This is what a person looks like when they shouldn't be a head coach in the NFL. Confused & over-matched.

Every time I think the Vikings couldn’t disappoint me more if they tried… they disappoint me more, primarily without trying. Or, because they’re NOT trying.

This team sucks. The coaching staff sucks. The personnel decisions of the last 5 years have come home to roost. This team is going to be bad until 2015, at least. Mark my words. I know none of us likes to hear it – but it’s all right there over the last 2 seasons.

Between poor drafting decisions, poor coaching decisions and bad personnel management when it comes to free agency (wide receiver, anyone?), this team has a steep drop off from star talent to the rest of the guys. Toby Gerhart is a prime example of talent drop-off from Adrian Peterson. And worse, there are very few roles with star talent.

Who qualifies as “star” talent? Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin, Jared Allen… and that about wraps it up, doesn’t it? We don’t yet know if Ponder is going to be a star. We have no stand-outs on the offensive line. Our Tight Ends are average as a unit. Our defensive secondary sucks. I could go on, but we all know the state of the team.

The highlight of the game today was watching Jared Allen long-snapping after Cullen Loeffler was injured early in the 2nd quarter. And that was more from an overall interest perspective than anything else. Although, because our special teams’ performance has declined since we booted our previous special teams coach, Brian Murphy, not only did Jared Allen long-snap but he also had to bring down the punt returner after 6 to 7 missed tackles.

The announcers couldn’t shut up about Jared Allen long-snapping, but any good Vikings fan knew that a) Allen was drafted for his long-snapping skills and b) he’s listed as the #2 long-snapper in the depth chart. Duh.

Ponder made some nice throws today.

The Decent

Ponder to Percy and then a 1 yard carry by Gerhart for a TD in the 3rd quarter. Ponder took a huge risk throwing into double coverage, but Percy was able to win that contest, no problem. They should trust Percy more in those situations. Favre did.

Lucky break at the start of the 4th quarter, with a punt hitting a Falcon and subsequently being recovered by D’Imperio. Great field position & an unexpected possession. What did we do with it? Get a TD, of course, off 4th and 13. Just like I expected. Not! Ponder to Percy. Hey Musgrave: pay attention you dodo! Percy deep = magic.

This is what the WORST Offensive Coordinator in the NFL looks like.

The Terrible

Bill Musgrave’s play calling. The bubble screen to Percy didn’t work the first time? Let’s run that play 2 more times at least for negative yards! Yeah!

Percy’s 104 yard kick return… that wasn’t a TD. Crappy Bill Musgrave play-calling doomed the 3 subsequent downs. Dear Bill: GERHART is NOT the answer when you need to get 2 feet. He’s proved it time & time again. Do you, Bill, NOT watch film?

Special teams tackling. Or, the lack thereof. Our special teams coverage has significantly declined, where it used to be a strong point of ours. Priefer should be canned. Bring back Brian Murphy.

Defensive secondary. The worst in the league in my opinion. Especially now with Antoine Winfield out for the year with his broken clavicle. Cedric Griffin is terrified of contact – and I don’t blame him for that but I do think he needs to be released in the off-season.

Can someone explain to me why Webb isn't being used as a wide receiver or punt/kick returner? He has tremendous talent and does nothing but sit there week after week.

The Ridiculous

30% efficiency in 3rd down conversions. 64 net yards in rushing. Time of possession: 25:12. 6 penalties for 49 yards – undisciplined.

Frazier told some token blonde woman reporting from the sidelines after half time that he was hoping to use the run game to open up the passing game. Yes – Frazier is so stupid, he believes that we still can have a premier running game with Adrian Peterson sitting at home in Minnesota while the team plays in the Georgia Dome.

The performance of the o-line. Ponder had zero time back in the pocket. No protection the vast majority of the game. The entire line – including Phil Loadholt – needs an upgrade.

HOW did Frazier not challenge the 2nd effort Percy TD? Huge failure in the booth on the part of the Vikings. And it’s not the first time the people in the booth have failed the team. Perhaps those folks should be upgraded as well.

The Broncos are up next. Won’t it be fun to watch some talentless hack like Tim Tebow send the Purple & Gold to 2-10? No, it won’t be fun. But it will happen and those die-hard fans like myself will stoically watch the travesty of a game as it transpires.

Skol Vikings Nation. Make sure you have libations on hand to reduce the pain.

McNugget vs McNabb. What's the difference?

I’m just going to jump right in this week. That’s right… no fancy preamble. No comical lead in. No extra words to preface my upcoming remarks… but I digress!

I didn’t pick the Vikings to win today. Donovan McNabb is still our quarterback and Leslie Frazier is still our coach and Bill Musgrave is still coordinating the offense. Ergo, it didn’t take much critical thought to conclude that the Vikings would be who we thought they were.

And then they won. The difference today was Fred Pagac‘s defense: 3 INTs, 2 forced fumbles and 4 sacks.

I’m not inferring that we shouldn’t feel happy about this win. Although I’m not happy as this, in Frazier’s mind, will reset the “Bench McNabb” clock and he will allow a QB that can’t throw to continue losing games for us by being unable to convert 3rd downs due to a lack of a passing game.

Still feeling good about today’s game? Let’s look at some stats to see if I can’t bring you back to reality.

See how happy Donovan McNabb looks on the bench? Put him there permanently.

Last week, McNabb threw for 202 yards against the Chiefs. This week he threw 169 yards against the Cardinals.

Last week he completed 18/30 with 2 TDs and 1 INT. This week, he was 10/21 with 0 TDs and 0 INTs.

That’s right Vikings Nation: our passing game is WORSE, not better.

And how ’bout that highlight of Percy standing in the end zone, wide open, while McNabb threw to Jenkins for 5 yards? That’s the best illustration of how bloody inept McNabb is that I’ve seen.

Today’s win was due to our defense making big plays deep in the Cardinals’ territory and good field position post-punt. From there it was All-Day, well, basically all day.

We had a great first quarter. In fact, we essentially front loaded our typical good first half into the first quarter and then held on for dear life the rest of the game. We didn’t score at all during the 2nd quarter. And we had 1 field goal in the 3rd quarter and another in the 4th quarter. That’s right Vikings Nation: we are the same team we’ve been all year. Nothing has changed, other than we played a team that had a QB who was not taking care of the ball and a group of guys who couldn’t pull it together the way the Chargers, Bucs, Lions and Chiefs did.

In short: there is no cause for optimism because we won this game. If you were feeling awesome about the upcoming games until you read this, you have my sympathy but I will not apologize for taking this team to task over their performance.

The Good

You're right - this isn't Kevin Kolb. So what???

Jared Allen and Brian Robison were quite beastly today. These guys make a tremendous pair of defensive ends. We should have let Ray Edwards go elsewhere sooner as we can consistently count on B-Rob to show up and care on a weekly basis. Also – I suspect we won’t see him launch himself into the air to perform an aerobatic helmet to helmet with Matt Stafford because he doesn’t play dirty.

Asher Allen. Yeah. I said it. Prior to the game I was tweeting and texting my disdain for Asher. And then what does he do? Makes a great play and doesn’t mess up the rest of the game. Huh. I didn’t see that coming, but I’ll take it. Imagine if his game becomes consistent and we have a healthy Antoine, Cedric, Cook and Allen available. Heck – we might actually get in the top 20 teams against the pass!

Jamarca Sanford. People – we had a SAFETY intercept passes TWICE today. I think I was eight the last time that happened. Ok – probably not. But it’s been a while. Jamarca gave it his all right until the end and that’s what we need from everyone on this team on a weekly basis.

Aromashodu deserves a chance to be the starter.

Devin Aromashodu, leaping like a gazelle, to catch passes. Berrian was right where he belonged: out of uniform and sitting his lazy behind on a bench. Let’s hope the next item out of Winter Park looks like this: “Today, the Vikings announce that they’ve released Bernard Berrian…” Let’s all pick up the red phone and get Odin on the horn to make that happen.

The Percy Harvin/Lorenzo Booker reverse play was working for me. I hope we see that again. I would have liked to have seen Percy get the ball more today. I don’t understand why we use the 2009 Offensive Rookie of the Year as a blocker more than the targeted receiver. Sure – he’s out there blocking like a crazy person – but c’mon – the kid has wheels. Let’s use ‘em.

Last, but definitely not least, Adrian Peterson. He had a great game – and a nice presser post-game as well. Adrian and I have had a complicated relationship over the years, marked by my cursing him from my hospital bed on Dec 28, 2009 when he fumbled in OT against the Bears, costing us home field advantage. The nurses weren’t too excited by my yelling and cursing. But, he’s worked hard to get back in my good graces by curing his fumbling problems… What? You didn’t know that was for me? Well, it was. Let’s move on. AD was dragging defenders by the dozen (or twos) and bowling people over in his quest to rack up 3 rushing TDs in the first quarter alone. Congrats to him on setting a team record to boot.

The Bad

Vikings receivers are perfecting the “Plank and Catch” technique, favored by no one in the NFL. Don’t know what I mean by that?

A receiver should be upright (the majority of the time) when catching the ball.  With McNabb at the helm, the Vikings spend most of their time in a horizontal pose – “planking” if you will – attempting to catch the ball before it can skip across the grass. Of course many times they just end up planking sans catch because McNabb not only has no zip to his balls, he chronically under-throws them as well.

Notice that the ball is nowhere near the grass and the receiver is upright.

Cris Carter demonstrating how to plank during Larry Fitzgerald's summer camp. He'd heard the Vikings had signed McNabb.

Ok. I joke about Cris Carter – but seriously – McNabb can’t throw! Until, all of a sudden, he actually hits a receiver in stride. But he does not do it enough to matter.

The Ugly

The Vikings convert 35% of their 3rd downs. By comparison, the Saints convert 59% of their 3rd downs. The Vikings are 23rd in Yards Per Game. We have the 5th most penalties and the 6th most penalty yards. We are inefficient and we’re undisciplined. And nothing has changed about that with this win. In fact, we only converted 30% of our 3rd downs today.

With this coaching staff and Donovan McNabb at the QB position, we will lose again the next time we go up against a team with some fight in them. I’m sorry to say that about a team that I love, but it’s the truth – based on statistics & facts, not emotion.

Frazier finally displayed a little bit of bite by benching Berrian for the game. If he does what needs to be done with McNabb, I might embrace some hope for the season. If not, I will continue to view the Purple & Gold with a skeptical eye.

Skol my Vikings brothers & sisters.

Yes - it's come to this. (Photo: Brian Peterson, Star Tribune)

New in Vikings’ wear this season, cardboard boxes with snappy slogans like “1st half masters, 2nd half disasters”. That’s right – paper bags are not sturdy enough for Vikings fans. We need cardboard to ensure that our identities are well concealed.

Ok Vikings brethren. I’m done with McNabb. And I’ll be done with Frazier (ok – I already am…), too, if he doesn’t bench McNabb for the rest of the season. We’re 25% of the way through the season and this team cannot beat a team that was manhandled by every opponent to date. The good news is that we didn’t blow a big lead after the half. Mostly because we weren’t leading at the half. In real, non-sarcastic good news, we actually managed to score during the second half – but it wasn’t enough to win the game.

The Vikings are 0-4. The McNabb experiment is a complete and utter flop. It’s time for Ponder and Webb to get a shot at leading this team. But they won’t get it.

Leslie Frazier said during his post game presser, “We’re not in a situation where I don’t think we’re going to make a quarterback change. We’ll go back and look at this tape and look at every position and try to see what we can do to help every position do better than we played today.” Despite the double negative, Leslie Frazier refuses to make a change at QB.

Frazier: Looking for answers while ignoring what's right in front of him.

I don’t care how nice Leslie Frazier is. Leaders need to lead – not worry about offending someone. Tough decisions need to be made, and Leslie Frazier doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to do it. He doesn’t have the go-for-the-kill instinct that is necessary to turn this team around.

Lest we forget, this team has the 2008 and 2009 Offensive Rookies of the year on it. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. We have Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin – but cannot win a game. We have Chad Greenway – one of the premier strong-side outside linebackers in the NFL. We have Jared Allen, Brian Robison and Kevin Williams. We have Visanthe Shiancoe. My point here is that we do have talent on this team but it’s not coalescing. Which leads me right back to my point from last week: this team is failing because of coaching.

I’m not going to rehash what I’ve stated in the past. I think everyone knows that I want Bill Musgrave fired and I wouldn’t mind seeing Frazier go as well. Including his stint as Interim Head Coach, he’s now 3-7… a wholly uninspiring performance – especially given his long tenure with this team.

McNabb. Yeah dude - we're perplexed, too.

If Frazier isn’t able to make the decisions that need to be made to allow this team to build for the future then someone in the Vikings organization needs to make the tough choices.

McNabb has no business being on the field. I don’t care how nice his throw to Devin Aromashodu was – any QB in the league could have made that throw.  Of course, I was just surprised that it was high enough to catch.

If Frazier won’t bench him, then the Wilfs should. It would be too much to expect McNabb to bench himself. He doesn’t even think he’s part of the problem!

The Vikings’ season is over.  At this point it’s not inconceivable that we might go 0-16. I thought KC was one of 3 games we might win this season, but the Vikings couldn’t get it together. The offensive line play sucked, McNabb was grass-skipping balls right and left, Peterson couldn’t break out a huge run the way we needed him to, and the defensive effort was rather drab. None of this bodes well for our match up with the Cardinals.

I will end this post-game sigh with this: there are 13 weeks of regular season play left. Much like last year, the  every day Viking fan will spend those 13 weeks holding on to the 2009 performance of the majority of this team and wonder where the magic went. Like the rest of you, I have no answers. Neither does the team, the coaching staff or the owners. That’s why it’s time for a shake up.

First, let me apologize for any confusion the post by my guest contributor, Metal Phil, may have caused. It was a last minute decision on our part, based on his desire for a cathartic writing experience after the travesty that was today’s game.

Second, I should reveal that I watched the 1st half AFTER the 2nd half, as I had a 1.5 hour massage that started at noon. Last week, when I booked it, I paused and said, “Oh no! I’ll miss the good half of the Vikings game!” And you know what? I wasn’t wrong.

Third, I admit to profiting from today’s game. A crazy friend of mine bet me $20 that the Vikings would win by 5. After telling him he was higher than a kite, I gleefully accepted his bet, fairly certain I’d be coming out of the transaction with $20 in my pocket. Hey Jim: you owe me $20 buddy!

Mercy Percy! I'm starting a new campaign: Pepto for Percy!

Let’s begin. After watching the first drive end in a field goal after Percy and Adrian both dropped passes (that surprisingly weren’t terrible), I thought it wasn’t hard to see how the rest of the game would go. Obviously I have the added advantage of knowing how it all turns out – but those are mental mistakes that shouldn’t happen with 2 players of that caliber.

The Vikings’ second offensive drive was equally unimpressive, with more bad passes and horrible offensive line play – especially on the part of Phil Loadholt. Is it that hard to find some guys that can block? I guess it must be, otherwise we’d have some, right?

The defense caused two 3 and outs for the Lions – primarily due to the sacky stylings of Jared Allen and Brian Robison. These two gentlemen earned their paychecks today. They also racked up 5 sacks between them (Allen 3, Robison 2) against an offensive line that hadn’t allowed one yet this season. Let’s be clear: the Vikings front 7 is a very, very good unit. They are not the problem here. I could watch these guys play all day long and not have too much to crab about.

One of the best moves, in my opinion, that the Vikings made this off-season, was signing Brian Robison to a 3-year deal and allowing Ray Edwards to get the heck out of dodge. Despite his encroachment penalty last week (that negated a fumble recovery), he brings a ton of energy to that front 4. He and Jared Allen make tremendous book ends.

Kyle Rudolph - Rookie Tight End

One of my favorite plays on offense is the Percy Harvin end around. He had a phenomenal one today, for 39 yards, before succumbing to his stomach ailment for the rest of the game. I saw reports stating he was getting sick repeatedly on the sideline. I hope it isn’t heralding the on-set of another bout of migraines.

Kyle Rudolph had a good game today. Marcus Sherels: I love you.  Chris Cook had a great play against Calvin Johnson early in the game. Of course, when it really mattered late in the game, we can’t say the same. So goes the Vikings’ defensive secondary. Wax on, wax off.

Like the previous two regular season games, the Vikings out-performed and, in fact, dominated their opponent throughout the entire first half. And, like the previous two regular season games, they could not finish. The question everyone asks me is: WHY?

The Vikings don’t lack for talent. Unless you mention our situation at wide receiver, then a case could be made since one critical WR spot is sucked up by the absolutely worthless Bernard Berrian. The Vikings show during the first halves of these games that they can play as a team. Not only can they play, they can dominate very good teams. So what happens after the half?

Leslie Frazier: Decent Defensive Coordinator - Bad Head Coach

Coaching. The Vikings have the same game plan every week for the 2nd half. Abandon what worked in the first half, continually go 3 and out, exhaust the defense and blow the lead. Make sure Peterson’s touches are significantly reduced. Be as predictable as possible.

This is 100% on the head of Leslie Frazier. He is the leader of the team and he has shown repeatedly that he cannot lead this team to a win. Last week I called for the firing of Frazier. I did it again this week and I’ll do it again next week. For those who think this is knee jerk, I said in numerous posts last season that I felt Frazier should not be offered the head coaching job. I continue to believe it. Why? Because he doesn’t have the guts to do what needs to be done.

What needs to be done?

A) Donovan McNabb needs to be benched. Let’s be clear: he should have never been given a purple jersey in the first place. But he’s proven once again that he cannot make it through an entire game.

B) Berrian needs to be cut. Bernard Berrian is a disgrace. He is worthless and adds nothing to this offense.

C) Those who do not play their hearts out for 6o minutes need to be benched, too, until they get the message that sloppy mistakes, lack of effort and mediocrity will not be tolerated.

The problem this team now has is that the rest of the NFL knows exactly how to beat us. All they have to do is lull us into complacency during the first half and then come out and score on us. This offense is so mentally weak, they cannot handle the pressure of watching the other team add points to the board. And by “this offense”, I mean Donovan McNabb. The longer the game goes, the worse his throws become. These teams know that, even if we’re up by 20 points going into the half, we won’t be able to score any more during the second half… so they just have to play catch up.

This all bodes for an incredibly long and wretched season for the purple faithful. The good news? Donovan McNabb’s contract is for one year.

Yeah - and the damn Bears let us down today, too. But ol' Aaron Rodgers got face planted!