Wail mail: Readers reject my XLIII prediction and notes from vacation

Dr. Z's Mailbag Dr. Z will answer select user questions each week in his NFL mailbag. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

Usually I load up my first wailbag with a lot of self-serving stuff about the vacation, keyed on my return home from same. But this time the old letterbox was fairly bulging with so much stuff about my timid little prediction of the Vikings to win Supe XLIII, all sent to me in such a lighthearted spirit of good fellowship, that I simply had to address it now before I forget what these blokes had written.

• From Brandon of Stockton, Calif.: "Have you ever been right in these crazy predictions?"

No.

• From Joe of Abilene: "They actually pay you for your opinions?"

Yes they do.

(Joe. cont.): "I'm trying to think of the last time you got a Super Bowl pick right, Dr. Idiot!"

Packers-Raiders, Super Bowl II

• From A. Hambick of San Antone: "Hey, fatty, why don't you..." (remainder deleted by SI censor)

• From Tracy of Buffalo, Minn.: "You're crazy picking the Vikings."

I know.

(Tracy, cont.): "They're built all wrong for their home games. If they played them outside or in Chicago or Siberia they'd be tough to beat. Unfortunately they play in a bubble and because they're so good against the run, and bad against the pass, the other teams just throw at will against them and they don't try to run. Minnesota runs a special version of the Tampa 2 coverage where they only cover two receivers and leave the rest open. It doesn't work very well."

Wow, you ought to be a coach, Tracy. Three uncovered receivers on every five-man pattern? That could lead to all sorts of problems. I'm going to be sure to point it out to Coach Childress.

• From Bob of Hugo, Minn.: "If there were a way to send you tears of laughter in an email, this one would be soaked."

I think AOL offers that service.

• From Sully of Boston: "Who will the Vikes play in the SB?"

Patriots.

• Whoa, here's a guy trying to elbow his way through the angry mob. He's holding up a placard. It says "Z IS OK." What's your story, my good man?

Paul from Dallas: "I just want to applaud you for sticking your neck out there and picking the Vikings. They could follow the way of the Ravens the year they won it all with great defense, a strong running attack and a QB who doesn't lose it for them."

Wow, I'm touched. Thanks, and don't go out into the street again until that group thins out.

• From Brian of Seaford, L.I.: "If you give the Vikings a shot, then why not the Jets? The mold of the team is the same, with the same question marks. What is a reasonable Jets' '08 record?"

Can't say right now. I do the AFC East for the SI Football Preview, and I'd like to hold off on my prediction of their actual record until I've talked to Coach Mangini and watched some of his little people at practice. Oh, what the hell. Let's say 9-7.

• From Matt of Chicago: "Don't the Buffalo Bills fit all the criteria you have listed for the Vikings, and more?" He then goes on to draw parallels in every area, and yes, I see some similarities but I'm not ready to put Buffalo in Supe XLIII against Minnesota right now. I mean they ripped me to shreds for picking only one of those teams, can you imagine what they'd do to me if I set up that dream Super Bowl? Remember, the Flaming Redhead would like to see that same smiling, unbloodied face at breakfast in the morning.

• Larry of Maple Grove, Minn., disagrees with my evaluation of Bryant McKinnie as a forceful left tackle and sees many errors there. Three years ago I thought he was a stiff. Two years ago I thought he had really improved. Last year I thought he was regressing a bit. I felt the coaches had allowed him to fall back into bad habits. I asked Childress about him specifically. He said he's poised to have the year of his life, and mentioned a few indications of why he felt that way. I believe the coach.

• From Artie of Forest Hills: "I know you don't like Don Imus. How do you feel about the mess he's gotten himself into now?"

I feel Imus is not worth the waste of discussion time. What bothers me greatly is that airheads like this seem, by a sort of brashness and poolroom bravado, to command some measure of public influence. As Capt. Lingard said to the renegade, Willems, in Conrad's Outcast of the Islands, "You are my shame!" (Not you, Artie).