No question should ever go unanswered, so they say ...

Who dey? Who dat?

Since you may not know, I have the answer to both those questions.

I heard a few grumblings earlier this season when the supercharged New Orleans Saints fans revived a nice little chant in support of their team. It goes like this: “Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?”

Bengals fans say the Saints chant is a rip off of their own “Who dey.” Theirs goes like this: “Who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals?”

By most accounts, the Bengals started “Who dey” during the Super Bowl season of 1983 and the Saints started their own “Who dat” under head coach Bum Phillips in 1983.

Who own the rights, I really couldn’t say for sure. But truth is it probably isn’t the Bengals or Saints since Southern University claims to be the originator of the cheer as early as the 1960s. A couple high schools in the South also claim to be the first to use the chant around the same time. And later, Louisiana State used it in the 1970s.

Who started it doesn’t really matter when looking for the actual answer to those posed questions now.

Which first brings me to the answer of Who dey?

It seems the original cheer more than likely came from the South, which makes it perhaps not surprising that the answer does as well.

Growing up in Mississippi and later playing quarterback at Southern Mississippi, Brett Favre may not be a young boy slinging footballs around the South anymore. But as we have already seen this season, the old man has a little something left.

Favre, as he always does, has had his share of doubters and haters this season — you might know the definition of schism by now. And if you do, chances are you probably know all about the MVP-like season Favre is having with the Minnesota Vikings instead of the fall-flat-on-your-face final campaign everyone said he was going to have after joining the team in training camp back in the summer.

Like it or not, Favre is having maybe his best season ever. And that doesn’t bode well for the Bengals today.

Who dey? Bluntly put, dey the Favre-led Vikings today in Minneapolis.

I’ll give the Bengals credit for a quality season, having run an unbeaten record against their AFC North foes. Finding a nice balance on offense and defense, Cincinnati currently sits as the No. 2 team in the conference and will have a first-round bye in the playoffs if it stays there.

But I have my doubts the Bengals will, starting with today’s game in Minnesota. What the Bengals do well, the Vikings simply do better.

If the Bengals stack up the box today — and they might just do that — Favre will burn them through the air. Back off the run and Favre will kill them with precision behind one of the best running games in the league.

Pick your poison Bengals. Who dey has an answer in Favre — still one of the NFL’s superstars — today.

From Who dey to Who dat, you ask?

Well, as you may have guessed already, the answer is the same, though we’ll have to wait beyond today to see.

Favre and the Vikings have been on a collision course with the Saints for several weeks now, both sitting firming atop the NFC. That primetime matchup would have to come in the NFC championship game, though, likely back in the Deep South where it all began for Favre.

Who dat? Once again, dat’s Favre.

What better way for Favre to go out for good, I ask, than by heading back home to the South and answering all those questions by earning a return trip to the Super Bowl? ... That’s one question that doesn’t need an answer.

ADAM VANKIRK can be reached at avankirk@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2640.