(My Sportsbook) - You might have forgiven the Minnesota Vikings for coming out flat against the St. Louis Rams on Sunday.

Six days after their monumental nationally-televised home victory over the rival Green Bay Packers, the Vikings found themselves playing a rock-bottom bad Rams team in the sterile environs of the Edward Jones Dome, with a presumably more competitive game against the Baltimore Ravens looming just ahead on the schedule.

Given that scenario, you might not have been too surprised to see Minnesota come out listless.

However, though the Vikings didn't play anything close to a perfect game and gave up plenty of yards along the way, Minnesota ultimately ran away and hid in a 38-10 rout that pushed the team to 5-0 for the first time since 2003.

Brett Favre didn't mind the slightly dimmer lights of the Dome, completing 18- of-24 passes for 232 yards with a touchdown and an interception before yielding to backup Tarvaris Jackson.

Adrian Peterson added value even after suffering a "tweak" of his leg against the Packers, rushing 15 times for 69 yards and two more touchdowns to raise his league-leading total of rushing scores to seven.

And the defense that had been so integral to the team's win over the Packers on Monday night got after St. Louis again, forcing four turnovers, including a Kyle Boller fumble in the first quarter that was returned for a 52-yard touchdown by defensive end Jared Allen.

In all, mission accomplished for Brad Childress' team in what could have been a major let-down sort of affair.

"I thought this game was more important than last week's game or next week's game," said Childress following the win. "Just from the standpoint that good teams find a way to play on Monday and come out and play on Sunday, regardless of the short time, regardless of who you are playing or if you are playing in a dome. I thought our guys were rested and prepared to come in here and doing what they needed to do and setting the standards. It wasn't about last week's game, it was this week's game and they did a good job at being about their business."

Just as occurred when he faced one-time fellow staff member Steve Spagnuolo last week, Childress will see another familiar face when John Harbaugh and the Ravens visit the Metrodome this week. Childress and Harbaugh served together on Andy Reid's staff with the Eagles from 1999 through 2005.

Baltimore figures to present a significantly greater challenge than did the rebuilding Rams, and the Ravens (3-2) should come in with quite a bit of fire after close losses to the Patriots (27-21) and Bengals (17-14) in the last two weeks.

Favre will be facing Baltimore for the first time since Dec. 19, 2005, when he opened what would become a 48-3 loss for the Packers at M&T Bank Stadium.

So, long story short, probably not much chance of the Vikings failing to have their collective heads on a swivel on Sunday.

Beyond the Ravens contest are matchups with the Steelers (10/25) and Packers (11/1) on the road. That contest at Lambeau Field figures to include just a tad of pre-game publicity.

Resting on its 5-0 record is clearly not an option for this team, a point that Allen and the team's other stars appear to be hearing loud and clear.

"Coaches do a good job keeping everything in perspective and they try to keep us week-to-week," said Allen. "We have a good group of veterans and a good locker room. We knew we needed to come to St. Louis and take care of business.

"We started out and got tested with the 49ers and then Green Bay and now the Rams. The next three weeks are not going to be easy - we play Baltimore at home, we are at Pittsburgh and then we are back in Green Bay. The next three weeks are going to be strong test of where we are at."

LIONS: One week after ripping his team publicly following a one-sided loss at the Chicago Bears, Detroit head coach Jim Schwartz was in a slightly better mood following his club's 28-20 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

Schwartz's team went into the halftime break down just 21-13, with a pick-six from cornerback William James off of Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger adding the greatest value, and battled to within 28-20 when fill-in quarterback Daunte Culpepper threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Dennis Northcutt with 4:57 to play.

"One thing you can say is this team battled," said Schwartz. "I came into the game a little bit short-handed, got short-handed early in the game with some injuries, had a lot of guys jumble through and there were a lot of chances in this game that we might have, I don't want to say "quit," but it might have gone a little different way and the players fought through it and had a chance at the end."

After forcing a three-and-out on Pittsburgh's drive following the Northcutt TD, the Lions had the ball at their own 29-yard line with 3:07 on the clock and two timeouts remaining.

Culpepper drove Detroit all the way to the Steeler 21-yard line with 1:54 on the clock, but three straight sacks put the Lions in a 4th-and-34 situation and effectively ended the game.

Close, but no cigar.

"We had way too many penalties," said Schwarz, who saw his team flagged six times for 66 yards and sacked seven times overall. "We took too many sacks - and there's a combination of things there with getting rid of the ball when there's a free rusher, some protection issues and things like that."

For the day, Culpepper was 23-of-37 for 282 yards with a touchdown and a pick, but wasn't reveling in keeping things close against the Black and Gold.

"I don't really accept moral victory very well," said Culpepper. "It's all about winning and losing and that's why you work so hard not to have to say you had a moral victory. I don't really believe in that but at the same time, you do have to look at the positives that you had and definitely look at the negatives and make sure that most of the time that your positives outweigh your negatives."

BEARS: Most Bears fans remember Chicago's trip to Atlanta last season all too well. That was the game that represented the coming-out party for the Falcons' Matt Ryan, as the then-rookie snuffed out an apparent Bears victory by completing a perfect 26-yard pass to Michael Jenkins on the sideline with one second remaining, setting up a game-winning 48-yard field goal by Jason Elam to end the game with an unlikely 22-20 Atlanta win.

Bears fans remember all that. Head coach Lovie Smith, who will lead his 3-1 team back to the Georgia Dome following a well-deserved Week 5 bye, claims not to.

"What happened last year?" asked Smith. "It's about this year. We're playing a good 2009 Atlanta team and that's about as far as we go."

If last year's unhappy trip home from Atlanta doesn't offer enough motivation, the fact that Falcons (3-1) come off a 45-10 road waxing of the San Francisco 49ers should.

"We're really not talking a whole lot about what happened last year," Smith continued. "If you watch the San Francisco game, anything you want to think about as far as how good they are, we had a chance to see in that game. That's enough to get us motivated right there."

One positive note for the Bears, though they don't have a strong recent history in Atlanta: quarterback Jay Cutler does. Cutler, who led the Broncos to a win at the Georgia Dome last season, is the only opposing quarterback to out-dual Ryan (9-1 at home all-time) in his home building.

PACKERS: No matter what level of football you're discussing, if you have an offensive line getting a lot of attention, it probably isn't a good thing.

Such is the case with the Green Bay Packers, who spent most of their bye week talking about, and trying to shore up, an o-line that had allowed a bloated 20 sacks through the season's first four weeks.

Step number one was re-signing right tackle Mark Tauscher, who was out of football after starting 120 games for Green Bay from 2000 through 2008. Tauscher is unsure if he'll be ready to step into the lineup when the team plays host to the Lions on Sunday.

"I can't really give you a concrete answer, hopefully sooner rather than later," said Tauscher about his prospects to play. "But there's going to be a little window here that I need to hit and get my feet back under me. There's a reason that you have a training camp, to do the things to get yourself fundamentally back into it. I'm in good shape, but there's a difference between football (shape) and just jogging down the street shape. There's a difference, and that's what I'm trying to get to."

The news could be getting better opposite Tauscher, where Chad Clifton could be ready to return to the lineup after spraining his ankle against the Bengals in Week 2.

"Chad's plan today was to go through the individual, and frankly we'll see how he responds," Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy said on Monday. "[Tuesday] will be a huge indicator. I'd like to see him work probably at least another two days later in the week just to make sure he is ready."

If Clifton and Tauscher both start on Sunday, Daryn Colledge would move to left guard and Jason Spitz would replace Scott Wells at center. Colledge played left tackle in Clifton's absence, and Spitz played left guard.