Who the heck would have thought that we'd need a second Open Thread on a Tuesday in January when our team was realistically eliminated from playoff contention right around Columbus Day, huh?

We mentioned yesterday when Ken Whisenhunt agreed to become the next head coach of the Tennessee Titans that the Detroit Lions. . .who were thought to be the favorites for Whisenhunt. . .were talking to former Indianapolis Colts' head coach and Baltimore Ravens' offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell. Earlier in the day today, the Lions made Caldwell their new head coach, leaving just two job openings left for head coaches in the National Football League.

For those of you that have not yet read and/or contributed to the 1000+ comments in today's Open Thread, one of those still belongs to the Minnesota Vikings, as of about 3 PM Central time on Tuesday. Zimmer made it to Winter Park earlier in the day, and that's about the extent of the updates that we've received about what's going on up there at this point.

The other opening currently belongs to the Cleveland Browns, and there's been a development there that could affect the Vikings as well, as Ted detailed in a story that went up as I was cobbling this together. Todd Bowles, who was also rumored to be getting a second interview with the Vikings after impressing in his initial interview, formally asked the Browns to withdraw his name from the search for their head coaching job. The Browns appear to be focused on Denver Broncos' offensive coordinator Adam Gase at this point, but can't do anything with him until after the Super Bowl, if my understanding of the rules is correct.

Did Bowles withdraw his name from the Browns' search because he thinks he still has a shot at the Vikings' head coaching position? Are things with Zimmer not going 100% the way the Vikings might like? As we've said, nobody knows for sure. But that's not going to stop us from intently staring at our Twitter feeds waiting for the news to break.

Speaking of Twitter feeds, here's the "Vikings Media" feed from the DN Twitter account. If anything breaks, you'll likely see it here first.

Since the other Open Thread is probably lagging pretty good at this point, the party (or afterparty) can continue right here.