Vikings to two fourth quarter drives to tie the game and send it into overtime. In overtime, however, Jackson fumbled on the second play and the Vikings lost the game. Jackson showed slow improvement over the season: he played a large role when the Vikings went on a five-game winning streak in November, but also showed his inexperience in several ill-judged interceptions, jump passes, and turnovers. After the season, Childress would not say if Tarvaris Jackson would be the starter in 2008. 2008 season There was a lot of media coverage on Jackson the summer of 2008. The Vikings returned seven players that were in the 2008 Pro Bowl (only three teams had more), and spent $60 million in guaranteed contract money upgrading their team with Jared Allen, traded from the Kansas City Chiefs, and free agents Bernard Berrian and Madieu Williams. Several analysts believed better quarterback play was all that was needed to make the Vikings one of the top contending teams in the NFL, and with the Green Bay Packers losing Brett Favre the NFC North Division was up for grabs. Sport's Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman predicted the Vikings would win the Super Bowl. Head coach Brad Childress decided to stay with Jackson as the starting quarterback and brought in Gus Frerotte to be his backup. It was widely reported in the off-season that Jackson had a new swagger, handled situations in practice well where he looked lost in the previous years, and had an improved grasp of the Vikings offensive system. Childress threw a "Coaching 101" clinic for media reporters in which he played a tape of Jackson showing the progress he made in 2007 through a series of missed passes or poor decisions that he made in early games but executed properly in later contests and concluded with some tape of him hitting a target net with every 15-yard pass he threw during an offseason drill. Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell repeatedly told the press that although it was Jackson's third year with the Vikings it was really his second year playing, and NFL quarterbacks improve the most between their first and second years. Jackson had another good preseason, until he injured his knee again in the second preseason game which kept him from playing the last two preseason games. In the first game of the regular season against the Green Bay Packers, Jackson threw a game-ending interception