Vikings' Childress triumphs in debut

LANDOVER, Md. — Two days before his 38th birthday, Brad Johnson was the one handing out a nice present. In the locker room, the quarterback gave the game ball to first-year coach Brad Childress, whose mission to transform the Minnesota Vikings is off to a winning start.

Ryan Longwell's 31-yard field goal with a minute remaining gave the Vikings a 19-16 victory over Washington on Monday night in the opener for both teams.

Childress has at least some temporary bragging rights over Washington coach Joe Gibbs, a Hall of Famer.

"I am tremendously humble and was a little emotional after the game," Childress said. "I'm just happy for those guys in the locker room. ... They faced a lot of adversity tonight. It was an away game, a Monday night, Hall of Fame coach. I'm just pleased with what they accomplished."

Johnson deserved much of the credit himself for doing what he has been doing throughout his career: winning.

He has won an impressive 61 percent (66 of 109) of his starts with four teams in his 15-year career — including two seasons with Washington. He completed 16 of 30 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown Monday, and kept bailing out his team, completing 10 of 15 passes on third down.

"That's Brad," Vikings center Matt Birk said. "He's just so smart, and he's obviously crafty to have played in the league this long."

Washington had a chance to send the game to overtime after Longwell's kick, but John Hall was wide left with a poorly hit 48-yard field-goal attempt with 12 seconds remaining.

Mark Brunell, who played college ball at Washington, was 17 of 28 for 163 yards.

"There were some plays, yards and even some touchdowns that we left on the field," Brunell said after the loss.

Minnesota's Chester Taylor rushed 31 times for 88 yards and scored a first-quarter touchdown.