Hey, it's one of those early-season "must-win" games! The 1-3 Vikings travel to New Orleans to face the 2-2 Saints. A lot of people had both teams as preseason favorites to make deep playoff runs, and as it stands, only the Lions stand between the Vikes and last place in the NFC North, and the Saints are in the NFC South basement looking up at ... wait, the Falcons? For real?

Whatever, we'll be live-bloggin' it up tonight, Fun starts at 8:15-ish.

The Bears should be 4-0. You could go back and change like two plays to make that happen. Of course, the mark of truly great teams is actually winning those games and not having to say something like I just did. Great teams take care of business and leave the word "if" out in the cold.

Here's the thing, though, in the NFC North this year, you aren't going to have to be a great team to win it.

The Vikings have plenty of issues, none of which relate to Adrian Peterson when healthy, obviously, but they have struggled out of the gate.

The Lions just suck. Again. Shocking, I know.

The Packers are better than the Bears, but not by a ton ... and Aaron Rodgers (don't you dare ever call him, "ARod" please) is hurt. Sure, he might play through it or only miss a game or two, but his injury really hurt the chances of the Packers to fulfill their potential. They have other injury problems as well. Brett Favre is not walking through that door!

Then you have the Bears. A team that won in Indy, and took down the mighty Eagles at home. Yes, the Eagles were without Brian Westbrook, but their defense -- the same one that people couldn't quit talking about before the game -- did yield 24 points to Kyle Orton.

Every week I take a look at the line play in one NFL game. Check back every week for a new Between The Lines.

When the Vikings faced the Titans it was a match-up of two of the best young running backs in the game: Adrian Peterson and Chris Johnson. As you would expect, that got plenty of publicity.

But if you were looking for the best matchup of the week, it was the Clash of the Titans when defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth lined up head-up against guard Steve Hutchinson. There may not be a better one-on-one line battle all year, as Haynesworth is arguably the best defensive tackle in the game, while Hutchinson has been considered the best guard in the league (with apologies to Eric Steinbach and Alan Faneca) for several years.

In a year where Tom Brady's done, the Colts are beat up and the Chargers are coming from behind to beat the Raiders, is it crazy to propose that the 4-0 Titans may be the best team in the AFC?

It may be a little early to put that spotlight on them, but they do have one of the league's most dominating defenses, a clock-controlling running game, and, thanks to Kerry Collins, a servicable running game. And as the Vikings saw on Sunday, that's a pretty deadly combo.

Albert Haynesworth created havoc in the middle of the line, like he always does. Haynesworth's six tackles helped hold Adrian Peterson to 80 yards (and seven of Peterson's 18 carries went for no gain or a loss of yardage). Haynesworth's two sacks, and Tony Brown's 1.5 sacks helped ensure that Gus Frerotte never felt fully comfortable in the pocket, and the Titans offensive line kept the Vikings' dominating defensive line from recording any sacks.

One team may be 3-0 and the other is 1-2, but there are more similarities to the Titans and Vikings than you might think.

The Titans are a run-oriented team with an outstanding defensive line which is now relying on its backup quarterback to lead what had been a struggling passing game. The Vikings are a run-oriented team with an outstanding defensive line which is now relying on its backup quarterback to lead what had been a struggling passing game. The Titans average only 158 yards per game through the air--the Vikings also average 158 yards per game passing.

So it's safe to say that today we'll see two similar teams facing off. And while neither of these two teams wants to depend on their quarterbacks to win the game, the strength of the two run defenses might force Kerry Collins and Gus Frerotte to play a larger role than normal.

It was kind of shocking when Brad Childress announced early this week that Gus Frerotte was replacing Tarvaris Jackson as the Vikings' starting quarterback. The surprise wasn't that Frerotte would start ahead of Jackson--he's a better quarterback at this point, but the shocker was that Childress would admit he had made a mistake by sticking with Jackson all these years.

But today we saw why he made the decision. Adrian Peterson played, but he doesn't seem to have the same explosiveness he usually has which explains why his longest run was only 14 yards. And with a human Adrian Peterson, it's hard to imagine just how bad the Vikings' offense would be with Jackson under center. When Jackson was at quarterback, the entire Vikings offense was based off of handing the ball to Peterson. Even when Jackson was asked to throw, it was usually on roll outs that fed off of defenses' tendencies to bring a safety up to stop the run.

Despite a hamstring injury that made him a game-time decision, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson will play against the Carolina Panthers today.

Peterson is the NFL's leading rusher and, really, the only offensive weapon Minnesota has had this season. With the Vikings replacing Tarvaris Jackson with Gus Frerotte, the Vikings need all the help they can give him.

After pre-game warmups, ESPN reported that Peterson would play:

Peterson said all along that he expected to play, but he did not practice on Thursday and was limited on Friday, which raised doubts about his status.

Receiver Sidney Rice (knee) was inactive for the Vikings, replaced in the starting lineup by Bobby Wade. Fullback Thomas Tapeh also was put on the shelf, replaced on the active roster and in the starting lineup by Naufahu Tahi.

This is also huge for fantasy football enthusiasts. Not having Peterson would severly damage his owners from winning their games today.

The Vikings best player, Adrian Peterson, practiced yesterday just a day after sitting out due to a sore hamstring. As of now, he is a game time decision for the game against the Panthers on Sunday.

Coach Brad Childress said he would wait until shortly before the game against Carolina to decide whether Peterson, who leads the NFL with 263 yards rushing, will participate. He'll be treating the muscle extensively the next two days.

If Peterson can't go, Chester Taylor -- a 1,200-yard rusher in 2006 -- will take his place in the backfield. Either way, Taylor could assume a larger role against the Panthers. He has been returning kickoffs, too, and is sixth in the league with an average of 28.5 yards.

Peterson is officially listed as Questionable on the team's injury report. Through the first two weeks of the season, he has been the NFL's leading rusher. With Minnesota at 0-2, a missing Peterson may be too difficult to overcome no matter who the QB is.

Do ya think Childress is panicking now?

Gus Frerotte was facing a tough job on Sunday--come in as the new quarterback and spark an offense that is a big reason the Vikings are 0-2.

But it could end up being a whole lot worse. Adrian Peterson missed practice on Thursday with a hamstring injury, while wide receiver Sidney Rice hasn't practiced all week because of a knee injury, and fellow wideouts Bernard Berrian and Aundrae Allison have been limited by injuries.

So Frerotte may be asked to beat the Panthers with a backup tailback (although a good one in Chester Taylor), a very limited receiver corps and a backup left tackle. If the Vikings were trying to make things tough for him, it's hard to think of any more ways to up the degree of difficulty.

Peterson's hamstring apparently tightened up late in the Colts game. It still seems pretty likely he'll play this week, but if the hamstring injury lingers, Brad Childress' path to a firing will just get a little bit clearer. And it would also leave fantasy football owners unexpectedly buried in the standings.

Almost every Vikings fan is probably saying "finally" upon hearing that Tarvaris Jackson has been benched. But it's fair to ask why head coach Brad Childress is all of a sudden changing his tune after spending the last year and a half vowing that Jackson was a starting caliber quarterback.

Yeah, I know. Don't complain, just be happy that Childress has finally come to his senses. But what's crazy is that as bad as Jackson has been this year, he's been no worse than he was for most of last year, and he's actually been better than he was at many points last year.

It's hard not to see this as a panic move. Childress knows his job is on the line, so he finally makes the move that everyone else has been waiting to see for over a year. To watch Jackson face the Cowboys last year was to see one of the worst quarterback performances you'll ever see--the Vikings finished that game with three passing first downs. And that game was better than his four interception performance against the Lions, and his three interception, one fumble game against the Bears.