Matt Ludtke / Associated Press'We have established a tradition of NCAA play,' a proud CSU coach Kate Peterson Abiad said of her Vikings' second trip to the NCAA in three seasons. 'We are a team to reckoned with.'

CLEVELAND STATE VS. NOTRE DAME

Scouting CSU: The Vikings (19-13) are getting hot at the right time of the season. Kailey Klein remains the catalyst, but three other seniors - Angel and Jessica Roque and Stephanie Crosley - have played in every game, giving CSU a lot of experience.

The Vikings' search for a complementary running back behind Adrian Peterson continues after future Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson turned down the job for a potentially greater role with the Jets.

Tomlinson, the eighth-leading rusher in NFL history with 12,490 yards, signed a two-year contract worth $5.1 million with an escalator to $5.6 million, ESPN reported first on Sunday. A league source told the Star Tribune the Vikings made a similar offer.

NEW YORK (AP) -- LaDainian Tomlinson is bolting for the Big Apple.

Tomlinson's agent, Tom Condon, said Sunday that the New York Jets signed the former Chargers running back to a two-year contract. The Jets confirmed that they have agreed to a deal, adding the aging star to the NFL's top-ranked rushing offense last season.

"He wanted to go to a team that he thought had a chance to compete for the championship," Condon told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "He wanted to go somewhere where he had a chance to have a significant role, and so with the Jets he also was going to be very familiar with the offensive system."

Having spent his entire nine-year NFL career with San Diego, LaDainian Tomlinson likely had forgotten what it was like to be courted by another team. That changed Wednesday when the running back began his free-agent visit with the Vikings.

"It's like recruiting all over again, like going from high school to college," Tomlinson said. "You just kind of have to get a feel and see where you fit in at and see how it goes."

NEW YORK (AP) - LaDainian Tomlinson's visit with the New York Jets is going to overtime.

The free agent running back met with team officials at the Jets' training facility in Florham Park, N.J., on Friday and had dinner with coach Rex Ryan, general manager Mike Tannenbaum and others in New Jersey.

Tomlinson was scheduled to fly back home to San Diego, but changed his flight after arriving so late Thursday night. Because of that, the Jets extended their visit with him Friday to include dinner. There were also no late-night flights to the West Coast available Friday night.

The Lions have signed wide receiver Nate Burleson to a five-year, $25 million deal that includes $11 million guaranteed, finding someone to complement Calvin Johnson just two hours into free agency.

Burleson, 28, caught 63 passes for 812 yards and three touchdowns last season. He spent the past four years with the Seahawks after three years with the Vikings.

The first two years of Burleson's career, 2003 and '04, his offensive coordinator was current Lions offensive coordinator Scott Linehan. The best season of his career was '04, when he caught 68 passes for 1,006 yards and nine touchdowns.

"He's more fixated right now on getting some fresh limestone down on the road to his mother-in-law's house on his property," Childress said during a break at the NFL scouting combine. "They have a water issue down there.

"He has other things on his mind right now. Certainly I couldn't give him any landscape architecture ideas. The conversation didn't last very long. He had to get back to work."

Minnesota coach Brad Childress will give Brett Favre as much time as he wants to make up his mind about coming back for the 2010 season.

Childress spoke Friday at the NFL's annual scouting combine.

Right now, Childress said football is not Favre's primary focus. Childress said he spoke with Favre this week and that he was still recovering from the beating he took in the NFC championship game. He's also putting down limestone at his mother-in-law's house.

The Minnesota state lawsuit over the NFL's suspensions of Vikings players Kevin Williams and Pat Williams will go to trial next month.

Hennepin County District Court Judge Gary Larson ruled Thursday that there are several outstanding questions on employment issues, so the trial will start March 8.

The Williamses were suspended for four games after testing positive in 2008 for a banned substance that can mask the presence of steroids. They sued the NFL, arguing the testing violated Minnesota labor laws.

st. paul, minn.-state rep. paul kohls wants to practically give the metrodome to the vikings to keep the team in minnesota. the republican from victoria introduced a bill thursday to sell the dome to the vikings for $1 in exchange for an agreement

Julius Peppers says he'll play anywhere next season. Jerry Angelo should find out if he really means it.

If the Bears' general manager isn't at least intrigued by the availability of a proven pass-rushing defensive end such as Peppers, you have to question whether there's something wrong with his radar. Peppers, who just turned 30 last month, is coming off his sixth double-digit sack season in eight years in the NFL.

The corpse that was the Vikings' 2009 season hadn't even had time to become cold late Sunday night when the first report surfaced that Brett Favre had said he was "highly unlikely" to come back for another year.

The information provided by ESPN promised to be the first of many Favre-related nuggets that emerge in the coming weeks and perhaps months as the quarterback ponders whether to return for a 20th NFL season and second with the Vikings. The most important thing is to take every report with a grain of salt.

In the end, one legendary quarterback panicked. The other did not.

Difference was the "other" one, Troy Aikman, was sitting in Fox's broadcast booth, working the Vikings-Saints NFC Championship Game, providing analysis of a critical 19 seconds that became another (miserable) chapter in the book of Brett Favre.

To say Aikman was brilliant, late in the fourth quarter, would be much too gaga. Yet, the former Cowboys quarterback was close. Within the area code. Choosing just the right words, he had to work quickly.

Lord, how I want to be in that number.

On a raging Sunday in the bayou, they marched, through 42 years of football misery, through the jagged remains of human tragedy, to a Super Bowl that will surely taste like gumbo and feel like salvation.

In a chilly and deafening building that a few years ago was a symbol of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Saints finally came marching in to an NFC championship victory that seemed as much destined as deserved.

Stop the presses?or whatever they say in the internet era: Brett Favre tells ESPN's Ed Werder it's "highly unlikely" he'll play football again after the Vikings' 31-28 overtime loss to the Saints in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday night.

An unknowledgeable source not very close to the Vikings or Favre but who watches ESPN a lot tells the Sun-Times they're both full of it. It's "highly unlikely" Favre has any credibility on anything regarding his retirement, or anybody else's, the source said.

NEW ORLEANS - The ancient Viking warrior with the bionic right arm looked dazed and confused Sunday night as Minnesota sang the blues in the "Big Easy."

Limping to the podium following a crushing 31-28 NFC title game overtime loss to the New Orleans Saints, Brett Favre sported welts on his face and a bruised ego. His eyes were tinged in red as he began to tell what went wrong in a somber, almost groggy tone.

NEW ORLEANS - Ball on the ground…

The ticket to Miami was the ball on the ground.

The Saints forced five turnovers Sunday - and turned the NFL on its head - earning their first trip to the Super Bowl with a 31-28 overtime victory over the Vikings at the Superdome.

Shrugging off 43 years of futility, the Saints finally reached the NFC mountaintop when Garrett Hartley kicked a 40-yard field goal on the opening possession of overtime.

NEW ORLEANS | The New Orleans Saints waited 43 long years for a chance to reach the Super Bowl.

So what's an extra 4 minutes, 45 seconds of overtime?

Mardi Gras began early in New Orleans after Garrett Hartley made a 40-yard field goal with 10:15 left in overtime, giving the Saints a 31-28 victory over Minnesota in the NFC Championship Game and sending them to Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7 against the Indianapolis Colts.

This past week I had a chance to do a 1-on-1 interview with Vikings quarterback Brett Favre. Here's what he had to say before NFC Championship Game with the New Orleans Saints on Sunday:

Q Is there some doubt whether you would be in a Vikings uniform today had coach Brad Childress not called you back a final time to see if you had changed your mind about playing this year after you had announced your retirement after last season?

NEW ORLEANS - For the first time in NFL history, there will be a conference championship game involving quarterbacks who have thrown for at least 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns and have a passer rating of at least 100.0.

Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre, one of the greatest in history, and New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees, one of the greatest of his generation, are primed to help their teams play what could be one of the best and most exciting NFC championship games ever.