Well ain't this a kick in the pants? The Washington Redskins, faced with having to take the same long cut to the playoffs that they did the last time they found themselves all but eliminated and facing a slew of teams suddenly willing to play dead, took their act on the road to Minnesota and won 32-1421, in a game that was only briefly tense and was basically decided by an alert eye on the sidelines and a well-timed challenge by Joe Gibbs.

Conventional wisdom says that when you face the Vikings, you have to go out and shut down Rookie of the Year mortal lock/human Wii controller Adrian Peterson and force Minnesota’s offense to put their trust in the hands of Tarvaris Jackson, a quarterback who, so far this season, is known for combining the recklessness of a Rex Grossman with the accuracy of a William S. Burroughs. Naturally, Adrian Peterson has proven to be a difficult running back to contain all year. Sunday night, however, the Redskins' D made Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson look more like Chicago’s Adrian Peterson, which isn’t entirely fair because Chicago’s Adrian Peterson put up a very Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson-like 102 yards rushing against Green Bay, which actually HELPED the Redskins greatly because it ensured the Dallas Cowboys of home field advantage throughout the playoffs – which in turn means that we won’t face their starters when they come to D.C. next week. OK. Did you get all that? Whatever. The upside is, rooting against Dallas next week will not be an empty-calorie affair.

In fairness, Tarvaris Jackson did have a long sustained period of professional competence last night. Luckily it all transpired after the Vikings were 22 points in the hole after Jackson’s two interceptions set up two short field opportunities for the Washington offense. Washington’s winning streak has mainly been paced by a streak of well-played games from the offensive line – all those guys pressed into battle due to injury, like former Terp Stephon Heyer, are coming into their own at the right time. While they did give up two sacks last night, the protection afforded Todd Collins was often quite good, and Collins made the most of it, hitting on 22 of 27 passes for two touchdowns and an 8.8 pass average. The line wore down the Vikings over time, letting Clinton Portis – who did a little of everything last night – run longer and stronger as the game went on.

Yet there was an unnerving sense in the second half that the Vikings were going to take over the game. Having cut the lead to eleven in the fourth quarter, the Vikings were desperate trying to stop the Redskins offense when their defense received a gift-wrapped opportunity in the form of a fumbled snap. At the time, Washington was trying to get a play off quickly so that they could forestall a potential Vikings challenge of a Santana Moss sideline catch. It looked for a moment like Washington was going to get hoisted on its own petard, but thanks to a shrewd eye on the sidelines, it was the Vikings that ended up looking petarded. Catching them with twelve players on the field, Gibbs challenged the call and got the Vikings fumble recovery reversed. This caused Viking coach Brad Childress to dance around in pissypants rage as Clinton Portis notched the icing touchdown.

So, crazily, improbably, Washington finds itself with the inside track to the sixth playoff spot. All they have to do is win at home against whoever the Cowboys choose to dress for the game next week. Granted, it’s no gimme, but seeing as how Terrell Owens basically single-handedly beat us the last time we played, Washington’s chances for postseason play are suddenly, somehow, surprisingly decent. Win next week, and we can definitely kick off the A-Hole Patriots Ran Up The Score On Us Revenge Tour of 2008. Why not, right?