We here at the Daily Norseman would like to join the football community at large in giving our condolences to the Spielman family, as it was learned tonight that Stephanie Spielman has lost her battle with breast cancer at the age of 42.

Stephanie Spielman is the wife of Chris Spielman, who we all remember as a linebacker for the Detroit Lions from 1988 to 1995 after an outstanding career at Ohio State.  Chris Spielman is also the younger brother of Rick Spielman, who is currently the Vikings' Vice President of Player Personnel.

Stephanie is survived by Chris and their four children, Madison, Noah, Mason, and Audrey, as well as her mother and three sisters.

Again, our deepest condolences go out to the Spielman family in their time of need.

"Well, I'm sure somebody is responsible for the Vikings' improvement on special teams. . .I just don't know who. Could it beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. . .SATAN!?"

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Last season, many jokes were made on this site. . .and just about everywhere else. . .about the Minnesota Vikings' special teams, and with good reason.  In 25 years of watching football, I can never, ever recall a Vikings special teams unit performing as horribly as the 2008 version did.  Particularly egregious was the punt coverage unit, but as a whole the special teams were terrible in 2008, easily the worst in the NFL and, according to the good folks at Football Outsiders, the second-worst special teams unit of the DVOA era.  Then, in the opener this year against Cleveland, the Beloved Purple gave up another punt return TD to Joshua Cribbs, and it looked like we might be in for more of the same.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the rest of the season.

According to Football Outsiders, the Vikings now have the top-rated special teams unit in the National Football League.  That would make them the first ever worst-to-first unit of any kind in the DVOA era, and they're on track to totally destroy the mark for biggest single-season special teams DVOA improvement set by the 1998 Seattle Seahawks.

When trying to figure out how the Vikings' special teams got so much better from last season to this one, the first and easiest answer is, "Percy Harvin, duh!"  But when FO.com asked Kevin Seifert for a couple of other reasons, the ones he gave made a whole lot of sense.

New coordinator in Brian Murphy. He's put his own spin on the coverage and blocking schemes. They seem more sound.

They have several new special teams-only players, including Kenny Onatolu, who came from the CFL. He is always around the ball.

Two of their draftees, Jasper Brinkley and Jamarca Sanford, are very good special teams players.

Their special teams captain of two years ago, Heath Farwell, has come back after missing 2008 because of an ACL.

The Farwell return has been huge, as we all knew it would be.  But the drafting and free agent signings are very telling for this team as well.  In the 2009 Draft, after the first couple of picks went to necessities (wide receiver with Harvin and offensive tackle with Phil Loadholt), the Vikings appeared to be drafting and signing players explicitly for special teams, specifically for young, fast guys that know how to tackle.  That's how we get guys like Brinkley and Sanford, who have both been very good for us.  We also get guys like Karl Paymah (who, for all his shortcomings as a CB, has been a good corner) and Onatolu, and we add them to already solid special teamers like Eric Frampton and Husain Abdullah.  Young, fast, and athletic on special teams is always helpful.  This keeps Brad Childress from having to play too many starters on special teams and keep them more focused on doing their "real" jobs as well.

A huge pat on the back has to go to Brian Murphy, who had the unenviable task of turning around one of the biggest special teams disasters ever and has done an outstanding job so far.  Here's hoping that the Vikings can keep it up for another seven games.  Or eight.  Or nine.  Or, ideally, ten.

More photos » by Ross Franklin - AP

"Dear God, please forgive me for choosing location and money over success and achievement. But I beg of you, can we never wear the neon-snot green jerseys again? We're already 3-6, isn't that punishment enough?"

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Good morning class. Today's word is schadenfreude. Can you say "schadenfreude"? (SHAH-den-froy-duh). Good!

Wikipedia, the Web-based bastion of infallible truth, defines schadenfreude as "pleasure derived from the misfortune of others."

You better believe that I'm currently enjoying a heaping spoonful of our word of the day when it comes to one Touraj Houshmandzadeh, Jr., better known as Seahawks wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

My, how far we have come since early March. After Housh spent a couple of days toying with our emotions and eating free meals from our fanciest downtown steakhouses, he bolted for greener pastures. And by "greener", I mean this kind of green and this kind of green.

(Don't worry, I'll give you time to let your pupils readjust after seeing those neon-snot green monstrosities. You good? OK, let's continue.)

In the end, you can't blame a professional athlete for choosing a team that's offering more money and that's closer to home. But after it happened, Vikings fans were pretty bummed out about it. Take a look at my article and Gonzo's article--we were downright bitter and depressed. I even called T.J. a childish name (Housh-bag), which is totally out of character for me! (OK fine, so it isn't out of character. You got me.)

Now fast-forward to Week 11 of the 2009 NFL season. The Vikings are three games clear in the NFC North at 8-1. The Seahawks are three games behind the Arizona Cardinals at 3-6. Does all of this have to do with which team Houshmandzadeh joined? Of course not. But as Judd Zulgad intimated so well in his article earlier this week in the Star Tribune, Housh probably did the Vikings a favor by taking the money. If T.J. decided to set up shop in the Twin Cities, there's no way Minnesota drafts Percy Harvin, the overwhelming favorite to win Rookie of the Year honors. We probably would have taken someone like Michael Oher, who is doing just fine in Baltimore, but is he really doing much more than Phil Loadholt? Doubt it. I think Housh's decision set up the best possible draft for the Vikings, and it shows on the field this year.

When Houshandzadeh was with the Bengals, everyone assumed that he was he was the one good apple in a bushel of rotten ones. Popular opinion held that Housh just wanted to win, while teammates like Chad Ochocinco were more interested in jackassery. But after seeing Cincinnati flourish without him and T.J. already driving the waaahhhhhmbulance in Seattle, I'm not so sure.

But enough about Whosyourmomma--who's going to win on Sunday?

(More analysis and my Week 11 NFL picks after the jump.)

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For the past few years, fan voting has accounted for 1/3 of the balloting for the NFL Pro Bowl, and you can go to NFL.com in order to vote for your favorite players (read: Vikings) to play in this year's exhibition.  However, according to the folks at Viking Update, a lot of your fellow Vikings fans are way ahead of you on that front.

Right now, members of the Minnesota Vikings are leading at TEN DIFFERENT POSITIONS on the NFC's Pro Bowl ballot.  Ten, I say.  That's a lot.

As it stands now, Adrian Peterson is the #3 overall vote getter, and Brett Favre is (appropriately enough) the #4 overall vote getter.  Unfortunately, since Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints has the most overall votes, that means that Favre is only second among NFC quarterbacks.

Who are some of the other Vikings that are leading at their positions?  Well, let's take a look. . .

• John Sullivan is the leading vote getter at center
  
• Bryant McKinnie is the leader among offensive tackles (Phil Loadholt is fourth)
• Steve Hutchinson has more votes than any other guard
  
• Naufahu Tahi is the leader at fullback. . .and if you're currently drinking anything, I apologize for making it shoot out of your nose.  But that statement is true.
  
• Jared Allen is the pace setter among NFC defensive ends (almost twice as many as second place Julius Peppers)
  
• Pat Williams and Kevin Williams are the top two defensive tackles in the NFC
  
• Percy Harvin is leading all NFC kick returners in the voting thus far
  
• Ryan Longwell is the top NFC kicker thus far
  
• And Heath Farwell is the top in the NFC special teams category

Four Vikings hold down the #2 spot at their positions as well.  Those three are punter Chris Kluwe, cornerback Antoine Winfield, outside linebacker Chad Greenway, and guard Anthony Herrera.

Now, will all these Minnesota players make the Pro Bowl?  Certainly not.  Heck, hopefully we won't see any of them in the Pro Bowl this year.  After all, the NFL has changed the schedule so that the Pro Bowl will be played the weekend before the Super Bowl, not the weekend after as it has been for all these years.  Hopefully our guys will have more important things to worry about.

According to the good folks at SI.com, immediately after Minnesota's 27-10 victory over the Detroit Lions yesterday, Vikings' coach Brad Childress was on the phone with the NFL's VP of Officiating, Mike Periera.  Chilly was apparently livid over the helmet-to-helmet hit call against defensive end Ray Edwards that led directly to the lone Detroit touchdown of the afternoon, particularly considering that it didn't appear that Edwards hit Lions' quarterback Matthew Stafford's helmet at all.

And in response, Periera. . .agreed?

Edwards was flagged for unnecessary roughness after hurdling a cut block with a Superman-style leap to take down Stafford and force an incompletion on third down at the 13, leading to Detroit's only TD. Childress called NFL officiating VP Mike Pereira after the game to complain about that call, and he said Pereira agreed with him that it wasn't a penalty.

Well, yeah. . .after seeing the replay, it was pretty clear that it wasn't a penalty.  For starters, Edwards didn't "launch" himself at Stafford. . .he was leaping over an attempted cut block by a Detroit running back.  It didn't appear that Edwards had any sort of malicious intent towards Stafford on the play.  Secondly, it appeared that Edwards hit Stafford with his shoulder, not with his helmet.

I'm sure that Edwards will still get fined for this. . .but he shouldn't.  It was an outstanding play from a guy that had a monster game yesterday.  The Lions were bound and determined to not let Jared Allen beat them on Sunday, and to their credit, he didn't.  Ray Edwards, on the other hand, certainly beat them and helped administer a beating to Matthew Stafford and company that certainly left the rookie from Georgia a little sore this morning.

This wasn't quite the dominant performance some were expecting, but the Vikings nevertheless overcame some stumbles to avoid yet another dramatic finish -- and they came out of the bye week with a solid win.

What went wrong for the Vikings today? Simple: Unforced errors. Too many penalties (though some, most notably a roughing the passer call which ultimately gave the Lions seven points rather than three, were horrible calls), a turnover by Adrian Peterson as he sprinted his way toward the endzone (with Sidney Rice missing an opportunity to recover the fumble), too many dropped passes (I'm looking at you, Bernard Berrian), and a couple promising drives early on that failed to land any points for the Vikings.

But if the negative aspects of this game were mainly things the Vikings inflicted on themselves, that could almost be considered a positive. It gives Chilly something to bug his players about. It proves that this team still has progress to make, despite its 8-1 record and its commanding lead in the NFC North.

On the positive side, Sidney Rice was absolutely spectacular. His outstanding season continued today with seven receptions and 201 yards -- so he was responsible for well over half of Brett's 344 passing yards. The passing game headlined this one, though Adrian did land himself a spot on the highlight reel with an amazing 22-yard touchdown run in the first half that gave the Vikings a 10-0 edge. Still, his fumblitis remains an issue.

It's tough to say much more about this game -- the Vikings probably should have took control earlier than they did, but even during some of their first half stumbles, they never seemed to be legitimately in danger of losing the game (T-Jack even got in the act after a Favre-to-Dugan touchdown sealed the deal). Brett Favre continues to stretch the field while limiting his mistakes and avoiding turnovers. Kevin Smith posed some problems for the Vikings defense, but the D nevertheless played well enough to win. Only the various unforced errors and miscues ever put the result of this game in doubt -- and when the result of the game was in doubt, it wasn't in doubt for long. The Vikings controlled the game more than the score would indicate.

The missed opportunities in the first half to put the Lions away early, along with the penalties, give the Vikings something to build off of in future weeks. And indeed, this was hardly a perfect performance. But 27-10 looks the same in the standings as 45-0, and Sidney's brilliance easily overshadows any of the downers from this game.

More photos » by Andy King - AP

5 days ago: Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson runs against the Detroit Lions in the first quarter of their NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Andy King)

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After a first half where the Vikings dominated the stat sheet, they somehow only find themselves ahead 10-3 against that peskiest of pesky opponents, the Detroit Lions.  The Vikings' lone touchdown came on a ridiculous 22-yard touchdown run by the man pictured on the right there, Adrian Peterson.  Peterson has 12 carries for 100 yards in the first half, but has also been credited with two fumbles (one of which may not have been his fault).  That and the Vikings getting stuffed in the red zone on 4th and 6" by inexplicably handing the ball off to Jeff Dugan have played huge roles in contributing to the Vikings' lead only being 7 points.

Brett Favre is 11/16 for 197 yards in the first quarter of play.  Sidney Rice has caught six of those passes for 145 yards.

Join us here for the second half excitement, ladies and gentlemen!  Remember, our last game against Detroit was close at halftime, too, and the Beloved Purple wound up winning by 14 points.  Let's hope this one takes a similar tack.

More photos » by Jerry Holt - AP

18 days ago: Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre reacts after throwing for the Vikings' final touchdown in a 38-26 win over the Green Bay Packers in an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Star Tribune, Jerry Holt)

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I skipped this last week with the Vikings being on their bye and everything, but now we're back for more.  And I'm not sure about anything else, but the bye week gave me an opportunity to experience just how awesome the Red Zone Channel is.  Obviously, during most weeks I'm wholly and solely focused on the Vikings, but during the bye week the Red Zone channel was constantly moving me to different games all over the league.  Whether it was the Bears getting destroyed by the Arizona Cardinals, the Packers losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or any of the other action around the NFL during Week 9, the Red Zone Channel made sure that I didn't miss any of the best action around the NFL.  The action flows seamlessly, and you get to see all of the biggest plays from all the live action around the league.  The Red Zone Channel is your season ticket for every NFL game, and the only cable company that brings it to you is Comcast.

So how did the Vikings' red zone offense look in their last game against Green Bay?  Let's take a look.

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Jason LaCanfora of the NFL Network is reporting that CB Antoine Winfield will not play this weekend when the Vikings take on the Detroit Lions at the Metrodome.

Winfield suffered a foot injury back in Week 6 against the Baltimore Ravens, and is hoping to return for Minnesota's matchup against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 11.

Good move by the Vikings to keep #26 on the bench for this week, I think.  The extra week off will have given Winfield a full month to rest up, and it's obviously much better for him to be completely healthy than to risk a potential aggravation of the injury at a later date by rushing him back.

Hopefully, it will turn out that we didn't need him this weekend after all.

And a quick programming reminder. . .tonight marks the first Thursday night football game of the 2009 season, and it's something of a concern to us, as it features the Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers.  The game is being shown on the NFL Network, and if you don't have that on your cable package, you can follow along with the game on NFL.com as well.

Well, as we mentioned earlier, if everything bounces right for the Beloved Purple, they may have a chance to close out the NFC North division race in Week 12.  If that's the case, the National Football League has given anyone that wants to see it the opportunity to do so.

Pro Football Talk is reporting that the Week 12 matchup between the Bears and the Vikings that was scheduled for noon Central time on 29 November has been moved to 3:15 PM Central time instead.  Why?  Because, well, apparently Fox didn't have a 3:15 game scheduled that say.  They obviously came to the conclusion that the Bears have been woefully underexposed this season so far, and so decided to put the Bears/Vikings game into that featured afternoon slot.

So, if you had any plans for anything after about 3 PM Central on 29 November, you might want to move a few things around if you can.