Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson and the rest of the Minnesota Vikings (11-2) are coming to town this weekend, and with that the Carolina Panthers (5-8) find themselves jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.

Minnesota is arguably the best team the Panthers face this season, even with another clash with the undefeated New Orleans Saints looming in another couple weeks. That’s an easy assessment to make since the Vikings can blitz you with points on one side of the ball and shut your offense down on the other.

Case in point: In three of their last four victories, Minnesota has scored 30 or more points while the opposing team has barely scratched the scoreboard with 10 or fewer.

With three games left in the regular season, the 40-year-old Favre is playing some of the best football of his career. He’s third in touchdowns with 27, has thrown for more than 3,300 yards and, surprisingly, has only six interceptions, though December is usually the time when the wheels fall off for the grey-stumbled quarterback.

His top receivers are a couple of young guns in Sidney Rice (1,075 yards, five touchdowns) and Percy Harvin (681 yards, six touchdowns), who’s one of the NFL’s top return specialists as well as an occasional running back (8.7 yards per carry). Harvin, though, will probably miss his second straight game because of migraines.

Running back Adrian Peterson eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark again for the third straight year since his rookie season and seems to be benefiting from having Favre under center.

Defensively, the Vikings are lethal, leading the league in sacks, with three players collecting at least six - Jared Allen (12.5), Ray Edwards (6.5) and Kevin Williams (6).

Besides the talk of who’s starting at quarterback or who the next head coach will be (Bill Cowher anyone), the chatter around Carolina seems to center on the growing list of the walking wounded, which added the name of offensive lineman Jeff Otah this week.

The Panthers are now down two of their starting lineman for the rest of the year, which doesn’t bode well for quarterback Matt Moore or for Carolina’s potent rushing attack, which already has to deal with a Vikings defensive line that is one of the best at stopping the run this season (allows 86.9 yards on the ground).

Moore, who will be making his third start (Jake Delhomme hasn’t practiced this week), may have to be a little more creative in buying time to allow his wide receivers to get open. Carolina is hoping he can get into a rhythm with Steve Smith early and sustain the momentum.

They hooked up for an opening-quarter touchdown last week but Moore faded away as the game progressed in what has become a common theme for the passing game – the Achilles heel of the Panthers.

Defensively, linebacker Jon Beason seems to be back to playing like his old self, tallying 16 tackles against New England. On the other end of the spectrum, Julius Peppers continues to slide in production after laying a Goose egg last week (no sacks or tackles). And this time around his hand doesn’t seem to be the ire of his difficulties.

And the winner is….

For the Panthers to win they’ll need to score early and keep Favre and Peterson off the field. Unfortunately, the Vikings defense won’t let that happen. Their defenders will be chomping at the bit to get to Moore and the running backs. Inevitably, the Vikings will show everyone on national TV Sunday night why they’re a favorite to win the Super Bowl…Minnesota wins and clinches the NFC North Division 32 – 10.

Damon Ford is a public relations professional who has worked in the public and private sectors in Charlotte. He is 7-6 in predicting Panthers games.

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