Smith’s big night, ferocious defense lead Panthers to surprising 26-7 win over Favre, Vikings

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Shaky Favre, Vikings stunned by Panthers 26-7

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It was supposed to be a night when the Minnesota Vikings celebrated a division title and inched closer to the best record in the NFC.

Instead it was night of dropped passes, missed tackles, poor protection — and a dustup between Brett Favre and the coach who worked so hard to bring him back from retirement.

After the Carolina Panthers dominated the fourth quarter Sunday night in a stunning 26-7 win over the Vikings, Favre acknowledged he had a “heated discussion” with coach Brad Childress, whom Favre claimed wanted to take him out with him getting hit so often by Julius Peppers and Carolina’s defensive line.

The Vikings (11-3) clinched the NFC North title hours earlier when Pittsburgh beat Green Bay.

“Brad wanted to go in a different direction. And I wanted to stay in the game,” Favre said. “It’s not 70-6, but we were up 7-6. I said I’m staying in the game. I’m playing.”

It didn’t work out well, with the Panthers outscoring Minnesota 20-0 in the fourth quarter.

Surprisingly, the best quarterback on the field wasn’t the 40-year-old Favre, but Matt Moore. In his third start for the injured Jake Delhomme, Moore threw for a career-high 299 yards and three touchdown passes.

Steve Smith caught nine passes for 157 yards, including the go-ahead touchdown pass and a long catch and run set up the clinching score. Jonathan Stewart added 109 yards rushing and a TD on 25 carries, snapping Minnesota’s NFL-long steak of 36 games without allowing a 100-yard rusher.

The Panthers (6-8), who were officially eliminated from playoff contention a night earlier, were the more energized team. They harassed Favre all night, sacking him four times and apparently leading to Childress wanted to protect his QB.

Favre would have nothing of it.

“No way being up 7-6 and getting banged around a little bit would I consider coming out,” Favre said.

Favre was just 17 of 27 for 224 yards and no touchdowns. Adrian Peterson was held to 35 yards rushing, a similar poor performance that he had two weeks ago against Arizona.

“We were just having a good conversation about the game was heading at that point and time,” Childress said of the third-quarter argument. “And what we needed to do to head the other way.”