Vikings Sloppy, Favre Dispondent

The Vikings tried, but thier play Sunday was sloppy and erratic against the Chicago Bears.  They got beat physically all over the field, folded up in the second half and lost every phase of the game by the time it was over. Brett Favre, returning to Soldier Field on the heels of yet another signature comeback against Arizona only last week, fumbled once and was intercepted three times. And he was far from Minnesota's only problem.

Two of those interceptions came when Favre's receivers slipped and a third followed a tipped pass. But he wasn't about to kid himself and write them all down to bad luck. The Vikings still have all the pieces that made them a pre-season Super Bowl pick, but there's no denying the sum of those parts is — at the moment, anyway — the NFL's most dysfunctional family.

Favre even wondered aloud whether a return for one more season was the right call.

"Had I known it would be like this," he said after a 27-13 loss dropped the Vikings to 3-6 and all but knocked them out of playoff contention, "sure, it would have been easier to make a decision."

Favre is not the only member of the organization suffering from pillow talk in the Viking's organization.  Several others, including some players, leaked word to the Chicago Sun-Times earlier this week that Childress could count on little support and even less loyalty from the locker room going forward.

"We know Childress doesn't have our backs, so why should we have his?" one player said. "We're playing for us and we're winning despite him."

Childress said afterward he had no problem with either the team's or Favre's effort. But he wasn't handing out any praise, either.

 The coach signed a five-year contract extension after the team reached the NFC championship game last season. He did not sound concerned that the volume will likely be cranked up on calls for his firing. Childress planned to be coaching next week, he said evenly, "until I get any word differently."

Word may not come this week, but it appears it will be coming soon.