Sid Hartman: Allen needs return to form Monday

The Vikings, 16th in the NFL in passing defense, will need another great performance from Jared Allen on Monday night against the Bears to make sure that quarterback Jay Cutler, who has thrown 25 interceptions this season, doesn't have a game like Matt Moore had for the Panthers last week.

Allen has 13 1/2 sacks this season, second in the league to Denver's Elvis Dumervil, who has 15. But Allen has only one sack over the past three games. However, the defensive end has 6 1/2 sacks in three games against the Bears since joining the Vikings, including two in Week 12 at the Metrodome, when the Vikings won 36-10.

Chris Williams took over at left tackle for Chicago after veteran Orlando Pace got injured in that game at the Metrodome. Williams, a 2008 first-round draft pick by the Bears, is expected to make his fourth start there Monday.

"I find a majority of the time it is just a mind state [playing vs. younger players]," Allen told the Chicago Tribune. "The bottom line is you just have to take it to them. You have to try to get a young guy out of his comfort zone and force him into situations he hasn't experienced yet."

The Panthers found a way to keep Allen away from Moore last week, and the Cardinals also had good luck blocking him from Kurt Warner.

Quick passes have caused the Vikings defense a lot of problems in the losses at both Arizona and Carolina. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier was asked how the Vikings can do a better job defensing against them.

"We are going to see that [the short passes]," Frazier said. "We've been seeing them for the past four or five weeks. A lot of three-step drops, a lot of maximum protection. So that is not going to change.

The Bears gave up two first-round draft picks as well as Kyle Orton for Cutler because they thought he could be the big-time quarterback they have lacked for many years. He is due for a big game, and the Vikings pass defense will have to be a lot better than it has been, or else it could be a rough night.

Memo to the Governor There were 2,200 workers involved in the building of TCF Bank Stadium for the Gophers football team, and now, according to Mortenson Construction, a good share of them are unemployed. The Twins' new Target Field that is opening in April has had 3,100 people working there.

So, Tim Pawlenty, a total of 5,300 people will be looking for work unless you decide to find a way to build a Vikings stadium.

In addition, there was $186 million in local subcontracts for the Gophers stadium and $317 million for the Twins stadium, or $503 million in local business that could be revisited once a solution is found for the Vikings. It seems to me that building a Vikings stadium would put a lot of people back to work and also create a place where we could attract more NCAA tournaments, motor shows and other attractions than the Metrodome ever did.

Brewster's record Dan Berezowitz, the recruiting coordinator for the Gophers football team, found that coach Tim Brewster's record over his first three seasons is better than the records of Iowa's Kirk Ferentz or former Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez in their first three years.

Alvarez was 11-22 with no bowl appearances in his first three seasons with the Badgers, going 1-10 in 1990 followed by two 5-6 seasons. Ferentz was 11-24 his first three years with the Hawkeyes: 1-10 in 1999, 3-9 in 2000 and 7-5, including a victory in the Alamo Bowl, in 2001.

Berezowitz points out that the athletic directors at the time at Iowa and Wisconsin -- Bob Bowlsby and Pat Richter, respectively -- stuck with their coaches and both were very successful after those three years. Both schools won Big Ten titles in their fourth seasons under those coaches.

While Joel Maturi is sticking with Brewster at least for another year, and the Gophers athletic director believes that his football coach has done a reasonable job, he points out that Brewster inherited a team that went 6-7 under Glen Mason in 2006. Ferentz took over a team that was 3-8 in 1998 under Hayden Fry, and Alvarez inherited a team that was 2-9 in 1989 under Don Morton.

Jottings Vikings coach Brad Childress on the fact that the media made an issue out of the fact that he held Brett Favre's arm when talking with him during the Panthers game: "This is kind of a touchy-feely business. Now, I don't touch you because you're a reporter, but I may grab a guy or put a hand on him, that's just the way it is. I do have a good relationship with [Favre]. I don't see anything that ... I'm not going to tell you that I break bread with him three nights a week or anything like that, but yeah, a good player-coach relationship."

One factor that has held up the contract talks with Twins catcher Joe Mauer is the fact that Jim Pohlad, who runs the Twins for the Pohlad family, has been on a long trip to Europe and recently returned.

Yahoo Sports' Matt Hinton, who writes a college football blog under the name of Dr. Saturday, selected Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie (Miami) and running back Adrian Peterson (Oklahoma) and former Holy Angels wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr. (Pittsburgh) to his all-decade offensive team. ... Gophers defensive end D.L. Wilhite and receiver Bryant Allen were named to the Sporting News' All-Big Ten freshman team.

After biding his time in the American Hockey League for four seasons with the Houston Aeros, defenseman Clayton Stoner, 24, recorded two assists in his first three NHL games with the Wild. ... Wild winger Martin Havlat played in his 500th career NHL game on Monday, scoring a goal in the 4-3 loss to Colorado. That game was the sixth in a row Havlat recorded a point, but that streak came to an end in Wednesday's 3-1 victory over Edmonton.

Five Minnesotans were named to the U.S. national junior team Wednesday: defenseman Jake Gardiner (Minnetonka), goalie Mike Lee (Roseau) and forwards Jordan Schroeder (Prior Lake), Danny Kristo (Eden Prairie) and Derek Stepan (Hastings). Stepan had a goal and two assists in Saturday's opening 7-3 victory over Slovakia.