And all was well in Vikingland.

It's funny how quickly the story of a team can change from week to week in the NFL, isn't it?  Last Sunday, after the Vikings not only got their butts kicked by the Cardinals in Arizona but also came up short against one of the few playoff-caliber teams they faced all season, they were 10-2 with a potentially tricky schedule the rest of the way, and in some danger of losing out on a first round bye if they didn't step it up.

But now, only a week later, after a powerful and decisive 30-10 win over an excellent first-place Bengals team in Minnesota, the Vikings have clinched a playoff spot and just are one win (or one Packers loss) away from their second straight NFC North title, they have a two-game lead with three to play for that first round playoff bye, and they should by all rights have put to bed any of this "but who have they beaten?" nonsense by improving their record against almost certain playoff teams to 3-1 (with that one loss coming on the road at the hands of the defending NFC champions).

Also, those of us who kept repeating to ourselves "Don't worry; once Antoine Winfield comes back we'll be fine" like some sort of desperate mantra as we watched teams move the ball up and down the field against the Vikings with distressing ease were proven right to some degree on Sunday.  If not for a nine-yard garbage time completion by Bengals backup QB J.T. O'Sullivan, Winfield -- back in the lineup after missing six games with a foot injury --  and the Vikings would have held the Bengals to under 100 yards passing.  The Vikings started rookies at linebacker (Jasper Brinkley) and safety (Jamarca Sanford) but appeared none the worse for wear on defense in a game that looked, at least for a little while, like the defense might have to win it for them (the 16-7 halftime lead could easily have been 13-7, 13-10 or even a 14-13 deficit if the Bengals hadn't fumbled the ball away right before halftime, allowing the Vikings a cheap field goal to pad their lead).

The offense came through in the second half, though, and it was very encouraging to see the Vikings score 30 points -- and rush for 142 yards as a team -- against one of the top-ranked defenses in the NFL. Even without rookie threat Percy Harvin, the Vikings controlled the ball well when they needed to, chewing up almost half of the fourth quarter on an 11-play, 67-yard, game-icing touchdown drive on which Brett Favre was 4-for-4 with 42 yards.  Favre had only a so-so day (17-30, 192 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 87.1 rating), but he avoided big mistakes for the most part, played more of a "game manager" role, and then just handed the ball off to Adrian Peterson a bunch of times (remember back at the beginning of the season, when that was going to be the whole plan?  Well, turns out it works!).

All in all, as far as bounce-back games go, this was exactly the performance that Viking fans wanted, and I suspect it was exactly the performance that the Vikings needed.

-- JOE MULDER