Congratulations, National Football League.  You had an opportunity to admit that you screwed up and do the right thing, and you chose to blame somebody else for your own ineptitude.  Or, to put it more accurately, six somebodies.

Yes, after they ingested a supplement that the National Football League knew contained a banned substance, and after the National Football League failed to disclose this fact to their players, the National Football League has suspended six players for violating the league's performance enhancing drug policy.  Six players who have never in their lives ever taken a performance enhancing drug.

Ever.

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Hey, I can almost see Bernard Berrian from here!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, almost 24 hours after what happened last night at the Metrodome, the feeling is still pretty awesome.  One of the more dominant games of the Brad Childress era, one of the greatest single plays in Vikings' history, and an all-around outstanding performance from the Minnesota Vikings has placed them alone atop the NFC North. . .for now.

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Breaking news story coming out of Chicago this evening. . .the Chicago Bears are no longer owned by the McCaskey family.  It turns out that the Chicago Bears are now owned by Adrian Peterson.

And to all the Bear fans that laughed and scoffed when the Vikings signed Bernard Berrian this off-season. . .go see how hard Charles Tillman is laughing right now.  That overrated schlub still has no idea where on earth Berrian went to.  If Tillman wants to find him, he can start by watching highlights of the 11th 99-yard play in National Football League history.  He may or may not actually appear in the frame, I'm not sure.

What a great Sunday of football. . .from the Packers urinating all over themselves during the early games to the Vikings dealing a division rival a Grade A butt-whomping this evening, it's a good day to be a fan of the Beloved Purple.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Minnesota Vikings are in first place in the NFC North.  Will it last for four more weeks?  Heck, I don't know. . .but I do know that it feels pretty damn good right now.

And, since I'm pretty positive that we set a site record for comments this evening, let me bust out the "roll" call for who participated in the thread and how many comments they had.  This is the first time I've had to break this out, and it's actually kind of cool to see.  Naturally, I had the most comments, but a lot of folks did a lot of contributing as well.  Here's the full tally as of about 30 seconds ago:

Great job tonight, everybody!  There will be more about tonight's victory over the next day or two.

CHICAGO BEARS (6-5)	GAME #12	MINNESOTA VIKINGS (6-5)
	@

Not a lot to be said here, ladies and gentlemen.  We can't let Orton get comfortable back there like he did against us the first time.  He's not 100% back from his ankle injury, and the Williams brothers and Jared Allen need to spend some time getting reacquainted with their pal Kyle.

With the Packers urinating one down their collective legs this afternoon against Carolina (to officially go 0-4 against the NFC South, for what that's worth), the winner of this one should, in theory, have the smoothest sailing to the NFC North crown.  Our guys need to go out and get this job done.

We're 407 miles from Chicago, we've got a full bottle of Mountain Dew, half a roasted chicken, it's dark. . .and we're playing indoors.  Hit it!

SKOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL VIKINGS!!!!

Well, since we have to. . .in the words of Faith Hill. . .wait all day for Sunday night, here's a thread for those of you that feel compelled to stop by and discuss the early football games.

The only game of real consequence to us among the early set is between the Carolina Panthers and the Green Bay Packers up at Lambeau Field.  A loss for the Packers would really put them behind the 8-ball, since it would drop them to 5-7 and two games behind whoever wins the big matchup this evening.  Not to say that they couldn't get themselves back into it, but it would be very tough for them to do so.  The Packers struggle against great rushing attacks, and few rushing attacks are better than Carolina's (well. . .except when they play the Vikings, natch).  It's a very losable game for the Packers, particularly coming off of a short week where they got blown out on national television, and here's hoping that they can do just that.

So, if you want to talk about the early games, please do so here.  The actual game thread for tonight's clash will go up between 4:00 and 5:00 PM Central time.  And don't forget to take advantage of the new SBNation NFL Hub for all of your Sunday football needs!

The biggest game of the year in the NFC North kicks off in about. . .oh. . .a little less than 33 hours according to the countdown clock, and the official injury reports are now available, so let's take a look at what they tell us.  We'll start with the Bears because they're our guests, and we're polite like that.

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Well, things have certainly gotten quite interesting since the last time yours truly updated everyone on the status of the Daily Norseman Fantasy Football League.  There are two weeks remaining before the playoffs start, and only one team has assured themselves of a post-season spot to this point.  Let's take a look at things, shall we?

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The NFL recently announced its 25 semi-finalists for the Hall of Fame voting that will take place over Super Bowl weekend.  Four members of the Minnesota Vikings made the cut, and not surprisingly, they all have very strong cases as to why they should be considered for enshrinement in Canton.

The first one is Cris Carter. . .who, as we all know, should have gone into the Hall of Fame last season on the first ballot, considering that he is the greatest non-Jerry Rice receiver of all time.  I don't really need to make the case for Carter, because we all know that it's a joke that he isn't already in.  But, I'll just remind everyone again that when he retired, he was the NFL's all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns for all NFL wide receivers not named Jerry Rice.  Have I mentioned that him not getting into the Hall last year is a complete travesty?  Because it is.

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Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of year again.  That time of year where we get together with friends and family, gather around the table, and eat obscene amounts of food, followed by an afternoon (and evening) of football or whatever else is on television.  In my case, I'll be changing things up a little bit by taking my wife (who is Australian) and her friend (who is also Australian) to the movies this evening to see the movie called. . .wait for it. . .Australia.  It actually looks like a pretty interesting movie, so that should be a good time.

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Props to VikesFaninNC from the Purple Pride forums for tipping everyone off to the following:

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