Sun, Oct 29, 2006
For Week Eight of the NFL Season, Monday Night Football aired the New England Patriots visiting the Minnesota Vikings. Following a comedic skit in which the cast of the television series Ugly Betty spoofed Bill Belichick's penchant for wearing sweatshirts on the sidelines, the broadcast segued to the game itself, a match-up between a Patriots team under fire from many experts because of wholesale changes to their wide receiver corps and a Minnesota Vikings squad a year removed from an embarrassing party cruise that helped lead to wholesale changes in personnel and the team culture. The Vikings entered the game 4-2 and fresh off a dramatic 31-13 road rout of the Seattle Seahawks, while the Patriots stood at 5-1 but were considered vulnerable after three shaky performances in Foxboro, this despite road routs in Cincinatti and Buffalo. The game itself would prove to be a crossroads in the season of both teams.