McCarthy, Childress trade places

Minnesotans might not feel so bad about the massacre of their 401(k)s if only they had collected $5 every time they heard a joke about Brad Childress being the Green Bay Packers' preferred choice as head coach for the 2006 season.

The boast from Childress when hired was that Zygi and Mark Wilf basically staged a kidnapping to prevent him from going to Green Bay to interview and accept that job.

The consolation prize for the Packers was Mike McCarthy. The jokes filled with ridicule toward Childress started to fly in the second half of the 2006 season, when McCarthy twice coached the Packers to victories over the Vikings.

Last season, the entire fan bases of the Packers and the Vikings turned into a collection of Lewis Blacks and D.L. Hughleys, unmercifully deriding Childress as he lost twice more to the Packers -- including by 34-0 in the ninth game.

McCarthy and the Packers finished 13-3 and reached the NFC title game. Childress and the Vikings finished 8-8 and again missed the playoffs.

Childress' record against McCarthy fell to 0-5 in this year's opener -- a dreary Monday night contest the Packers won 24-19.

A large delegation of Packers zealots (easily 8,000 to 10,000) made their way into the Metrodome on Sunday. When taunted, a favored response from the folks in green was, "How's that coach you stole from us working out?"

McCarthy had been rendered brain dead, and Childress was leaving the field with a 28-27 victory and tied for the lead in the magnificent NFC North.

The Vikings' pass rush smothered the Packers, and the home team also received another tremendous effort from super-duper star Adrian Peterson. It was no contest for four quarters, and yet two Packers returns for touchdowns -- an interception and a punt -- were going to present McCarthy with another victory over Childress.

McCarthy refused the gift with several coaching blunders, the most grievous of which occurred at the end of each half. Chronologically:

• The Packers were unable to protect quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He was sacked back-to-back on the second possession and was a rattled, ball-holding mess the rest of the way.

Rodgers was called for a safety as he attempted to underhand a throw from the end zone early in the second quarter. Then, at the end of the half, Green Bay was pinned at its 9 with 52 seconds left after Chris Kluwe's punt.

Run out the clock and head for the locker room, right?

Nope. On second down, McCarthy positioned Rodgers with minimal protection. Jared Allen made a sprint to Rodgers and the quarterback was submerged for a second safety.

Asked how much it hurt to give up that safety, McCarthy said, "Which one?"

When the second safety was specified, he said, "We never like to give up a safety."

McCarthy lucked out when Gus Frerotte threw the second of his three interceptions, to Tramon Williams. Mason Crosby kicked a 47-yard field goal to cut the Vikings' halftime lead to 14-10.

• The second half was even goofier. Again, the rush was big, Rodgers was twitchy and Peterson was getting tougher for the Packers to handle.

But those returns -- an interception by Nick Collins and a punt return by Will Blackmon -- gave the Packers a shot. It was 28-27 for the Vikings, and Green Bay was at the Minnesota 41 at the two-minute timeout.

How did McCarthy respond? He had the offense take its time, he called two runs and then Rodgers threw a quick pass to Donald Driver and there it was -- fourth-and-4 and the Packers settling for a 52-yard field-goal try (and miss) by Crosby.

"Every game we have a mark where we need to kick a field goal from," McCarthy said. "Two runs ... and third-and-6 was one we had in the plans. I was fine with the distance. We were smart with our play selection, but we were attempting to get the first down."

The attempt wasn't very energetic, leaving McCarthy to contemplate his new status in this border rivalry: