Brad Childress

1. Convinced that the 40-year-old quarterback is a prima donna who just wants to get out of training camp? 2. In favor of welcoming back the future Hall of Famer with open arms? 3. Hoping that coach Brad Childress and the rest of the Vikings give him the cold shoulder? 4. Tired of this story?

THE FIRST QUESTION you have to ask about yesterday's Eagles win is: Where has this team been all season? The second question is: Can the Eagles muster a repeat performance at Minnesota in next week's wild-card game? According to fans who posted comments on the Minneapolis Star-Tribune Web site, it should be no problem. You would think it would be difficult to find more than a handful of negative fans in Minnesota. The Vikings, after all, defeated the Giants yesterday to go 10-6 and clinch the NFC North.

8:30, Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis. TV: ESPN. Line: Vikings by 101/2. Over-under: 43. The skinny: Contrary to what some Vikings fans have contended, Brad Childress does have a brain, and he uses it quite a bit. By losing 16 of his first 27 games, Childress had not exactly won over the Minnesota faithful. The message boards are still stocked with "Fire Childress now!" manifestos, but the 51-year-old former Eagles offensive coordinator finds himself in much better standing entering tonight's game.

If you're part of a turnaround, people want you to stay around. That's what's happening in Birdland. League sources said yesterday Eagles coach Andy Reid will retain his staff through the 2002 season. Some of the coaches' deals were to run out after the 2001 season. While specifics were not available, all the coaches will be under contract until at least through 2002. Some will be retained until 2003, when Reid's original five-year deal expires. Of course, should Reid enjoy continued success as he experienced in moving the team from 5-11 in 1999, his first season, to 11-5 this season, the club will surely offer to extend his contract.

The Eagles' season is over, but they could still endure two more losses before the month is over. According to a report on FoxSports.com, the Minnesota Vikings plan to ask the Eagles for permission to interview vice president of player personnel Tom Heckert this morning. The Vikings are looking for a general manager to take charge of their personnel decisions, including the hiring of a new head coach. Mike Tice was fired as the team's head coach after the Vikings' win over the Chicago Bears yesterday.

Jason Licht opted for a new title and a raise with the Eagles rather than a new job in Minnesota. The Eagles yesterday promoted Licht from assistant director of player personnel to vice president of player personnel, a title previously held by Tom Heckert, who was promoted to general manager earlier this month. Both moves were made because the Vikings were interested in Licht and Heckert. Minnesota tried to hire Heckert immediately after the season, but he rejected them after receiving the GM title.

From: McKee, Don Minnesota's rally against Arizona on Sunday earned Brad Childress a stay of execution. But owner Zygi Wilf had conspicuously refused to give "Chilly" a vote of confidence pregame. No coach has been fired yet this season, although at least four - Wade Phillips in Dallas, Mike Singletary in San Fran, John Fox in Carolina and Jack Del Rio in Jacks - are on death row. Will Childress be the coach when the Eagles play the Vikings on Dec. 26? And who, if any, will be the first NFL coach fired this season?

If Marty Mornhinweg gets a head coaching job after this season (and he should, he's served his sentence for choosing to kick off in overtime once), there is a very good chance Andy Reid will bring his old pal Brad Childress back into the fold. Here's an idea: Skip a couple of steps. Hire Childress right now. Do the Eagles really need another cook in the offensive kitchen, helping Reid and Mornhinweg prepare for Sunday's playoff game? Not really. Childress is very familiar with the Green Bay Packers, having faced them twice a year during his four-plus seasons as head coach of the Vikings.

The Minnesota Vikings never told Brett Favre to make up his mind by this week if he wants to play, according to coach Brad Childress. In fact, Childress said yesterday, the team has no timetable for Favre to decide about coming out of retirement again to quarterback the Vikings. "I'm not into predicting the future, you know?" the coach said. "We'll just have to see what's around the corner tomorrow. " The 39-year-old Favre, according to reports, had surgery on the partially torn biceps in his right shoulder last month and has not yet returned to full strength.

The Minnesota Vikings have decided not to pursue Brett Favre. For now. ESPN.com, citing sources, reported that head coach Brad Childress had expected Favre to show up at organized team activities yesterday. Farve failed to report and, according to the report, Rob Brezinski, the Vikings vice president of football operations phoned Bus Cook, Favre's agent, to tell him of their decision. According to the report, the Vikings may reconsider. Favre had arthroscopic surgery 2 weeks ago to repair a partially torn biceps tendon.

FORMER MINNESOTA Vikings coach Brad Childress told NFL.com that Randy Moss "walked in the locker room and vomited on it," after he was acquired from New England last season. Moss spent 4 tumultuous weeks with the Vikings before being released following an Oct. 31 loss to New England. Childress decided to release Moss without first informing owner Zygi Wilf and that played a big role in the coach being dismissed following a 31-3 loss to Green Bay on Nov. 21. The Vikings, who had gone to the NFC title game in 2009, were 3-7 at that point.

Donovan McNabb's arrival in Minnesota has been a rumored scenario for at least five years, ever since Brad Childress left the Eagles to take over the Vikings in 2006. Childress is gone now, but another former Eagles assistant - new Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier - helped make those rumors a reality Wednesday, just in time for McNabb to help bridge the gap from Brett Favre to rookie Christian Ponder. The Vikings acquired the 34-year-old McNabb from Washington for a sixth-round draft pick in 2012 and a conditional sixth-rounder in 2013, two people with knowledge of the transaction told the Associated Press.

If Marty Mornhinweg gets a head coaching job after this season (and he should, he's served his sentence for choosing to kick off in overtime once), there is a very good chance Andy Reid will bring his old pal Brad Childress back into the fold. Here's an idea: Skip a couple of steps. Hire Childress right now. Do the Eagles really need another cook in the offensive kitchen, helping Reid and Mornhinweg prepare for Sunday's playoff game? Not really. Childress is very familiar with the Green Bay Packers, having faced them twice a year during his four-plus seasons as head coach of the Vikings.

HAVING CLINCHED a playoff berth and won the NFC East Sunday without playing, the Eagles tried to employ the same strategy in their matchup last night with the down-and-out, previously 5-9 Minnesota Vikings. The result was a 24-14 Vikings victory, probably the worst game the Birds have played this season, overall. So much for winning the first or second seed in the NFC. So much for the bye and the illusion that the 10-5 Eagles, locked into the third seed with a meaningless game to play Sunday at home against Dallas, are a red-hot team entering the playoffs, where they will host the Packers, Giants or Buccaneers, presumably with more alacrity than they showed last night.

Tuesday Night Football? Yeah, that makes sense - at least in the context of the rest of this Eagles season, which has hardly been ordinary. Sure, Tuesday games are unheard of. But is it any more surprising than the Eagles trading their franchise quarterback to a division rival, then changing quarterbacks again after two games? More surprising than Michael Vick, four years removed from being a starter, raising his game to the highest level of his career? More surprising than Vick again becoming a widely accepted star?

The Minnesota Vikings are the perfect reality check for an Eagles team that is suddenly a real threat to go to the Super Bowl. Not because the Vikings are an especially daunting opponent. They aren't. In fact, they are a big leaky trash bag full of toxic waste and combustible chemicals, as apt to burst into caustic flame as to fall apart all over everything nice. But just 11 months ago, this hot mess was hot stuff. The Vikings were one awful Brett Favre pass from the Super Bowl.

MOST COACHES who've been around long enough to dig a hole and plant a coaching tree will tell you they get little pleasure out of going up against guys who used to call them boss. Andy Reid is no different. He's coached against former assistants three times since taking the Eagles job back in 1999 - Brad Childress twice and John Harbaugh once - and each time he would've preferred root canal to tangling with one of the branches on his ever-growing tree. He was supposed to go up against his good friend Childress again Sunday at the Linc.

Sometimes, the bettors get it right. Oddsmakers made the Washington Redskins two-point favorites over Minnesota to start the week just as the Vikings replaced former head coach Brad Childress with Leslie Frazier. However, bettors - apparently assuming that the coaching change would revive the foundering Vikings - threw money at Minnesota with both hands, forcing a hefty four-point swing by kickoff. Suddenly two-point favorites, the Vikings rewarded the betting public's faith by holding off the Redskins, 17-13, at FedEx Field on Sunday.

If Andy Reid had to get his glasses checked after some of the officials' calls he has seen this year, he probably felt like getting his ears examined after Monday's day-after news conference. Mere hours after his young team delivered a truly gutsy victory over the Giants, claiming sole possession of first place in the NFC East, Reid faced questions about preserving Michael Vick's health, the Giants' effectiveness in containing the red-hot QB, and the difficulty the Eagles had running the ball.

LANDOVER, Md. - Fifteen days after his head coach benched him for lacking the physical endurance and know-how to run Washington's two-minute offense, Donovan McNabb on Monday signed a five-year contract extension with the Redskins. The deal, conveniently announced a few hours before the Redskins hosted the Eagles at FedEx Field, was for $78 million, with $40 million guaranteed, according to ESPN.com. It certainly was a big deal for a player who is about to turn 34 and, statistically at least, is having his worst season since his rookie year of 1999.