Quick Nuggets

Reggie Bush taunting the Bears
Having already expressed my ideas on "class," you can guess that Reggie Bush taunting the Bears or Brian Urlacher or anyone else means next to nothing to me.

And keep this in mind--do you think the Bear defenders are all angels who just smile silently all game long? Do you think none of them said anything to Bush at any point during the game? Reggie Bush's taunt was more visible, but it also wasn't terribly egregious. These are men playing a violent game in which they try to constantly crush each other. During this violent game, they taunt and talk. And when one of these men has a very successful play, such taunting might be expected. Let it go.

I also didn't mind when Terrell Owens stood on the Dallas star. The Cowboys had dominated everybody in the 90s, and they didn't usually do it silently either (Remember Emmitt Smith waving at a defender as he scored? Remember ANYTHING about Michael Irvin, Charles Haley, or Deion Sanders?). So when things were turned around, it was fine with me for them to get taunted a bit. I also didn't mind when Randy Moss wiped his ass on the Lambeau goal post--he just went into Lambeau and beat the Packer's ass. The last time Moss was in Lambeau, he was injured on the sidelines and the band had a sign saying "Where you at Moss?"

Humility is commendable. But it's commendable because it's commendable, not because it's the norm. Players can (and often do) go overboard in taunting and showing up opponents. But it's really not that big a deal.

Mike Tomlin
Tomlin is a great coach, and as several local pundits have said, he would have been a great guy to have around after 2007 if Childress struggles again.

But I think that Viking fans are so used to having lousy defenses that we've lost perspective. He's still a defensive coordinator. The Vikings should have all of the same defensive players that they want to keep, and they can add some pass rushers. The new coordinator will probably run the same type of Cover 2 defense.

The Viking defense was a revelation in '06 after years of watching great offense and absolutely atrocious defense. That's made us think Tomlin is more important than he is. He'll probably be a great head coach just as he was a great defensive coordinator, but we should not go into '07 expecting a great decline in the defense. And if the run defense next year is not as good as '06, that is not entirely because of Mike Tomlin--the '06 Vikes were so unbelievable against the run in a way that might be hard to sustain.