Sid Hartman: Bevell can relate to Webb's inexperience

Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell recalls being in a similarly tough position as young Joe Webb is in, albeit at a different level, when Bevell was a freshman quarterback at the University of Wisconsin in 1992.

Bevell said he can sympathize with Webb, a sixth-round draft choice who wasn't expected to play quarterback when he was drafted. But with Brett Favre and Tarvaris Jackson injured, Webb played most of Monday's game against the Bears, after taking his first NFL snaps the previous week against the Giants and after having made his debut only two weeks earlier returning kicks against the Bills. Now Webb is expected to start the final two games of the season, at Philadelphia and Detroit.

"My freshman year I started after the second game," Bevell said. "I've been a little bit in that same situation before. It can be tough. There's so much that's on the quarterback, whether it's what the cadence is, what the protection is. How am I protected? What's the play? What routes are they running? How are those routes adjusted? So there's a lot of things he's thinking about."

The 1992 Badgers opened the season with a 27-10 loss at Washington, at the time the No. 2 team in the country. Bevell played some in relief of Jay Macias and did well enough that he started the following week against Bowling Green.

The Badgers went 5-6 that season under coach Barry Alvarez, and in 1993 with Bevell as the starting quarterback they won the Big Ten and then beat UCLA 21-16 in the Rose Bowl, with Bevell scoring the winning touchdown on a 21-yard run in the fourth quarter.

True, competing in the Big Ten isn't the same as the NFL, and facing Bowling Green is not the same as facing the Philadelphia Eagles.

But you don't win in the NFL without a good quarterback, and right now the Vikings are in a desperate situation. Favre is expected to retire, Jackson is a possible free agent and Webb is inexperienced. They are going to have a tough year in 2011 unless they sign a free-agent QB or are able to draft an exceptional one who can make it as a rookie.

"He showed a little bit of how young he is just in terms of some of the things he's looking at, he turned it over a couple of times," Bevell said. "But for the first time of extensive playing time, I thought he did a decent job.

"Yeah, he's in a very tough situation, just from the background that he has playing quarterback, what we're asking him to do. But he's learning every day and he's putting his best foot forward. He's got great skills. Obviously he's a mobile guy, he can run around. He's got great speed. He's got a big arm. He threw with pretty good accuracy. He just needs to have more and more reps."

Obviously, no one knows yet whether Webb will make it as an NFL quarterback long-term. But with Favre expected to miss the final two games because of a concussion, the Vikings can at least give the young man an opportunity.

Gutty performance Bevell, who coached with the Packers from 2000 to '05, including his final three years there as Favre's quarterbacks coach, has seen Favre play with the worst of injuries. But when Favre was able to start against the Bears after not being able to throw all week, Bevell said that might be the top one.

"That one even surprised me the other night," Bevell said. "Just to see him start that game from where he came from, it was amazing. It was a gutty performance. He said he was going to give it a shot. He had more communication with coach [Leslie] Frazier than he did with us [assistant coaches] because we had already listed him as out [on the injury report].

And don't give up this week, either, because Favre is determined to play the final two games of his long NFL career.

Jottings • Why are the Bears winning and the Vikings not? Last year the Bears had 13 players on injured reserve and finished 7-9; this year they have only two and are the NFC North champions. A year ago, the Vikings had one player on injured reserve, linebacker E.J. Henderson, and went 12-4 to win the division. This year they are 5-9 with seven players on IR.

• Dan Berezowitz, who did a good job as Gophers recruiting director for Tim Brewster, will not be a member of new coach Jerry Kill's staff. So as it turns out, only running backs coach Thomas Hammock, a former Northern Illinois star, was kept from Brewster's staff. Apparently Kill's staff is complete except for a defensive backs coach. ... Foster Bush, a 6-5, 275-pound tackle from Menasha, Wis., who was ranked as the ninth-best player in the state and the top offensive lineman, originally committed to Kill at Northern Illinois but now has switched to the Gophers. "I felt comfortable playing for [new Gophers offensive coordinator Matt] Limegrover and Coach Kill," Bush told the Appleton (Wis.) Post Crescent. "Playing in the Big Ten is a bonus."

• Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi said allowing the Vikings to play in TCF Bank Stadium on Monday night was not done for profit but to help the Vikings out of a jam. Maturi said he really appreciated the newspaper ads run Wednesday by the Vikings and the NFL praising how the university handled a tough situation. ... Regarding the snow removal, Maturi reported that the firm that usually removes snow from the stadium turned down the job when offered, saying it wouldn't be able to complete the job and didn't want to take the criticism for that. So a second firm was hired and not only did a good job but became the future snow removers for the Gophers athletic department.

• Karmichael Dunbar, son of Vikings defensive line coach Karl Dunbar and an outstanding 6-2, 290-pound defensive lineman for Prior Lake High School, is being recruited nationally and has been invited to San Antonio to participate in some events at January's U.S. Army All-American Bowl, according to his father.