Giving back

In the spirit of the holidays, the Vikings' players decided to donate their fine money from the season to the Salvation Army.

"We just thought it would be a good thing to do with our fine monies," coach Brad Childress said. "Because they're not my fine monies or the Vikings. It's really (the players) that have donated. You know, they may not have wanted to."

Asked how much money was involved, Childress said: "I can just tell you that it's a lot different than the number that (Oakland Raiders coach) Billy Callahan fined his guys the year they went to the Super Bowl. He fined them $750,000. Ours is very pale (by comparison)."