When you watch a team for, oh, 25 years, you become accustomed to a certain style of play, a certain method of thinking and, unfortunately, a certain habitual tendency in games of utmost importance. We picked the Cardinals to defeat the Vikings yesterday (as did beat writer Judd Zulgad) partially because we thought Kurt Warner would throw the ball up and down the field, partially because of some insane reverse psychology, but mostly because if 25 years of watching and remembering the Vikings has taught us anything, it’s that counting on them in a big game late in the season is about as smart as hauling Christmas trees in the nude. Everything about yesterday’s game — from the way the Vikings pounced on an opponent to how they handled the only real points of adversity (Taylor’s fumble, false starts, blocked field goal) beautifully to Tarvaris Jackson’s 135.5 QB rating — was shocking, really. More later, but know this: Not only are the Vikings one win or Chicago loss away from winning the division, they even have an outside chance at a first-round bye. Know what isn’t shocking: As a Vikings fan, you are probably still scared senseless that they’re going to blow it all.

*If Matt Millen was still running the show, the Detroit Lions would have found their future quarterback. “Strong arm. Decisive. Not afraid to make the tough throw in traffic,” Millen would say. “Needs work on accuracy, but we can fix that.”

*It takes a special brand of bad basketball to lose two consecutive games by the exact same bland 98-86 score. Congratulations, Timberwolves! More on Friday’s game, which we attended with our non-basketball-loving friend we shall call Clifton, later. So, too, we hope: Dispatches from the Desert with AZGopherGirl, who was at the Vikings/Cardinals game.

*Congratulations are in order for our Division II brethren at Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs took home the NCAA football championship on Saturday, adding to an impressive recent in-state D-II legacy of late. Winona State has played in the last three D-II men’s hoops title games, winning in 2006 and 2008; Concordia (St. Paul), meanwhile, has won the past two Division II volleyball championships. (Forgive us if we left anyone out; those are the three recent schools we can rattle off from memory, and we can’t find an all-inclusive site with D-II record books).

*Five games. Five goals. Five losses. We would ask, “What’s wrong with the Wild,” but those facts seem to say most of it.

*And finally, you might have noticed the new feature up by our outdate picture indicating we will be posting bits of sports whimsy on Twitter. For those of you who are frightened, appalled or downright confused by the necessity or utility of Twitter, remember that you probably also once felt that way about girls (or boys, for readers so inclined). If you like the idea of knowing what all your friends are doing every second of every day, then by gosh it’s for you. Or, if you like sports whimsy, you could also sign up.

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