"It appeared to be a disaster in the making. The Vikings were trailing the god-awful Lions by seven points. Their offense had looked horrible. The fans were jeering. "You never want to have the fans turn on you," linebacker Chad Greenway noted. No, that's not good, especially if the fans are armed. And some of the cash customers Sunday appeared angry enough to fashion makeshift projectiles out of common, Metrodome objects — such as the smaller person sitting next to them. After the Lions took that 7-0 lead, the Vikings' offense again sputtered. Chris Kluwe came in and punted. And as Greenway ran down the field on special teams, he saw something wonderful. Lions return man Stefan Logan dropped the ball at his own 20. There wasn't anyone near him. He just muffed it. It was all very Lions-like. Greenway zoomed in. "On the punt team it's so hectic, I'm just trying to find the guy," Greenway said. "Then it's on the ground and, since you can't advance a muffed punt, my first thought was to fall on it." Which he did — kerplop. Suddenly, the sputtering offense has the ball 24 yards from pay dirt. On the next play, Brett Favre throws an electrifying touchdown pass to Percy Harvin. The score is tied and the crowd is much less hostile. In fact, the people put down their pitchforks, flaming torches and smaller neighbors and settled back in their seats. "We got rid of that," Greenway said of spectator dissatisfaction. "Now we've got the bye week to get healthy. We needed to go out and get a win today and at least get mentally healthy." When it comes to needing a victory for mental health, a game against the Lions is like a guaranteed dose of St. John's Wort. All it took for the Vikings to partake of the benefits was that play by Greenway. For the next three quarters, the Vikings' offense at least looked like it had a chance to score. The confidence boost from the Favre-to-Harvin pass could be felt throughout the building. "It was huge," defensive tackle Kevin Williams said. "It was nice to be able to give the offense a little jump start there." "Yeah, I would say that was a pretty good turnaround for us," linebacker Ben Leber said. "Chad makes a good play and puts us in position to score." " http://www.twincities.com/vikings/ci_16181026?nclick_check=1
