MVN: Most Valuable Network

The soap opera takes a turn:

A Minnesota judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the NFL's suspension of Vikings stars Kevin and Pat Williams for violating the league's anti-doping policy, but the players' status for Sunday's game at Detroit remained uncertain.

Hennepin County District Judge Gary Larson issued the temporary restraining order at the players' request, saying he wanted more time to hear arguments in the case. No further hearing date immediately was set.

"This is one of the more difficult cases I've had in 23 years," Larson said before signing the order. "If I make a mistake, I've got to decide on a temporary basis which side I'm able to make the mistake on."

Larson said he would make himself available to reconsider the issue "as quickly as you'd like me to hear it." He also said he expected lawyers for the NFL, who participated in the hearing by phone, would take the issue to federal court in Minneapolis to get the suspensions reinstated.

Well, so far so good for the Williamses, though this is a small first step in their plans to take the matter through the legal system.  But this latest development raises a significant question: What if these legal proceedings delay the suspensions just long enough for them to miss time in the playoffs?  In the grand scheme of things, these final four weeks are a relatively good time for Pat and Kevin to serve their suspensions -- could taking the matter to the courts turn out to be more negative than positive for the Vikings?

I just hope these two have a case.  We'll see what happens next.

The latest:Lawyers for Minnesota Vikings defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams are in Hennepin County District Court this afternoon arguing for a temporary restraining order so they can continue playing.Legal action was expected because the Williamses, and four other players who were suspended Tuesday, claim the league did not inform them that a banned-product known as bumetanide were in pills known as StarCaps.They are appearing  before Hennepin County District Court Judge Gary Larson.So the man pictured below just became a key factor in the NFC North race and the Vikings' playoff chances -- hope Gary's a Vikings fan!... Read more

Straight from the NFL itself: The NFL announced Tuesday the suspension without pay for four games of six players -- Charles Grant, New Orleans, Deuce McAllister, New Orleans, Bryan Pittman, Houston Will Smith, New Orleans, Kevin Williams, Minnesota and Pat Williams, Minnesota -- that violated the NFL Policy on Anabolic Steroids and Related Substances. The players specifically violated a longstanding provision of the policy relating to the use of diuretics and water pills, which serve as masking agents for steroids and are potentially dangerous to the health of players.I'm not a lawyer, so I'm admittedly fuzzy on the idea of... Read more

In Sunday's game recap, I said that I consider the Detroit Lions to be so awful, next week's game doesn't even seem like a trap game to me.  But the more I thought about it, the more perfect the script seems to be: The Detroit Lions getting their first win of the season against the first-place team in the NFC North, with Daunte Culpepper orchestrating the stunning upset over his former team.  Indeed, Darren Sharper expressed those concerns:Safety Darren Sharper knows the concern of playing a team that has absolutely nothing to lose -- no matter how bad they might... Read more

The Vikings have been a target of relentless criticism that began after week one of the season and has continued ever since.  But at some point, the pause button needs to be pushed on that criticism, and you've gotta hand it to these guys.  This team had a definite "deer in the headlights" look in the first quarter -- Frerotte was playing as terrible as ever, and the Bears jumped out to an early lead after a stunning 65-yard touchdown reception by Devin Hester.  However, the tide would drastically turn after Gus was crushed to the turf by a blatant... Read more

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*Live blog alert -- I'll be live blogging tomorrow night's game right here!*The last time the Vikings and Bears met, we were treated to one of the more bizarre games of the season for the Vikes.  It was a gaffe-fest that consisted of a punt bouncing off the elbow of Charles Gordon, with Chicago recovering the ball in the endzone for a touchdown; a blocked Kluwe punt returned for a touchdown, in which Chis Warcraft dropped a perfect snap, picked the ball up, and attempted a desperate kick rather than covering the ball and going down; and, of course, four... Read more

With five weeks remaining in the NFL regular season, the Minnesota Vikings (6-5), Chicago Bears (6-5), and Green Bay Packers (5-6), are all still jockeying for position to be crowned the title, "NFC North Champion." The three teams - all of whom have shared at least a portion of the division lead at some point this season - are reminiscent of the 1970's game show, "To Tell the Truth". In that show, three contestants claim to be the actual person carrying the same name, while actually only one of them is actually that person. At the end of the show, after all three have been examined... Read more

Jim Souhan isn't breaking any new ground in this column about the disastrous quarterback situation for the Vikings, but he's pretty much stating what every Viking fan is thinking:If the Vikings had ever pursued a playoff-caliber quarterback with same zeal with which they pursued Jared Allen, Bernard Berrian and Brad Childress himself, this team would be debating whether to rest its starters for the playoffs. Instead, Childress is saddled with this choice: Faltering Frerotte and Inaction Jackson.Problems always start at the top. Vikings owner Zygi Wilf has invested lots of emotion and cash in the team, but he never hired... Read more

Two notes to discuss today -- first up, we got word of the reason for Adrian Peterson's absence during the opening two drives of Sunday's game.  I speculated that it was punishment for AD barking at the coaching staff on the sidelines over the past couple weeks or it was just another example of Chilly's quirkiness, but as it turns out, AD was tardy for a team meeting last Saturday:Vikings coach Brad Childress benched Adrian Peterson for the first two series of Sunday's 30-12 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars because the star running back was late to a team meeting... Read more

For the third straight week, Gus Frerotte stumbled his way through four quarters of football -- but despite the lack of production from the quarterback position, and a number of other issues, the Vikings still managed to win in convincing fashion on the road in Jacksonville.And it was certainly a bizarre one -- whenever a Nap Harris touchdown on the first offensive play of the game for the Jaguars is followed by a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and another quick touchdown for the Vikings, you know it's going to be a strange day.  From missed field goals for the... Read more