Whatever happened to Vikings' pass rush?

Well, the Vikings came close.

Brett Favre looked like he was going to pull out one of his great finishes when he completed what appeared to be a touchdown pass to Percy Harvin, the Vikings' star of the game, in the final seconds of Sunday night's game at Green Bay.

Unfortunately, the review showed Harvin had only one foot in bounds, so the Vikings went down to a 28-24 loss to the Packers, a team that had already lost at home this year to Miami and on the road to Washington and Chicago.

This was a game in which the Vikings defense didn't get off to a very good start, giving up 200 yards of total offense to the Packers in the first quarter.

You aren't going to win many games in the NFL when your quarterback throws three interceptions, one returned for a touchdown.

What is hard to figure out is that a year ago Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was sacked 14 times for 71 yards in the two games against the Vikings, both Packers losses.

But on this Sunday night, the Vikings had no sacks and only three quarterback hurries. They did have one nice interception by Jared Allen on Green Bay's first drive, but for the most part Rodgers had plenty of time to throw.

It's hard to understand what has happened to the great pass rush the Vikings have been famous for in the past.

After the game, coach Brad Childress was upset over the reversal of an apparent touchdown pass to Visanthe Shiancoe. Not only should the refs not have taken that away from the Vikings, but they shouldn't have given the Packers their second TD, either, as tight end Andrew Quarless appeared to be bobbling the ball.

With the parity there is this year in the NFL, the Vikings are still in the race despite their 2-4 record. The schedule gets a lot easier after they go to New England next week, and no other team appears likely to run away in the NFC North.

Likes Hammock Adam Weber began his Gophers career under Glen Mason but played under Tim Brewster until Saturday, when Jeff Horton took over as Gophers football coach. But Horton's move up also meant Weber has now played under five offensive coordinators, with Thomas Hammock the fifth.

Looking back, the many changes in coordinators and assistant coaches during Weber's career must have had something to do with the Gophers' record during this period.

"We're still Coach Brew's team. We are playing for him. Coach Horton has done a great job coming in here and changing the little things, trying to get us motivated, trying to get some energy back. ... He brought great motivation and great energy to the team."

On getting to 10,000 career passing yards, only the fifth Big Ten quarterback ever to do so, Weber wasn't very excited about it.

"I don't know," he said. "It really doesn't mean anything. I'll keep the ball. We lost."

Here is a young man who has a chance of playing with two 1-11 teams. Had he gone someplace where he had more support, he might have been an All-America.

And he has to face Ohio State, Michigan State and Iowa -- all highly ranked teams -- before his career is over.

"I feel very comfortable with them," Maturi said. "The process has begun, and they recently were involved in the search for the Notre Dame coach, for the Iowa State coach, for the Cincinnati coach, for the Tennessee coach -- they're very much in tune to college football.

"Dan Parker [the firm president] was used when we hired Tubby Smith here at the University of Minnesota as well, so I have a comfort level with Dan and his staff, and we've already been in communication."

More than 100 former Gophers football players were on hand for Saturday's game on a special invitation from Maturi. They formed a tunnel when the team entered the field. They spent time in the locker room before the game.

Jottings • Todd Bouman, a former Vikings quarterback and St. Cloud State athlete, started for the Jacksonville Jaguars in their loss at Kansas City on Sunday. It was Bouman's first regular-season playing time since 2005. He completed 18 of 34 passes for 222 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Only last month, Bouman was coaching with the Pipestone High School football team, where his brother, Troy, is the head coach. He has played for six NFL teams: the Vikings, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Green Bay, St. Louis and Baltimore.

• Ben Revere, the young outfielder the Twins called up from the minors in September, has 15 hits in his past 38 at-bats for Peoria in the Arizona Fall League. "He's going to be a good hitter," Twins General Manager Billy Smith said. "We're excited about that. We're excited about his future. We'll just have to see where it lands for next year. Right now we've got [Delmon] Young and Denard Span and Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel, so we're in pretty good shape out there in the outfield."

• Buccaneers defensive end Stylez G. White, a former Gophers player, had three tackles, including a sack, and a forced fumble in Tampa Bay's 18-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. The Gophers miss having a pass-rushing defensive lineman like White, who has 15 tackles in five games after having 43 in 15 games last season. ... In that same game, former Wayzata High School and Ohio State standout linebacker James Laurinaitis had eight tackles for the Rams and is leading St. Louis in tackles this season.

• Former Gophers running back Laurence Maroney started his fourth consecutive game for Denver on Oct. 17, but he didn't play at all against the Oakland on Sunday, even though he was active. With the Broncos, Maroney has 36 carries for 74 yards, good for 2.1 yards per carry, well under his career average of 4.1.