By Troy Young
tyoung@postbulletin.com
MINNEAPOLIS -- The; Randy Ratio has expired. What's en vogue in the land of Purple is the Kleinsasser Kount.
At least it was that way Sunday night when the Vikings beat the Bears 24-13 at the Metrodome.
Admittedly, the Bears were determined not to let Vikings receiver Randy Moss beat them. The Vikings' running game reaped the benefits of the Bears special attention paid to Moss by racking up 202 yards on the ground. But Jim Kleinsasser was a benefactor of the Bears' defensive scheme as well.
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Kleinsasser, a bulky tight end from Carrington, N.D., reeled in a team-high four catches totaling 29 yards. Moss had four catches, for 27 yards. Kleinsasser also had two touchdowns.
"My whole game wasn't the greatest game. I had to get a couple of touchdowns to redeem myself," said Kleinsasser, who fumbled twice in a loss to Chicago in 1999 during his rookie season.
NO PAIN, NO…:; All week long it appeared second-year safety Willie Offord was going to start in place of Corey Chavous, who suffered a strained ligament in his knee and was questionable for Sunday's game. Chavous started Sunday night and made two tackles.
"It started getting better in practice on Friday," Chavous said. "I could've played better, obviously. A couple of times it was uncomfortable out there, but it's something I've experienced before. I've had an injury like this before so I knew I'd be all right."
Even though the Vikings listed Chavous on the injury report all week, insiders at Winter Park said that because of his high pain tolerance, he would definitely play against the Bears.
WIN IS SWEET: Even though he didn't leave Chicago two years ago full of wrath, former Bears receiver D'Wayne Bates admitted the victory against his former team tasted a little sweeter than normal. Bates had two catches for 18 yards Sunday.
"As excited as I am to play against my former team, I'm really excited that we're 2-0 and got a good jump on the season, and the division," Bates said. "It's early and we have a lot of room for improvement, but this was a big win.
"Our team really grew (Sunday) night."
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NUMBERS GAME: With the win, the Vikings are 26-17 in home openers…; The Vikings are 13-9 on Sunday evenings, 9-5 at home…; Daunte Culpepper's 20 completions gives him a career total of 900, which moves him past Warren Moon's 882, and into fourth place. Fran Tarkenton leads with 2,635 Vikings completions, Tommy Kramer is second with 2,011.…; Matt Birk started his 50th consecutive game which is third-most by a Vikings center. Mick Tingelhoff started 240 straight games at center, Jeff Christy started 60 straight at center.
EFFICIENT: The Vikings converted 9 of 14 (64 percent) third downs. They were a perfect 4-for-4 on third-and-1 situations.
RANDY RATIO: The Bears double-covered and triple-covered Moss the entire game. The result for Moss: four catches, 27 yards, no touchdowns. "We didn't go into the game thinking Moss was the only guy we had to stop," Urlacher said. "He's a great player, you gotta watch him and account for him, but the other guys are in the NFL for a reason."
BIEKERT THE BALLERINA: That was linebacker Greg Biekert attempting a cartwheel on the field, after he sacked Kordell Stewart on a 3rd-and-13 late in the third quarter. "I have three little girls and they've been telling me for the past three or four weeks that if I get an interception or a touchdown or something, (they) wanted me to do a somersault," Biekert said. "I said, 'OK, next time I have a sack or an interception or fumble or something, I'll do it."
