MINNEAPOLIS -- Talk about two teams going in opposite directions.
When the trendy preseason Super Bowl pick (Minnesota Vikings) faces the projected NFC also-ran (Carolina Panthers) today, it will be the latter who is 2-0 and the former who is 0-2.
The Vikings are the team that lost a 15-0 lead at home against the Indianapolis Colts last week. The Panthers are the team that has two fourth-quarter comebacks, including one in which they trailed 24-19 at San Diego with two seconds left. The other victory came last week, when the Panthers overcame a 17-3 deficit and stopped Chicago on fourth-and-one with less than two minutes left.
"Certainly, everybody is excited [about the comeback wins] because you're starting off the season fast," Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme said. "I think it carries over."
The Vikings went 0-2 with their best player (Adrian Peterson) leading the NFL in rushing. The Panthers went 2-0 with their best player (Steve Smith) serving a two-game team-imposed suspension for punching out teammate Ken Lucas last month.
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Now, Peterson is battling a hamstring injury while Smith is fresh and more than eager to face a team he has torched before. As a rookie in 2001, Smith returned the season-opening kickoff for a touchdown at the Metrodome. In 2005 at Carolina, he caught 11 passes for 201 yards and a touchdown against the Vikings.
"It's funny," Smith said in his blog at www.athletesforyouth.org . "I came into the league against Minnesota and if this isn't devine [sic] intervention that my first game back is against Minnesota, I don't know what is."
Indications are Smith has been accepted back by his teammates. Even Lucas reportedly gave him a high-five upon his return this week.
"We just want Steve to be Steve," Delhomme said. "I don't know any other way to put it. That's all we want, for Steve to be Steve."
Meanwhile, the differences between the two teams continue. The Vikings benched their starting quarterback (Tarvaris Jackson) this week. The Panthers couldn't be happier with their starting quarterback (Jake Delhomme) as he heads into his third game since having Tommy John ligament replacement surgery on his right elbow.
Delhomme ranks 23rd in the NFL in passer rating (73.0) this season and is completing only 56.5 percent of his passes. But he's also the guy who threw the 14-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dante Rosario that beat the Chargers with no time on the clock in Week 1.
"I know that having your quarterback back helps," Panthers coach John Fox said. "Until this season, we haven't had our quarterback in 14 of our last 20 games. A year ago, we [started] four different quarterbacks and still managed to finish 7-9. Three of those quarterbacks [undrafted rookie Matt Moore, former No. 1 overall bust David Carr and 21-year NFL veteran Vinny Testaverde] weren't with us the year before, and two of them weren't even in camp with us."
Delhomme went 2-1 as a starter before injuring his elbow last season. Testaverde went 2-4, Carr 1-3 and Moore 2-1. The Panthers won three of their last five games of 2007, while the Vikings lost their last two.
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In seven NFL seasons as Panthers coach, Fox is 28-21 on the road, including 1-0 this year. In three seasons as Vikings coach, Brad Childress is 8-9 at home, including 0-1 this year.
"When you talk about Carolina, it's a team that really emulates its coach," Childress said. "I've coached against John in the NFC East when he was with the Giants. [The Panthers] are a tough, hard-nosed, physical football team."
Carolina returned to those roots in the first round of this year's draft. The Panthers picked Oregon running back Jonathan Stewart 13th overall and then made a trade with Philadelphia to pick right tackle Jeff Otah. Stewart is averaging 5.5 yards per carry and has two rushing touchdowns. Both of them came in the second half of last week's 20-17 victory over Chicago.
Meanwhile, about 1,200 miles to the north, a trendy Super Bowl pick was blowing a lead, losing confidence in its starting quarterback and putting its season at risk of a major letdown.
