Nitpicking Frerotte

It would be excessive to call him a savior, though calling him "just some backup" would be off-base. However, over the last seven games as a starter, Gus Frerotte is 5-2, ranked ninth among quarterbacks with 1,619 yards passing, tied for 8th with 10 touchdown passes, and is tied for first with seven scoring throws of 20-plus yards. It's hard not to love the guy, especially while glancing at the bench and realizing who could be taking the helm instead.

Despite all these exhilarating numbers, there is one statistic that has kept me from tattooing "In Gus We Trust" on my left butt cheek. In his seven games as the leader of the Viking offense, Frerotte has thrown 11 interceptions, tied for second with Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger and Denver's Jay Cutler who have started all nine games this season, and San Francisco's J.T. O'Sullivan who has started eight. Frerotte stands only one interception shy of tying Brett Favre at 12. What's worse is that eight of those 11 interceptions have come in the last three games.

Frerotte is averaging roughly 1.57 interceptions a game (Favre averages 1.33, Cutler and Roethlisberger average 1.22 per game). At this rate -- at least statistically -- he could finish this season with a league-leading 21 or even 22 interceptions on the season. Fortunately for Gus, he's not likely to break the record for most passes intercepted in a season (currently held by George Blandas of the Houston Oilers in 1962), but it's certainly a statistic that one can't ignore.

"The number one thing is that you have to take care of the football, and you can't give up those interceptions at half-field or obviously one that goes back in the other direction," said Vikings coach Brad Childress during his Monday press conference.

During their 28-27 victory over the fan-hated (understatement) Green Bay Packers, Frerotte was picked off three times by the Packer secondary, one of which was returned for a 59-yard touchdown by safety Nick Collins.

"He was just staring down his receivers, and once you see a quarterback doing that, you have a great chance to pick him off. So we took advantage of that," boasted Collins after recording the league-leading sixth interception for a touchdown by the Packers' defense this season.

In defending his QB, Childress said "he usually does a very, very good job with his eyes, and I thought he did a good job with his eyes [on Sunday]. It's just that when he swung his eyes back to where he was throwing, he didn't do a very good job. But he's not a guy that stares down his target. He tries to move people with his eyes and perhaps in a couple of situations maybe was doing a little bit too much."

Nevertheless, Frerotte remains poise. The 15-year veteran makes his fair share of mistakes, yet you can't deny the fact that he possesses the immense ability to rally his team to overcome adversity on the field. Down by six points on a critical 3rd down play in the final offensive drive on Sunday, Frerotte hit Bobby Wade for five yards and the first down. Later in the same drive, he completed a 16-yard toss up the center to Adrian Peterson to set up his game-winning rushing TD.

"He's excellent at it," expressed Childress. "He's up there as good as any I've been around. It's not that he doesn't care, but he's not going to let a play beat him twice. I think that's very important. It's not going to make him less aggressive because if you don't keep shooting, you got no chance to play this game."

Frerotte's next big challenge comes this week in the form of the fifth-ranked pass defense of Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers are tied for fourth in the league with 12 interceptions (two of which have been returned for touchdowns) and are ranked seventh in overall defense.

-DAN BEER