Dan Wiederer got inside information on the Vikings' Sunday matchup against the Texans from John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. Here are three things you need to know:
1 Without one of the top four quarterbacks in NFL history, you might not beat the Texans this season.
Through 14 games, Houston has stumbled just twice. In Week 14, New England's Tom Brady had no trouble handling Houston's blitzes, throwing for 296 yards and four touchdowns to ignite a 42-14 Patriots blowout. Eight weeks earlier, Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers lit up the Texans up for 338 yards and six touchdown passes in a 42-24 Packers victory.
"Those two losses weren't pretty," McClain said. "But when you take a step back, they ran into what I believe are two of the four greatest quarterbacks in history, both at the top of their games. I put Rodgers and Brady in that class along with Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana."
The Vikings also will be facing a Texans squad hungry to lock-up home field advantage throughout the playoffs, a goal the entire city has rallied behind.
"The road to the Super Bowl has never gone through Houston," McClain said. "Going back to the 'Luv Ya Blue' era with Bum Phillips, Earl Campbell, Elvin Bethea, they never had home field and lost two AFC Championship games in Pittsburgh with the feeling that 'Well, had we played this game in the Astrodome, we would have won.'
"And then in the Run-and-Shoot Era with Jack Pardee, Warren Moon, Mike Munchak and Bruce Matthews in the late '80s and early '90s, they went to the playoffs every year. But they never had the home-field advantage."
2 The Texans might have the best chance of any defense this season to hold Adrian Peterson in check.