We've never had a problem with him, going back to when (he was in) Tampa.

Well, that's not a loaded question, so I'll have no problem answering it. I've said that we feel each and every day our fans' passion, and that (question) is a good illustration of what we feel.

When we drafted Mike we were in a different scheme. We were the antithesis of what we are now. Now is that to exonerate him not playing because of the scheme? No. Part of it, he needed to get better at certain things, but he didn't. He's got the tools. We got into the third year and we didn't see a big advance.

We put all the cards out on the table. When we got Chris Chandler, Chris knew he came in to back up Jim Miller. He knew that; he understood it.

When we put him in contact situation and we ran him through some drills in Tampa Bay, he didn't do so well. The strength isn't there yet. We're not going to put him in until he's in a situation where he doesn't feel like he's handicapped.

If you look at Tampa Bay when he was there, he had a great defensive line with (Warren) Sapp and (Simeon) Rice. And the Vikings, you saw (John) Randle and (Chris) Doleman.