Detroit at Minnesota

Culpepper is out. Good. Can't get any worse. He's playing as bad as we was a couple of years ago and that's pretty bad. In 2005, he'll be remembered for throwing 6 TDs and 12 interceptions and leading his team to a 2-5 record. Brad Johnson won't be a major drop-off and I expect the rest of his teammates to step it up in Daunte's absence. Minnesota has won 10 of the last 11 in this matchup and seven straight in Minneapolis and today we find them getting a point to boot. They are underdogs because the public now sees them as completely down and out. Heck, it really couldn't get any worse for them with all of the controversy and horrible play. Now their most visible and likable player goes down - a 3 time pro bowler. Folks, as soon as it looks like it can't get any worse is the time to back the bad team. We saw a couple of teams that looked like they had no shot last week, San Francisco and Baltimore, show that there is still enough parity in this league for the terrible teams to take one now and again. Detroit goes back to Joey Harrington at QB. Not because they want to but because they are forced to thanks to an injury to Jeff Garcia. How rocky does Harrington's confidence have to be right now? I expect a somewhat inspired performance by the Vikings defense who feels they need to step up in Culpepper's absence and because they are a home underdog to a team they have dominated. I won't go into stats here as this is a pure emotional / situational pick. One star on the Vikings.