Vikings Get a Grip; Chiefs Losing Theirs

MINNEAPOLIS — Minutes after the Minnesota Vikings grabbed ahold of their own destiny Saturday, two angry Kansas City Chiefs had to be restrained from putting a chokehold on each other.

Defensive end Eric Hicks and defensive tackle Ryan Sims got into a yelling match in the showers of the visitors’ locker room after a 45-20 loss, and their expletive-laced skirmish was jolting enough that teammates had to rush in and break it up.

“You got something to say to me?” Hicks screamed. “Say it to my face!”

Reporters were herded out of the locker room and into the hallway to wait for players as they trickled out. Some of the veteran leaders, among them Vonnie Holliday and Tony Richardson, came out to explain the situation, dismissing it as nothing more than a little friction in the family.

“I’m not saying I’m glad that it happened, but things like that happen when you share a commitment,” Richardson said. “We’ve come too far in the last three years to let this thing fall apart.”

Things certainly have been falling apart in the last three weeks for the Chiefs (12-3), who got off to a 9-0 start and, as of now, are the No. 3-seeded team in the AFC playoffs, meaning they will play host to a first-round game if that doesn’t change. The Chiefs won’t move up in the seedings if Indianapolis wins its final two games, against Denver and at Houston.

The Vikings will be assured of the NFC North title if they win at Arizona next Sunday. But they could win the division within the next two days if they get victories by at least two of three teams today -- Detroit, Washington and Pittsburgh -- and a loss by Green Bay at Oakland on Monday.

“It was huge for us,” said Viking quarterback Daunte Culpepper, who threw two touchdown passes to Randy Moss to help build a 31-0 lead. “It was huge for our psyche. It was huge for our season.”

Kansas City’s defense, which two weeks earlier gave up 45 points in a loss to Denver, surrendered another 45 to the Vikings (9-6), who hadn’t lighted up the scoreboard that way in exactly five years, Dec. 20, 1998, when they crushed Jacksonville, 50-10.

That was the Minnesota team that set the NFL single-season scoring record with 556 points and served as a springboard for then-offensive coordinator Brian Billick, who was promptly hired as Baltimore’s coach.

Center Matt Birk is one of the few current Vikings who was on that 1998 team, and he said Saturday’s prolific performance brought back some old memories.

“It did,” he said. “Momentum’s a funny thing.... The momentum builds, and we feed off each other.”

They also fed off turnovers, just the way they did earlier this season when they surged to a 6-0 start.

Safety Brian Russell, who had interceptions in each of those first six games, had a huge day against the Chiefs.

After recovering a fumble at the Minnesota three to snuff out the Chiefs’ opening drive, he intercepted a pair of passes, tearing off returns of 50 and 16 yards.

It was a memorable day for rookie running back Onterrio Smith too. He ran for touchdowns of one, 11 and 10 yards, and finished with 146 yards in 21 carries. Minnesota compiled a season-high 223 yards on the ground.

That overshadowed a three-touchdown day by Kansas City’s Priest Holmes, who tied Emmitt Smith’s record of 25 rushing touchdowns in a season. Other than his three short scoring runs, though, it was a forgettable day for Holmes, who had 55 yards in 18 carries.

“They walked into a whipping today, boy!” defensive end Lance Johnstone yelled to no one in particular as he walked up the ramp to the Viking locker room.

Tempers flare easily between these teams, who scrimmaged against each other during training camp and squared off again during the exhibition season. The Vikings already had some pent-up frustration in the wake of last week’s 13-10 loss to Chicago. A bit of that edginess lingered in Coach Mike Tice’s postgame news conference, when he was sometimes snippy, sometimes sarcastic with reporters he thought were overly critical.

“After screwing it up in Chicago, we felt like we needed to make amends,” he said. “I’ve never seen so many guys throwing up on the field and on the sideline, and it’s a credit to the young men who went out and earned the victory today.”

A few wild-haired Vikings gave credit to something else: Head games. Several of the receivers who normally wear their hair in braids opted for a different look against the Chiefs and sported gigantic Afros. Moss’ was so big it spilled onto his shoulder pads when he was on the field, and looked like a giant mushroom when he pulled off his helmet. He didn’t speak to reporters after the game.

“This was a game that was going to be a war, a battle, so we wanted to go out and give a thuggish look and give thuggish play,” receiver Kelly Campbell said. “The Afros were to make a statement. Afros stands for ‘America’s Finest Receivers On Saturday.’ ”

Meanwhile, the Chiefs are trying to avoid a tangled mess. They are 1-3 in their last four road games and are sorely lacking for momentum as they head into the postseason.

“The fact of the matter is we’re going to have to go somewhere in a crazy environment like it was today and play well if we want to do the things we want to accomplish,” quarterback Trent Green said.

Otherwise, the craziest environment could be the locker room.