SHUTDOWN CORNER wonders just that.

When I watched the game on Sunday I initially thought the kick went wide, but I think that had less to do with the position of the ball than it did with the fact that the angle we see for field goals provides no sense of depth and is frequently hard to judge. I’m always thinking successful kicks have failed and vice-versa. Re-watching it today and I could still go either way.

In the picture it looks like the ball disappears for a second, which would mean it flew in front of the goal post and was no good. But in the other angles it looks like it goes over the goalpost. I could be convinced either way.

It is strange that this story hasn’t received more attention this week.

Thanks to Brett Favre and their 4-0 start, the Minnesota Vikings are one of the most talked about teams in the NFL right now. One of the players off to a solid start is receiver Bernard Berrian, who has 16 receptions for 177 yards and one touchdown on the year. Bernard was gracious enough to chat with us about the Vikings’ big win over the Packers on Monday night, a game in which he hauled in six passes for 75 yards and a 31-yard touchdown. Among some of the topics we asked Bernard were what it’s like being in the same huddle with a legend, whether there was any truth to the rumor that there was a divide in the Vikings’ locker room following the signing of Favre, and who is the toughest cornerback he’s ever faced.

The Scores Report: Hey Bernard, how are you man?

Bernard Barrian: I’m fine, how you doing?

TSR: Good. Congratulations on the win Monday night.

BB: Thanks, appreciate it.

TSR: I felt that your touchdown in the third quarter gave you guys the momentum the rest of the way.

BB: Oh yeah I think it definitely did, or put us in position at least.

TSR: No knock on any of the other quarterbacks you’ve played with throughout your career, but you’re playing with a legend now. What’s it like being in the same huddle with Brett Favre?

BB: It’s fun really. He brings a lot of fun to the game. When you see highlights, you see emotion pouring out through different players on the field.

TSR: Who put the rocking chair in front of his locker after the win?

BB: I still haven’t found out who did that – I have no idea. But it was hilarious when I saw it sitting there. (Laughs)

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Through all the offseason hoopla, the fickleness and the nauseating coverage of his every move, Brett Favre reminded people on Monday night why he’s a legend.

Favre completed 24 of 31 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns in the Vikings’ 30-23 win over the Packers in game that lived up to the hype. On a night where Green Bay did an excellent job containing Adrian Peterson (25 carries, 55 yards, 1 TD), Favre stepped up and delivered one of those games where you couldn’t help but shake your head in amazement about a guy his age making the plays he does.

One of the biggest questions coming into this season was whether or not Favre could step up and make enough plays in the passing game when an opponent shut down Peterson. Tonight, Brett answered that question.

Every time Minnesota faced a third and long, Favre stepped up and made a play. Granted, he faced zero pressure from Green Bay, but that shouldn’t take away from some of the bullets that he was firing into his receivers’ hands. The guy is about to turn 40 in five days and he’s still playing like he’s 25.

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If there’s one thing that continues to ring true time and time again is that winning is a cure-all in sports.

Take Brandon Marshall and the Denver Broncos for example.

Just over a month ago, Marshall was suspended for acting like a child during a training camp practice in which he punted balls instead of handing them to a ball boy, swatted down passes instead of catching them, and was an overall distraction to his teammates.

Fast forward to the scene following the Broncos’ exciting 17-10 win over the Cowboys on Sunday in which Marshall walked up to the podium during Josh McDaniels’ post game speech and embraced the first-year head coach and you wonder what the hell is going on in Denver.

“You never heard me say anything about him coaching or what he brings to the organization,” Marshall said.

“Our team loves him, we love him and I think he loves being part of this team,” added McDaniels.

Well, aren’t we the Brady Bunch all of a sudden.

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Following their 27-21 loss to the Patriots in Foxboro on Sunday, several Ravens players ripped the officiating, particularly two roughing the passer calls on Tom Brady.

“Without totally going off the wall here, it is embarrassing to the game,” linebacker Ray Lewis said. “[Tom] Brady is good enough to make his own plays, let him make the play. When you have two great teams that are going at it, let them go at it. Both of their touchdown drives had personal fouls that kept drives alive. Did that win or lose the game? No, but it got them 14 points.”

Asked his biggest gripe, Reed said: “It just felt like everything was kind of all over again. You hate to come into a game where you have to play against a team and the officials. Like I said, nothing to take away from their team, nothing to take away from the officials. We have to help each other out in a way to where it’s near as perfect as we can be. Like I said, it’s a game of inches. We have too much going on with this game, from where it’s come to in 2009, 2010, to say we can’t be a little bit more precise with things.”

Reed was specifically referring to Willis McGahee’s fourth-and-1 run in the fourth quarter in which he was stopped for no gain, and the Patriots’ fake field goal in the fourth quarter.

“When Willis had his fourth-down try, it probably wouldn’t have been a first [down], but it probably should have been a little closer,” he said. “The [Patriots'] spots, the guy stepped out of bounds. Even though we got the penalty on that fourth down when they faked the field goal, the guy stepped out and he reached the ball. Certain things like that. Like I said, you have to play the game.”

I hate that this needs to be said because it shouldn’t matter, but for the record I’m not a “Patriots hater.”

That said, New England has gotten some calls in the last two weeks that have been questionable at best. The two roughing the passer penalties yesterday were cheap and there was a play last week in the Patriots’ win over the Falcons where Atlanta receiver Michael Jenkins and a New England defender were both jostling in coverage and the refs called pass interference on Jenkins, which wiped out a touchdown. Brady was also able to throw a touchdown pass last week to put the game away thanks to one of his offensive lineman bear-hugging John Abraham to avoid a sack.

It appears that the refs are calling penalties based on Brady’s injury last year, which is ridiculous. Just call the game – don’t throw a flag every time a defender is within a mile of Brady’s knees.

All of these calls could have gone either way…they’ve just been going the Patriots way so far.

Midway through the third quarter of the Steelers-Chargers game on Sunday night, I started pounding away at a post dedicated to how Pittsburgh silenced its critics with a dominating victory over San Diego.

Seriously, I was finished outside of adding the final score and some stats. And it was good too. It was about how the Steelers got back to their grass roots while running the ball down the Chargers’ throats, controlling the time of possession and finally playing four quarters. At the time, Pittsburgh was up 28-0 and the game was essentially over as San Diego was on life support.

Then Jacob Hester made an incredible play early in the fourth when he stripped Stefan Logan on a punt return and raced 41 yards into the end zone to cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 28-14.

No problem I thought, a couple extra sentences ought to cover me as the Steelers answered Hester’s touchdown with one of their own to make it 35-14.

Then the journalism gods decided to punish me for writing a recap when the freaking game wasn’t even finished, because the Chargers got within one touchdown of the Steelers late in the fourth before Pittsburgh iced the game with a 46-yard Jeff Reed field goal to give the Steelers a 38-28 victory.

Annnnnnnnnddddd delete.

In reality, not much changed from the time the Steelers were up 28-0 to the time they walked away with a 38-28 win. They still dominated a hapless San Diego run defense by racking up 177 yards on the ground (Rashard Mendenhall finally strapped on the big boy pants and rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries) and kept the ball for 40 minutes and 20 seconds, compared to the Chargers’ 19 minutes and 40 seconds.

Pittsburgh dominated this game, but it can’t sit well with Mike Tomlin that his team nearly had another fourth quarter collapse. The Steelers can’t figure out a way to put their opponents away and I don’t know if that’s coaching or if the players are at fault for letting up. Either way, it’s a troubling sign so far for a defending Super Bowl champion that has split its first four games of the season and has looked rather mediocre.

Nevertheless, the Steelers earned their second victory of the year and did so by running the ball. Granted, Ben Roethlisberger looked great and the pass protection was outstanding, but this is a team that needs to run the football when the weather starts to turn and Pittsburgh did so tonight.

As for the Chargers, I applaud them for making it close in the end, but Norv Turner’s bunch didn’t show up until seven minutes left in the third when Hester gave them a spark. They were completely dominated in most phases of the game and all of a sudden they have zero running game. For a team that was supposed to walk away with the AFC West, San Diego barely looks like a .500 team right now.

It was bound to happen.

Mark Sanchez couldn’t continue to play like he was Joe Montana week after week without suffering a setback. The Saints proved to be Sancehz’s setback on Sunday by constantly harassing the rookie into three huge mistakes in the New Orleans’ 24-14 victory at the Superdome.

Sanchez’s first mistake came early in the second quarter when Darren Sharper intercepted his pass on the goal line, then returned it 99 yards for a touchdown. Two possessions later while backed up to his own end zone, Sanchez held onto the ball too long on a 2 and 7 from the 5-yard line and was sacked by Will Smith. Remi Ayodele recovered the fumble in the end zone to give the Saints a 17-0 lead early in the second.

Down 14 points with about five minutes remaining, Sanchez made his final mistake on a desperation fourth down play in which he was once again intercepted by Sharper. For as much swagger as Sanchez had played with throughout the year, he looked like a beaten rookie on Sunday.

This loss doesn’t fall squarely on the shoulders of Sanchez, though. New York offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer didn’t do the rookie any favors by failing to offer him max protection when the Saints proved early in the game that they could generate a pass rush with only their four down linemen. On multiple occasions, Charles Grant came off the edge untouched and forced Sanchez to scramble in attempt to make something happen.

It’s great that the Jets have confidence in Sanchez to make plays in the passing game, but Schottenheimer’s play-calling was atrocious and he should re-visit how he plans on protecting his quarterback in future weeks.

For the Saints, this win further proved their elite status in the NFL. Drew Brees and the passing game was held in check throughout the game, but Pierre Thomas and the Saints’ rushing attack racked up 153 yards and often kept the chains moving. Hopefully Sean Payton was paying attention to how hard Thomas ran throughout the game, so he doesn’t continue to leave the talented back on the sidelines in short-yardage situations.

The Saints defense has improved dramatically this season. Sharper has played like a man possessed and veterans like Roman Harper and Jabari Greer have stepped up in the secondary. New Orleans’ front four is as good as anyone in the league, too.

The NFC South is the Saints to lose, if not the conference.

The Chicago Bears have problems in their secondary and can’t keep any of their linebackers healthy.

But their offense is starting to take shape with Jay Cutler under center.

Albeit it was against the Lions, but the Bears finally got their running game going as Matt Forte rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries in Chicago’s 48-24 victory. Cutler didn’t have to do much in the passing game, but he was clutch in the red zone, completing a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kellen Davis in the second quarter, then Greg Olsen on a 1-yard TD pass on a fourth and 1 from the goal line after a Detroit penalty negated a field goal. Cutler also rushed for a 5-yard touchdown in the first quarter to tie the game 7-7.

Rookie Johnny Knox once again proved his worth, returning the second half kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown. He also hauled in five passes for 31 yards.

The Bears are far from perfect, but if they can run the ball like they did on Sunday, they’re going to be potent. Their opening week loss to the Packers is nothing but a distant memory and with the bye week coming up, Lovie Smith’s team is sitting pretty at 3-1.

As for the Lions, Matthew Stafford looked great early on, but he left the game with a twisted knee and his availability for next week is uncertain.

Quick, name the best team in the AFC.

The Patriots? Too many flaws, especially on defense.

The Ravens? Maybe now that they have an offense to match their defense, but their loss in New England on Sunday raised more concerns about their receiving corps.

The Jets? As of this writing, the Saints are making Mark Sanchez look an awfully lot like a rookie starting in his first season. But if they come back and earn a win in New Orleans, then Rex Ryan’s team certainly makes a case that they’re the best in the conference.

The answer to the proposed question, my friends, may very well be the Indianapolis Colts. I understand that this might not be a fair time to ask a question like this given that they had a free win against the banged up Seahawks on Sunday, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Peyton Manning and his offense looks unstoppable, or that Indy’s defense is faster and more aggressive under new coordinator Larry Coyer.

One could certainly make the argument that the Colts haven’t faced anyone this season with wins over the Jaguars, Dolphins, Cardinals and Seahawks. But in each of their wins, Manning has thrown for over 300 yards and has run Tom Moore’s version of the no-huddle offense to near perfection.

There is some concern that the defense will wear down because of the offense’s quick-hit approach, and the running game has almost been non-existent. But as long as the Colts stay close, Manning is going to give them an opportunity to win in the fourth quarter.

The schedule is incredibly favorable for Indianapolis over the next couple weeks. They’re at Tennessee next week, have a bye in Week 6 and then play the Rams in Week 7. Their first true challenge of the year might not come until Week 8 when they host the ever-improving 49ers.

Things are set up for the Colts to streak to the playoffs again this year. And with an improved defense, the sky appears to be the limit for this team.

The Browns’ 23-20 overtime loss to instate rival Cincinnati on Sunday really summed up Eric Mangini’s start in Cleveland.

The Browns did the improbable in the fourth quarter by blocking an extra point following a Chad Ochocinco 2-yard touchdown pass to force overtime. Then they really did the improbable by allowing a gimpy Carson Palmer to scramble 15 yards in the extra period to set up Shayne Graham’s game-winning 31-yard field goal with four seconds remaining.

Did I mention that Palmer’s scramble was on fourth down? Had they stopped the Bengals on that play, Mangini and the Browns were looking at a tie at the very least, which certainly would have been better than suffering their fourth consecutive loss.

The good thing for Cleveland is that they fought hard after trailing Cincinnati 14-7 early in the first half. They also forced two key turnovers and the offense looked more efficient with Anderson under center than they did with Brady Quinn in previous weeks. Jerome Harrison rushed for 121 yards on 29 carries, while rookie receiver Mohamed Massaquoi caught eight passes for 148 yards.

But moral victories don’t really count when you’re 0-4. Mangini deserves time to build the roster he wants, but in the meantime he still needs to produce a victory or two because the Cleveland faithful has suffered enough. A win today would have given Mangini a little support.

Hell, a tie would have done the same thing.