Vikings have upper hand over Rams at quarterback position

~ Johnson has led Minnesota to five straight victories, while Fitzpatrick struggled in his last outing for St. Louis.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- The Minnesota Vikings have been waiting for this game for a long time.

When the beat-up St. Louis Rams (5-7) come to town Sunday, the Vikings (7-5) finally have a chance to show them that Minnesota has a rowdy dome of its own.

The Rams have won three straight against the Vikings, all in convincing fashion and all in St. Louis. They averaged almost 47 points a game and amassed 1,370 yards of total offense in regular-season victories in 2003 and 2000, and an NFC divisional playoff game in 1999.

"I'm excited to get them here, especially for [rookie tackle] Marcus Johnson," Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie said. "It's the best situation for him to be at home so he can hear the snap count, and they have such a great pass rusher coming off the edge."

This year, the Vikings would appear to have the edge, having won five in a row to bounce back from a disastrous start. The biggest reason may be their experience at quarterback.

Both teams have lost their starting quarterbacks, with Minnesota's Daunte Culpepper out for the season with a knee injury and St. Louis' Marc Bulger set to miss his third straight game with a bad shoulder.

The difference is the Vikings have been able to rely on veteran Brad Johnson to guide them through a difficult time while the Rams have placed their hopes in rookie Ryan Fitzpatrick, a seventh-round draft pick out of Harvard.

While Johnson and the Vikings seem to have rescued what once was a lost season, the Rams have lost three of their past four games and have watched their playoff hopes all but slip away.

"Nothing against the rookie, but they miss their quarterback a lot," Vikings coach Mike Tice said. "He is a hell of a trigger man. That is the biggest difference I see is they miss their quarterback."

After a sparkling debut in which he threw for 310 yards in three quarters of a comeback victory over the Houston Texans, Fitzpatrick was brought back down last week by the Washington Redskins.

He was 21-of-36 for 163 yards and a touchdown rushing. He was sacked three times and hurried countless others in a 24-9 loss.

"I know I'm going to get in there and make some mistakes, but you've got to move on," Fitzpatrick said. "The biggest thing was just missing some throws, throws that I know I can make. It just kind of sailed on a couple of balls."

The shaky performance did little to temper the Rams' enthusiasm for the youngster. Interim coach Joe Vitt said St. Louis didn't do enough to support him. Steven Jackson rushed for just 24 yards on 11 carries and the Rams had nearly four times as many pass plays as runs.

"I think you've got a kid that is mature beyond his years," Vitt said. "The game is not too big for him. He's athletic, accurate on the run, extremely smart. He's got good command of the system and the huddle."

Fitzpatrick should expect a similar approach from the Vikings' defense.

"They took away the run and made the quarterback beat them and the quarterback didn't beat them," Tice said.

Their priority on offense, as McKinnie hinted at earlier, is to stop Rams defensive end Leonard Little, who had a career-high four sacks in their 2003 victory over the Vikings.

"We won't let Leonard Little take over the game," Tice vowed. "That will not happen."

With the playoffs all but out of the question, the Rams appear to be looking down the road.

The Vikings, thanks to steady play from Johnson and a much-improved defense, are very much in the playoff hunt. They are a game behind Tampa Bay (8-4) for the wild card, with Dallas and Atlanta also at 7-5. The Vikings are two games behind Chicago (9-3) in the NFC North.

Johnson, 37, has provided a calming influence, limiting the mistakes on offense while hitting the occasional big play.

"He's been in the league 14 years, so he knows what he's talking about," Robinson said. "I also like his calm and his poise. If something goes wrong, he doesn't get all irate. He's just smooth."

That, combined with a defense that is giving up 16 points per game during their winning streak, has made a 2-5 start a distant memory.