Vikings coach Brad Childress said Monday that he thought he got "short-shrifted" when an assistant handed him the list of defensive plays from Sunday's 36-10 victory against the Chicago Bears.
The Bears ran only 38 offensive plays, including 12 in the second half. "I'm like, 'Are you kidding me? Do we need to go out tomorrow and do some individual work on the defensive side?' " Childress said, jokingly. Conversely, the Vikings offense probably needs extra rest after being on the field for 83 plays. Childress' staff actually had 87 plays that it graded, including penalties. Either way, it represented the Vikings highest play total in seven seasons. The Vikings have not run that many plays since they had 89 offensive snaps against the Seattle Seahawks in 2002, according to research by ESPN.com. The Vikings entered Sunday's game averaging 64 offensive plays per game. "Those [87 plays] are college numbers," Childress said. "Those are really how much you get in college. Typically in the NFL, you're getting 60 or 65. If you go to 70 it's ridiculous." Sidney Rice said he and fellow wide receiver Bernard Berrian both played around 70 plays. Not that he was complaining. "I didn't know we had that many snaps until I got in this morning," Rice said. "I think that's the most all year. That's huge for us. I'd rather have that many snaps and come out with the win. Time of possession is huge. I think we had it for around 40 minutes. That's huge for us, just having the ball and the defense getting off the field. That means we're moving, we're getting first downs and things like that."
