With the game scoreless, Philadelphia center Jamaal Jackson was flagged for holding at the Vikings' 26-yard line. Instead of taking the penalty, giving the Eagles a third and 18 from the 36, Childress elected to let David Akers attempt a 43-yard field goal, which he made.

"The point is, they would have played the down again," Childress said. "You're basically giving something to get something, and nothing says that you're going to stop them for zero yards and it's going to be a 52-yard attempt.

"It's glass half full, glass half empty."

Akers' longest field goal this season was 51 yards, which he matched later in the quarter. But Childress was told by one of his special-teams staffers that Akers could make the kick from 52 yards in the climate-controlled Dome.

Childress' lament?

"I kick myself for not quarterback sneaking and punting to DeSean Jackson and then having him bring it right back to the spot where it would have been, had we gotten stopped on fourth down," Childress said.

He was referring to the play on the previous drive, when Chester Taylor was short on a third and 2 from the Vikings' 28. Minnesota elected to punt on fourth and 1, and Chris Kluwe's 60-yard punt was returned 62 yards by Jackson to the Vikings' 27.

Childress, though, also was asked about his thinking late in the first half after Cedric Griffin intercepted a pass at the Vikings' 13.

With 70 seconds remaining in the first half, Taylor attempted a run that gained nary a yard.

"We were deep in our own territory, and we had one timeout, if I'm not mistaken, so what you want to do is you want to try and hit a play if you can. And then things get different if you can get it in or around the midfield stripe or minus the 40-yard line," Childress said. "At the same time we wanted to see how they were going to play with their timeouts. If you want to run out the clock, you run it three times in a row."

The Vikings, though, did not hurry into their next play. Then, Jackson attempted a short pass to receiver Bobby Wade. The incomplete pass saved the Eagles their final timeout, which they used after Taylor gained just 3 yards on third and 10.

Jackson returned the punt 13 yards, to the Eagles' 44. But the Eagles were not able to get into field-goal range.