Childress saves his job . . . until the next time

Yesterday's win was welcome, but by no means a guarantee that Brad Childress has saved his job as head coach for the long term. New starting quarterback Gus Frerotte played well enough, and the defence was again very tough to run against, but overall the team didn't show signs of greatness. Antoine Winfield was the hero of the game for the hat trick of a sack, a forced fumble, and a touchdown. Adrian Peterson was used less than usual, as he was suffering from a hamstring injury (in my opinion, he shouldn't have played at all this week . . . the risk of aggravating the injury was greater than the potential benefit of having him on the field).

Chip Scoggins says that Winfield's dramatic play was something new in the playbook:

– Obviously Antoine Winfield's sack-strip-touchdown on Jake Delhomme was the biggest play of the game. Everyone in both locker rooms said that play at the end of the first half dramatically changed momentum, especially since the Vikings got the ball to start the second half and scored a TD.

– Winfield said the Vikings had never showed that look before. They were in nickel but he was on the outside instead of in the slot. He said he's never come on a blitz from the outside in nickel. Carolina had no idea it was coming and didn't pick it up.

– The Vikings had good balance run-pass and also got Chester Taylor more involved because of Adrian Peterson's sore hamstring. Peterson had 17 carries for 77 yards, while Taylor has 11 carries for 44 yards.

– Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell threw in several new wrinkles. He used Peterson and Taylor in the same backfield twice. And he also used a four wide receiver set with tight ends Visanthe Shiancoe and Garrett Mills split out wide.

It should probably be pointed out again that two plays made the difference between the Vikings having a 3-0 record and their actual 1-2 current record: Shiancoe dropping a touchdown pass against the Colts, and two kick-cover guys getting in one another's way on Green Bay's touchdown return. (That is, neither of those plays were the fault of Tarvaris Jackson, even though he's the one who took the demotion for the team's lack of performance.)

The other game of note yesterday was the totally unexpected demolition of New England by the Miami Dolphins:

Fans booed the Patriots. Many left early. The record winning streak of their favorite team was ending with a stunning domination by the lowly Dolphins.

Ronnie Brown scored a team-record four touchdowns rushing and threw for another — with four of the scores coming on direct snaps to the running back — as Miami shocked New England 38-13 Sunday.

"It's brutal, man, brutal," Patriots defensive end Ty Warren said.

The loss ended the Patriots' NFL mark of 21 straight regular-season wins that began after a 21-0 loss to the Dolphins on Dec. 10, 2006, in which Tom Brady, now sidelined for the season with a knee injury, was sacked four times. It also ended New England's chance for a second straight unbeaten regular season.

The Dolphins, who lost their first 13 games last year and finished 1-15, won for just the second time in 22 games. It was the first victory for new coach Tony Sparano, and it was a stunner.

It was such a convincing upset that it makes the whole AFC East look to be an entertaining show all the way through the regular season, instead of another stately coronation march for the Patriots.