud. A toe injury to Reynaud opened the door for Hicks to return kicks again.

"I have to give all the thanks to the guys up front for doing a great job blocking and making my job a lot easier," he said. "It's great to be out there and helping the team and not sitting on the sideline watching."

Childress and Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo were assistants together with the Philadelphia Eagles and remain good friends. But that didn't stop Spagnuolo from dialing up a variety of blitzes Sunday, and Jackson was sacked twice and hurried four times.

"My buddy, Spags, gave us every blitz in the book throughout the whole day, snap one on," Childress said.

It actually was good practice for the Vikings, who will face Philadelphia in their first-round playoff game Sunday. Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson is known for sending multiple defenders at the quarterback.

Steve LaCroix, Vikings vice president of sales and marketing and chief marketing officer, said the team was doing brisk business selling tickets for Sunday's playoff game. But LaCroix said "a significant number of tickets" remain for the game against the Eagles. It will be the Vikings' first home postseason game since they beat New Orleans 34-16 in the divisional playoffs in 2000.

Giants kicker John Carney, the oldest player in the league at 44, made the Pro Bowl this season because he missed only two field goals. And both of those were blocked.

He made four more from 51, 30, 42 and 20 yards against the Vikings. But the 38th and final attempt of his season was wide right from 48 yards and kept the Giants from taking a 22-17 lead with 3:22 left.

"I think by the way we played today, we showed you we came in here with a mentality and attitude to win," Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce said. "Their guy made a field goal and our guy missed a field goal."

• The Vikings, who recorded their 114th consecutive home sellout Sunday, finished the regular season with a total attendance of 506,136 or an average of 63,267 per game.

• The Vikings collected two sacks and finished the season with 45, which ranked third in the NFL. They finished eighth last season with 38 sacks.

• The Giants didn't turn over the ball Sunday. They turned it over only 13 times all season.

JUDD ZULGAD, CHIP SCOGGINS AND MARK CRAIG