Chicago Bears lined up on offense.

Outdoor football was everything I thought it would be, and I have the pictures to prove it.

As I mentioned Tuesday morning on this blog, I had a great time at the Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings game on Monday night, which was moved to TCF Bank Stadium after the Metrodome’s roof collapsed.

Ultimately, I think the Vikings will get approval for a new stadium. Seems like some momentum could build after the Metrodome’s problems.

There’s no doubt the Vikings made money on Monday night. They wouldn’t spend $700K to clear the field if they weren’t. But I’m sure they didn’t make nearly as much as they normally do for home games.

And my guess is their new stadium will have a roof or a retractable roof. Doesn’t seem to make much sense to have three new outdoors stadiums in the Twin Cities without building one that’s enclosed.

Anyway, here are a few photos from the game. Captions are beneath each photo.

Players warm up prior to Monday's game.

Robbie Gould kicks off to start the game.Chicago Bears lined up on offense.Was this the final time we'll see Brett Favre on a football field?

Was this the final time we'll see Brett Favre on a football field?

In the end, it’s safe to say Monday’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears went off mostly without a hitch.

Yeah, there was a fan that ran onto the field and had to be restrained by security. And I’m sure all of the snow piling up on the streets led to a couple of accidents going to and from the game. But after attending Monday night’s game, I don’t recall hearing a single person say, “It is too cold. I’m leaving.” Instead, in the fourth quarter, it was, “The Vikings stink. I’m leaving.” Most people filed out with about nine minutes to play after Chicago’s Chris Harris intercepted a Joe Webb pass.

TCF Bank Stadium provided a pretty unique setting for football. For one night, the state became, “The Land of 10,000 Handwarmers.” And I loved it.

Everything about last night’s game felt like something from an NFL Films video. In fact, they had NFL Films videos from the Met Stadium days playing as fans waited for the game to start. You even had the 50 greatest Vikings players honored at halftime.

It didn’t take long before someone in our section decided to go shirtless. I don’t think that guy even waited until kickoff.

And despite the “no alcohol” policy on the University of Minnesota campus, I can assure you there were a few people who had one too many either prior to or during that game last night.

My group got its seats in the upper deck, and we even managed to avoid the bleachers, which was good. It was windy and cold. I won’t lie. I did slip on a facemask from time to time to protect my chin. But I couldn’t be happier about deciding to attend that game.

I’ll post photos as soon as I can. Wanted to get a few quick thoughts out there now while I had time.

I was completely shocked upon hearing that the Minnesota Vikings are going with a first-come, first-serve scenario when it comes to Monday’s game against the Chicago Bears.

In the Minneapolis Star Tribune story, some season tickets holders are threatening to not renew their season tickets. I can’t blame them.

In a week full of headaches, the Vikings have created another one. This time, Mother Nature can’t get all of the blame.

Obviously, with the 64,000-seat Metrodome out of commission, some fans are going to get left out with the game moving to 51,000-seat TCF Bank Stadium. But this wasn’t the way to figure that out.

Do a ticket lottery. Just tell the fans with the worst seats at the Metrodome that they can’t go because there isn’t room at TCF. Make a decision. But don’t do this.

I’m looking at it from the perspective of out-of-town fans in places like Fargo-Moorhead or even Chicago. What are they supposed to do? Make the cross-state or cross-region drive to the Twin Cities and hope that they can get in?

The problem with the scenarios I gave above is that if some of those people given approval to go to the game opted for refunds instead, the Vikings wouldn’t have a packed house. In a week where they will spend at least $700,000 clearing out a stadium, plus losing out on money made from the sale of beer and having to refund 13,000 ticket holders, somehow the fans are the ones that come out as losers.

The way this has been handled is unfortunate. I know there isn’t a page in the franchise ownership manual for handling a crisis like this, but I would have liked to see the Vikings improvise a little better than this.

So to you F-M fans out there with tickets to Monday’s game, good luck. I hope you’re not left out in the cold.