Vikings Quarterback Remains Question Mark
Staff Report November 6, 2001

The Titans at 5-6 can get to .500 for the first time all year with a win Sunday at the Metrodome against the 4-7 Minnesota Vikings.

The Vikings have played well at home going 4-2 this season, but have lost their last two overall, and quarterback Daunte Culpepper is listed as questionable for the game due to a bad knee he injured in the Vikings last home game, a loss to Chicago.

However, Vikings Coach Dennis Green seems optimistic about Culpepper’s chances to play.

“Right now Daunte’s knee is better than it was this time last week,' Green said. 'We are just going to have to see how he is closer to game time.”

If Culpepper cannot go, Todd Bouman will start in his place. Bouman replaced Culpepper in the fourth quarter loss to the Steelers last week and threw for 200 yards and two touchdowns.

The task that faces the Titans is not only containing the Vikings’ high powered passing attack, but going to the Twin Cities and playing in the Metrodome, a stadium that is considered by many to be one of the loudest in the NFL.

“I think that everywhere in the league is loud,' Green said. 'No matter where you go the fans are going to be noisy and it is just hard to play on the road.”

Regardless of the noise factor, this game presents a big opportunity for the Titans, who have not faced the Vikes since 1998, a 26-16 loss to Minnesota when Tennessee played at Vanderbilt and were still the Oilers. A win would put the Titans’ at 6-6 and back into the thick of things in the AFC Wild Card race.

One underlying theme this week is Jevon Kearse and his sack attack. Kearse needs only one sack the rest of the year to become only the third player in NFL history to record double-digit sack totals in his first three years (Reggie White and Derrick Thomas). With Culpepper ailing and his backup Todd Bouman not considered a “mobile” quarterback, Kearse’s chances for the record seem very high.