Season is saved! (For now...)

Let's go Four Downs while wondering what kind of mother hands her children a "Fire Childress!" sign, tells them to stand in front of the Metrodome and smile as she takes a photo of the happy little youngsters ...

FIRST DOWN:

That was one of my first sightings walking into the dome yesterday. I don't know. Whether you like Brad Childress or not, something about two kids around 7 and 8 smiling for mommy while holding up that sign just seemed wrong to me.

I didn't spend much time outside the dome before the game, but I thought the atmosphere yesterday was more like a party than a bunch of angry fans getting together to spew venom over Childress' performance overall and sacking of Randy Moss in particular.

Yes, there are some diehards who are genuinely angry at the head coach. But I saw a lot of people carrying signs and joking around as if jumping on the Fire Chilly bandwagon was just the "in" thing to do on a nice Sunday morning.

As for inside the dome, it didn't feel like the Lions game a couple years ago. In fact, until the Vikings started coming back, I sensed more apathy than anger toward the head coach. I suppose that's worse.

Either way, Chilly's here for a while longer, so relax and try to enjoy the win. On the flip side, Chilly shouldn't feel too comfortable just because of that win. Being down by two TDs at home late in the fourth quarter to a Derek Anderson-led team is a sign that not all is right with the ship.

I know Favre and Harvin and the offense got all the headlines. But I was even more impressed with how the defense played at the end. Had it not played virtually perfect football over its last 12 snaps, the Vikings would have lost because Favre wouldn't have kept getting the ball back.

When Favre and the offense was stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 1 (where have I heard that before?), there was 6:18 left in the game and the Cardinals led 24-10. Arizona didn't get another first down while being outscored 17-0 and losing despite winning the coin flip for overtime.

The Cardinals ran 12 plays after that goal-line stand. They netted minus-9 yards, completed one pass and gave up four sacks.

I don't care if it was Arizona or not, that's great defense.

THIRD DOWN:

Whatever it was, Frazier made some adjustments that worked in the fourth quarter. He got away from all the zone coverages and four-man rushes and started blizting Anderson while playing man coverage.

"We did it most of the fourth quarter," cornerback Antoine Winfield said. "That's uncharacteristic of us, but it worked. I loved it."

To me, the most unsung play of the game came with 3:19 left and Arizona facing third-and-10 from its 24-yard line. Frazier called a zero blitz, which is basically a jail break to the quarterback. An all-out blitz like that forces the corners to play man coverage with zero defenders behind them.

Much-maligned corner Lito Sheppard's job on that play was to cover Larry Fizgerald Jr. one on one. Lito is 5-10, or at least they say he's 5-10. Fitz is 6-3 and an All-Pro.

"That's one big dude," Sheppard said. "All I was worried about was getting him down before he got 10 yards."

"That was a big play," linebacker Chad Greenway said. "No way Larry was getting away from Lito on that one."

FOURTH DOWN:

Yes, the season was saved. At least temporarily. A loss at home to Arizona would have dropped the Vikings to 2-6 and the team would have imploded in similar fashion to what you're seeing in Dallas right now.

I've said for weeks that the Vikings will be 5-5 after 10 games. That means they have to win at Chicago on Sunday and at home against the Packers the following week. It won't be easy, especially with the Packers getting a bye week after having won three consecutive games.