Former Vikings fullback Chuck Evans died Sunday because of heart failure, according to this report from the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network website. Evans played for the Vikings from 1993 to 1998 and was the starting fullback for the ‘98 club that went 15-1 during the regular season and scored the most points by a team in a season (556) in league history. Evans then spent two seasons (1999-2000) playing for Brian Billick with the Baltimore Ravens before retiring. Evans was only 41-years old and had been living in Sparks, Md.

Dontarrious Thomas said he was literally on a plane Sunday in Dallas heading for Miami to workout for the Dolphins today when his agent sent him a text message from his agent telling him to get off and head back to Minneapolis so that he could sign with the Vikings.

Thomas talked with reporters in the locker room today and and said he was happy to be back with the Vikings. Thomas signed a two-year free-agent deal with the 49ers in February but he did not make the team. He said he has no regrets.

“You can’t look in the past,” he said. “You’ve just got to look forward. Things just didn’t happen. It was an opportunity that I thought was there but it just didn’t happen. But look I’m back here so everything worked out.”

Thomas said he’s not sure whether he will play middle linebacker or on the outside, as a starter or backup. He said he hopes to make an immediate impact on special teams.

“We just talked about coming in and helping this team out anyway possible,” he said. “I’m a special teams guy. I’m just here to go and fit wherever needed.”

The team cleared room for Thomas by placing rookie offensive tackle Drew Radovich on injured reserve.

Brad Childress said after the Vikings’ 12-10 victory over Detroit on Sunday that he didn’t hear the “Fire Childress” chants that fans began several times in the second half. This afternoon at his Monday news conference, Childress talked about the fans and his feelings about their frustrations. I thought the easiest thing to do would be to just print the question-and-answer session where Childress discussed this matter.  

Q. How he reacts to the fans’ frustrations with him and his team.

A. I just kind of look at the results. We’re a 3-3 football team. I know that goes with my position. Fans live it and die it every play. So, that’s part of their prerogative. To call for different plays or call for what they think are bonehead coaching moves or guys not catching the football. That’s been around since coaching has been coaching but it’s always the body of work. You always get judged at the end of the year. I can’t afford to pay a lot of attention to it.

Q. On his decision not to go for two points after the Vikings pulled within 10-8 in the third quarter Sunday.

A. Well, I just happened to bring my 2-point chart out with me because I thought I might have a question or two on the 2-point chart. Does anybody know what the 2-point conversion rate is in the National Football League right now? Didn’t think so. It’s about 44.8 percent right now. So my point was taking the points. Now is it a sure thing you’re going to kick an extra point? No, because we had a field goal blocked yesterday. I just thought it was early with what we were doing to go for two and put ourselves back.

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Vikings coach Brad Childress announced that the team has signed linebacker Dontarrious Thomas, who played for the Vikings from 2004-07.

The Vikings are hurting at linebacker right now. Middle linebacker E.J. Henderson suffered a season-ending foot injury. His replacement, David Herron, suffered several injuries yesterday and is ‘beat up” according to Childress.

The Vikings worked out Thomas two weeks ago. Thomas left the Vikings after last season to sign a free agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers but he was released before the season.

Thomas is at Winter Park and we’ll try and get him during locker room access later this afternoon.

“What he does is he gives us a guy who’s familiar with our system,” Childress said. “Obviously he didn’t want to leave but he had to go for the money in free agency. It didn’t work out there in San Francisco for whatever reason. But he still looks like he possesses some tools. He knows our drill. He knows the linebacker coach, he knows the system, he knows the special teams, he knows our values. So he’s extremely excited to be back with us.”

Childress said Thomas should be able to play Sunday at Chicago. Childress said it’s unclear whether Thomas will play strictly in the middle or rotate between all three spots like he did during his first stint.

Childress said the team will make a roster move to clear room for Thomas later today after his contract paperwork is completed. 

The Vikings woke up this morning with a 3-3 record and tied with Chicago and Green Bay atop the NFC North. And, yet, the thing that stands out the most from the Vikings’ 12-10 victory over the Lions on Sunday isn’t what happened on the field but rather that the fans — probably some of you who read this blog — called for coach Brad Childress’ job on more than one occasion with chants that reminded my colleague Chip Scoggins of his days covering the Gophers and Glen Mason.

Childress said after Sunday’s game that he didn’t hear the fans chants of “Fire Childress.” No doubt, he has had time in the hours since the victory to get an idea of what transpired. Childress will address the media at 12:35 p.m. today. His news conference will be carried by KFAN (1130 AM and www.kfan.com) and check back for more posts throughout the day.

Meanwhile, I will ask this question. What, if anything, does a Childress-led team need to do to get back in your good graces? Certainly, ownership could not have enjoyed hearing the fans call for the head coach to be ousted when they know that you pay for the tickets, buy the merchandise and could have a large say in getting a new stadium.

Two weeks after Brad Childress decided to punt the ball late in the fourth quarter of a 30-17 loss to Tennessee and thus enabled the Titans to kill the clock, the Vikings coach has provided the talk-radio folks with another juicy item on which to chew.

This one came in the third quarter of the Vikings 12-10 victory over Detroit at the Metrodome. The Vikings trailed the Lions 10-2 when Bernard Berrian caught what amounted to an 8-yard pass from Gus Frerotte and went 86 yards for a touchdown. That made the score 10-8 and it seemed logical Childress would go for two points.

The sheet that coaches use for instruction on two-point conversions told Childress to go for the two. Even if the conversion attempt had failed, the Vikings still could have won the game on a field goal. Instead, Childress had Ryan Longwell kick the extra point and Minnesota was down 10-9.

Can you imagine the heat Childress would be getting if the score had remained that way? It looked as if that might be the case when Longwell had his 38-yard field-goal attempt blocked with 10 minutes, 9 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Fortunately for Childress and the Vikings, Longwell made a 26-yard kick with nine seconds left.

Childress was asked about his decision not to go for two during his postgame news conference. “Just because there was time left,” he said. “It was in the third quarter, was it not? There were a couple minutes to go in the third quarter. At that point it was a little bit too early. It is on the chart, ‘it says [to] ‘go for it.’ But not at the end of the third quarter.”

Childress was then asked about the downside of going for two points in that situation. ”You just have to decide,” he said. “It’s a coaches’ decision. I’m not sure that was a real game-changer there.”