DAMN VIKINGS: TIME TO GRIN AND BEAR IT AFTER A CLOSE LOSS TO CHICAGO

Try to forget about Chester Taylor's costly fumble for a second (it was the offensive line's fault anyway), along with the fact that my Minnesota Vikings' 19-16 loss to the Chicago Bears came at home against a divisional opponent.

It's hard to get too peeved over how this game ended, although the optics of the rookie head coach Brad Childress cutting his post-game press conference short are a trifle unsettling. A true philosopher-kings sticks around and answers every last question with yet another flip remark.

The Bears are good and earned everything they got, forcing the turnover with 3½ minutes left and converting it into the day's only offensive TD before stopping the Vikings cold on their attempt to run a two-minute drill.

The Bears made the plays they had to -- think of Mike Brown putting his head right on the ball to cause Travis Taylor's fumble after a big pass reception in the first half. As for the Vikings, Troy Williamson, who made a couple big catches against Washington in the opener, dropped a sure first-down pass on the final drive. That will probably go overlooked due to questions over the Vikings' play-calling.

(By the way, running the ball on 3rd-and-7 in the 2-minute drill is a good idea. You're going for it on fourth down, so might as well see if you can pick up some yards. Mewelde Moore almost made it.)

Williamson also lost a big catch in the third quarter when he got flagged on a ticky-tack offensive pass interference call for doing something that was mild compared to what Michael Irvin did on almost every pass play of his career. The Vikings ended up punting and Chicago went down and kicked a field goal.

The Vikes came out of this one with the same questions that have dogged them from the outset. Can they stretch a defence with the vertical passing game? Can they run the ball consistently? On defence, can they pressure the passer? The answers are the same as they were after the Washington and Carolina games: Not really, We'll get back to you on that and Yes.

At least they put a good rush on Bears QB Rex Grossman in their first game without starting defensive end Erasmus James, who's out for the year with a knee injury. Not bad, considering Chicago's supposed to have one of the better offensive lines.

GROSSMAN TOTALLY GEEKED

Sure, the Bears are 3-0 now, but the Vikes asked questions of Chicago that weren't asked while they were taking Detroit and Green Bay behind the metaphorical woodshed. Grossman passed for 278 yards and threw his first career fourth-quarter touchdown pass (it's only taken him three-plus seasons), but the Vikings had him totally geeked by times, and these guys are hardly the reincarnation of the Purple People Eaters.

Grossman looked dazed and confused by times, hand-delivering a wounded duck to Antoine Winfield (pictured) for an interception-return touchdown that put the Vikes ahead early in the final quarter. Give it a month, and there will be a growing grass-roots ad campaign throughout the greater Chicagoland area to put in Brian Griese. Since it's Griese, within a couple weeks there will be a counter-campaign to reinstate Grossman, assuming he's healthy. That's Bears fans for you.

That big, bad Chicago defence, including their peerless linebacker Brian Urlacher (who as previously noted, is disqualified being a Chicago linebacking god since he dated Paris Hilton) also seemed to miss a lot of tackles against Moore and Chester Taylor, even though the stats show just 74 rushing yards for the latter back.

Let's not dwell on the Bears. The Vikings have their own issues, including the so-so offensive line and the heavy burden put on Chester Taylor, who's had 81 carries in three games. It's time to start working in Mewelde Moore as a ballcarrier and find someone else to field punts.

Ultimately, it's probably going to be like this for the Vikes every week -- walking a thin line between winning and losing. Don't expect many blowouts. Next week in Buffalo should be a good test of where they stand, although knowing that a game against the freakin' Bills is a good test should tell you it's a little early for Vikes fans to start thinking about the playoffs.

Hey, do you think the Vikings might the favourites this week? That's neither here nor there. At least they look a lot better than 6-10.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.