Christian Ponder started, made the Packers sweat despite falling short of a win, and somehow managed not to get charged with a felony, or released. Such was not the case for some of his teammates.

Cornerback Chris Cook has been charged with felony domestic abuse, and while the details aren’t worth going into, his future with the team is certainly pretty doubtful, at this point.

Already released, as of this week, is WR Bernard Berrian, who certainly had it coming after going 25 games without a touchdown catch. He was four years into a six-year deal and spiraling downward quickly.

Without a proven receiver to replace him, the Vikings hope Ponder can make due with Percy Harvin, Michael Jenkins, Greg Camarillo, Devin Aromashodu and Stephen Burton. Of those, Harvin, Jenkins and Burton are the folks in the purple’s three-wide set, but with only Harvin a real threat, you can bet that if the season continues to go dismally for the Vikings, they’ll be hoping Notre Dame’s Saint Paul-native star WR, Michael Floyd, is available when they draft.

He’s projected to go as high as second overall; that’s a position this year’s team has a shot at, as coach Leslie Frazier begins the work of rebuilding the team from the shambles Childress left it in. Rumor is, Brad didn’t even keep the team’s rv insurance up-to-date.

Okay, maybe he wasn’t quite that bad… but he left the team pretty messed up, for sure.

Of course, there’s a political angle in all this; 2011 is the final year of the current Metrodome lease that holds the Vikings franchise to the state of Minnesota. And so, inconvenient as it may be, time has run out on pushing this issue off into the future. All the excuses like, “The Twins and Gophers need to be taken care of first,” and “I’m too busy sending out 1st birthday invitations,” won’t work anymore.

Minnesota and the Vikings need to come up with a solution this year, in this legislative session, period. Of the Vikings might have some other geographic location in front of their name come 2012. And maybe that’s the “end of the world” the Mayans foretold all those years ago.

If Favre and the Vikings can beat back the Pack next Monday, the will move to 4-0 and have a solid, two-game lead on the division title early in the season. If the Pack wins, the storyline means the two teams could still be punching it out when the rematch comes in November at Green Bay.

Either way, having both teams performing well early in the season is sure to make this game more interesting, thanks not only to the presence of Favre in purple, but to the stakes of the game being remarkably high for such an early-season match-up.

You can bet both teams will be spending hours on the ellipticals this week in preparation for what promises to be an historic clash.

Ten years ago? Sure. Five years ago? Maybe. Now? No way. At 39 and soon 40, Favre is over-the-hill, playing with an arm that’s not 100 percent, and is likely to be as interception-prone as ever. No thanks.

As a QB coach? Sure! But as a player, I just don’t see Favre as being an attractive option, even though our roster of signal-callers is certainly not NFL Hall of Fame-caliber.

Brett Favre spent a long career as one of the Vikings’ mortal enemies. He should go out of the game and into the Hall of Fame with that image still intact, no matter how many calls on cellular phones Coach Childress gets from 80-year-old season ticket holders who went to high school with Brett.

Right now, the Vikes have about $18 million in cap space, and need to spend another $2.7 million just to be over the cap minimum, which is about what their draft picks would take up. With about $15 million to spare, there would still be plenty of room for both Favre and Winfield on the team’s cap.

So the question must not become: is Favre worth signing? I still say, “No.”

Also, the Vikes are a victim of their own post-season success; by making the playoffs, the team is in the bottom third of the first round and none of the signal-callers available there are likely to be immediate solutions.

So it will take some creativity and innovation to come up with a solution at QB, if the Vikes decide not to give the Frerote-Jackson rotation another go; and doing that could be death in terms of ticket sales. So save this year’s QB roster to your SD memory cards, because like it or not, it probably won’t change month next season.

Of course, it’s not like Frazier’s fall-back position is to sell horse supplies at a veterinarian retailer, either. While the Vikings’ one-and-done playoff performance may have played a role in him losing out to a promotion, ultimately most NFL folks knew it was the Vikings’ offensive deficiencies that was the culprit, not Frazier’s defense.

“I’m in a great situation,” Frazier told TwinCities.com. “We’re on the verge of doing something special for a while. They’re going to see that we weren’t playing without our most valuable guys. So I’m really looking forward to 2009.”

Minnesota proved to be as reliable as a liability-only car insurance policy after an accident; it left the owner (Zygi Wilf) without any recompense for the loss. Now the Vikings will have to decide if T-Jack showed just enough to keep his starting job – which could ultimately cost Childress his job – or if it’s time to play “Let’s Make A Deal” with any team willing to surrender a half-competent signal-called in exchange for a first- or second-round draft pick.

The selection is sure to be slim, and the options few and far between. But an upgrade at QB is critical, and an improvement at WR is also necessary.

It’s been a long, crazy ride but Minnesota overcame long odds against the Giants to prevail with a 20-19 win, and all this without even the aid of diet pills, or half of the Williams Wall as Pat Williams remains out with an injury.

The playoff picture came into focus later in the day as Dallas lost and Philadelphia won, allowing the Eagles to slip past Dallas into the playoffs as the sixth seed in the NFC. The Vikings, the NFC third-seeded team at 10-6, will play host to the Eagles in the first round of the playoffs next weekend.

It’s about time!

They should almost set up a toll free number for shell-shocked Cardinals fans – and perhaps even some disheartened Vikings fans who found out the team isn’t going in the tank just yet – after the dominating 35-14 win that had Minnesota up 28-0 at halftime.

The victory places Minnesota one victory – or one Chicago Bears loss – away from their first division title since, what, 2000? That’s a reason for optimism, because our next two games are at home, and Atlanta could be another Arizona, while the Giants may have everything wrapped up and be resting their starters on Week 17.

The win was even more significant because it came with Tavaris Jackson looking competent at QB, with Adrian Peterson topping Robert Smith’s franchise-leading single-season rushing record en route to a monster day running the ball, and with one-half of the Williams Wall going down with an injury on defense.

After Chicago took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, the Vikings rallied under Frerotte and scored three consecutive times to take a 17-7 halftime lead. That rally included a 99-yard goal-line pass to Bernard Berrian for a touchdown, as well as taking one in himself on another goal-line stand. The performance shows what a fighter Frerotte still is, even if his skills are fading as a result of age.

Chicago was the first to score coming out of half-time, but then Minnesota on another unanswered 17-point scoring binge as Minnesota’s running game pounded the ball away against the Bears, with both Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor scoring on separate drives.

Minnesota won the game 34-14, redeeming their pre-bye-week loss to the Bears at Soldier Field several weeks ago. The win catapults the Vikings to a 7-5 record and in sole possession of first place in the NFC North, placing them a full game ahead of the Bears, who fell to 6-6.

Minnesota’s remaining schedule is somewhat favorable. Next week, they go on the road to the winless Detroit Lions, then have a tough road game against the resurgent Arizona Cardinals the following week. The Vikings then face two tough games with Atlanta and the New York Giants coming to the Metrodome to close out the regular season.

The Vikings will likely need to win at least two of their final four games to retain possession of first place and return to the playoffs for the first time since 2004, when the Vikings, coached by Mike Tice, made the playoffs with an 8-8 record, defeated the Green Bay Packers in the first round, and then lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round.

Of course, in my opinion, this situation has a lot to do with the shortcomings of Brad Childress as a coach. On a good team, Bernard Berrian would be a number two receiver, not your top option, and there would be a quarterback who’s worthy of being a starter.

While the defense is OK and the running game is rock-solid, it’s a bit late in the game to still be blaming Minnesota’s shortcomings on the previous coach’s regime. It’s time to hold Childress responsible for this team underachieving.