EDEN PRAIRIE (AP) -- Minnesota Vikings coach Dennis Green said he'll pursue free agent quarterback Rick Mirer if negotiations with Jeff George fall through.

Green said last week that he had an ''ace in the hole'' if George rejected the Vikings' offer of a one-year contract. On Sunday, he confirmed it was Mirer.

''If we don't get Jeff George, we'll focus on Mirer,'' he said. ''We just have to have another way to go. And the longer it goes on, the more you have to consider the viable alternative. Also, you have to make sure that viable alternative doesn't sign somewhere else.''

But Green also said he hasn't given up on George, and he wasn't fazed by the interest of the Washington Redskins in George as a backup to former Viking Brad Johnson.

Washington's director of player personnel, Vinny Cerrato, confirmed Sunday that the Redskins were interested in George, but he said no formal offer had been made, and no deal was imminent.

''We have not talked any terms,'' Cerrato said. ''We don't know what George needs to join our team and whether he wants to be a backup quarterback. We hope to talk to (Leigh) Steinberg (George's agent) this week.''

Mirer, the second overall pick behind Drew Bledsoe in the 1993 draft, has played for four NFL teams. He got off to a solid start in his first two seasons, but after Seattle fired coach Tom Flores at the end of the 1994 season, Mirer's play declined under new coach Dennis Erickson, and he was traded to the Chicago Bears before the 1997 season.

''Rick came into the league and got off to a good start,'' Green said, ''but he was a victim of a coaching change, and I think that set him back. But I look at Rick Mirer like some of the other guys that came here. We have a real quarterback-friendly system, and guys can pick up things very quickly.''

Green said Mirer also faced a difficult situation with the New York Jets last season, when he went 2-4 as the starter after replacing injured Vinny Testaverde.

''I think he can mesh in here real well,'' Green said.