The Vikings' season has gone down in flames.

What a ridiculous game. The Vikings looked disinterested, disheveled, disheartened and disengaged… until the last quarter, when they apparently found a little bit of pride left in the bottom of the barrel. It was too little, too late.

If this doesn’t prove to all of you people out there still defending Leslie Frazier that HE CANNOT coach or motivate this team, I don’t know what more it will take. 2 games this week and both times this team was not prepared and completely lacked any semblance of professionalism.

On the first play of the game, Charlie Johnson was called for a false start. And it was all downhill from there. Horrible tackling, lack of care with the ball and uninspiring performances by nearly every member of the squad. I think that Adrian Peterson would have had a very good day, but unfortunately, he was lost to us early in the second quarter.

Toby Gerhart is no Adrian Peterson. I think we can all agree on that.

The Good

Chad Greenway got Frazier's challenge. The rest of the defense took a nap.

Chad Greenway actually had a sack today, his first of the season and his first tackle for a loss of the season. He ended the day with 7 solo tackles, 8 assists and a sack.

3 personal fouls on the Raiders in the first quarter. That’s not really “good” but it kept our drive going.

Adrian Peterson got rushing TD #11, but didn’t make much headway in his quest to be the Vikings’ all-time leading rusher. He had 26 yards on the day, leaving him with 165 yards I believe before he breaks the record.

We actually blocked a field goal attempt for the first time since 2007! What kind of sad stat is that? We just aren’t very good at blocking punts or field goals – although the reverse happens to us fairly frequently.

Percy Harvin being used as a running back in the absence of Adrian Peterson. Perhaps he should be used more there. He had 5 carries for 21 yards rushing and 6 receptions for 76 yards. It was good to have him fully in the game.

The Bad

He can run. And has to a lot because our woe-line brings sadness & defeat.

Christian Ponder throwing an INT into double coverage in the red zone, setting up a TD scoring drive for the Raiders in the 1st quarter. Christian Ponder throwing another INT in 3rd quarter… setting up yet another Raiders TD. Christian Ponder throwing another red-zone INT that, due to a Michael Bush fumble, resulted in a Brian Robison recovery instead of another 7 points for the Raiders.

For the game, he went 19/33 for 211 yards with 2 TDs… and 3 INTs. Ponder made poor decisions out there today. I was hoping to see better decisions – not worse – with increased game time. The good news is that he takes full responsibility in his pressers.

The o-line had some of its worst play since the start of the season – and that’s saying a LOT given how crappy that line is to begin with. We need some serious upgrades along that o-line in the off-season. Since we’ll have high picks and all that – based on our travesty of a season.

Jared Allen’s 11 game streak with a sack was broken today. In his defense, he was held frequently and the Raiders were working the soft side with Robison quite a bit, taking the field of play away from him. Surprisingly, he ended the day with 0 solo tackles and just 2 assists.

Booker: Sometimes good. Usually not.

Lorenzo Booker fumbling on the 17 yard line when returning a kick and the Raiders recovering with less than 2 minutes in the 1st half, leading to another Raiders TD. Booker seems to have issues with holding onto the ball.

Penalties. 9 penalties for 50 yards. This team remains undisciplined. Of course, it could have been worse… we could be the Raiders with 12 for 117 yards. And if you’re thinking about that stat… that’s more than the length of the field, which theoretically would have led to some kind of advantage for us. But no, because it’s the Vikings and the team isn’t able to capitalize on those kind of mistakes. Much.

Leslie... Your coaching leaves me grimacing. And you can't motivate.

The Ugly

The FANS during the injury time out when Darrius Heyward-Bey was being strapped to a gurney with a potentially serious neck injury. You stupid people decided to do the WAVE???? This isn’t Chicago people. We’re not a bunch of classless ruffians. What is WRONG with you people attending that game? The team is embarrassing enough and now those of you doing the wave made the whole fan base look like a bunch of asses. Way to go.

Adrian Peterson’s ankle injury. It was ugly and he was carted off. He came back later in the game to hobble around on the sidelines, but he didn’t take the field again. Which was good – he needs to give that ankle some time.

The officiating! Phantom holding calls, miscalling of downs… what the heck was going on with them today? They were amateur at best.

Run stopping. Or rather, the lack thereof. Invisible pass defense. The defense looked anemic at nearly every position today. There was a Kevin Williams sighting. One. His first sack since 2009.

Special teams. All areas… kicking, punting, special teams coverage… Kick returns of 20, 36 and 46 yards allowed. Kluwe mishandling a snap on a field goal attempt. Sweet baby Odin… not good all around.

This was an incredibly painful game to watch across the board. These kinds of games suck the life right out of you. Or at least they suck the life right out of me. Leslie Frazier obviously can’t motivate this team. He & Musgrave cannot adjust and the whole team is flat.

I’ll end with this: I hope that Adrian Peterson & Darrius Heyward-Bey have speedy recoveries.

Skol Vikings Nation.

The Vikings Longboat docked in the Carolinas today.

I was given a lot of grief for picking the Panthers over the Vikings in today’s game. I didn’t do it because the Vikings have never won there (until today). Or because I thought Cam Newton would light up our secondary.

Well – maybe a little of each of those… but I picked the Panthers over the Vikings because the Vikings’ coaching staff is habitually terrible, as is our offensive line and our defensive secondary. A poor defensive secondary is a bad match with someone like Cam Newton. Our offensive line is a bad match with nearly every defense in the league.

But, thanks to the incredibly non-clutch place kicker of the Carolina Panthers, Olindo Mare, we have put our Panther Problems behind us.

As an added bonus, Chris Kluwe has unlocked his one week off reward for his Panther Pelt Quest completion.

I’m trying to be objective about today’s performance. Weirdly, I feel happy and optimistic, even though the brain part of me knows that we didn’t really “win” the game, but rather the Panthers lost it for themselves. We had issues. Lots and lots of issues. And those aren’t going to go away during the bye.

Without further ado, let’s break it down.

The Good

Christian Ponder: Affable, Unflappable Leader

Christian Ponder on 3rd down. 50% efficiency today, but when passing he converted 7 out of 10 attempts. This is such a huge improvement over our former QB, who shall remain nameless because his name is out in the media WAY too much right now.

Christian Ponder in the 4th Quarter. He does not give up. Not only does he not give up, he doesn’t let the offense give up. He’s leading them down the field, quietly but noticeably when compared to our first 5 games of the season.

Jared Allen. He is consistently performing week over week. He now has 10 consecutive games with a sack. Today, he also stripped the ball and recovered a fumble. He continues to impress.

Percy Harvin. A 10 yard rushing TD and 4 receptions for 58 yards – all while continuing to battle his rib injury. He’s a tough dude, no doubt, with lots of heart.

Peterson was in beast mode today. His rushing TD was a delight!

Adrian Peterson. He led the team today in both rushing AND receiving, combining for 162 of the 361 yards of total offense. What would we do without AD? I keep seeing Tweets from people about trading him for some first round picks. Those people need to have their heads examined. Adrian Peterson gives his heart & soul to the team every week. We could play the game of naming Vikings we CAN’T say that about… but let’s leave it at this: Adrian Peterson should spend his career as a Viking.

Chad Greenway led the team with 7 Tackles and 6 assists, beefing those stats up with a fumble recovery off Jared Allen’s strip to boot.  One disappointment was his miss on a blitz late in the 4th. But I believe Hussein Abdullah finished that one off.

The Vikings played 4 quarters of football today. I know, I was surprised, too. But they did it. They stayed engaged, they played hard and they kept fighting right until the end. I’m not saying they looked consistently great… but they played 60 minutes for a 2nd straight week.

The Bad

Ryan Longwell probably isn't celebrating being 1/2 on field goals today.

Percy was doing some great things on offense – until he was re-injured. He came back in – but I’m concerned that this is a long-term injury. The bye couldn’t come at a better time. Keep in mind that I’m putting Percy’s injury in “The Bad”, not Percy himself.

Ryan Longwell missing what should have been an automatic field goal. I was shocked that he kicked it wide left. The good news is that Longwell put some bad place kicking juju on the field that later impacted Mare and prevented the Vikings from losing another game.

Our woe-line issues continue to plague. Not only was Ponder sacked 4 times, but AD only put up 86 rushing yards on the defense ranked 29th against the run. Yes sir, ladies & gentlemen, that is what a bad o-line does to the number one rusher in the league. Even the threat of a passing game couldn’t fix that – and neither could a rookie QB with a passer rating over 102.

The Ugly

Hey Remi: Spend less time coiffing your hair and more time stopping the run!

Let’s start with Frazier’s challenges. His inability to coach never ceases to amaze me. He recently made some very nice personnel moves, filling me with a little optimism in his ability to improve… and then he makes 2 of the dumbest challenges I’ve seen lately. He was totally stoked in his presser after the game, but I hope he reflects on the poor choices for challenges and considers which team is up next on our schedule when the team gets back from the bye.

The Vikings run stopping. What ever happened to our impressive ability to stop the run? The Panthers were averaging 5.2 yards per rushing play against us today. Meanwhile, for comparison, we (with the best RB in the league) were averaging 4.0 yards per rushing play against the 29th ranked defense against the run. What is going on? Well, the fact that Remi Ayodele was credited with precisely 1 assist and 0 tackles today could have something to do with it. As a Nose Tackle that dude spends more time picking his nose than tackling.

The defensive secondary. Sweet baby Odin. Winfield out. Cook suspended (and hopefully cut, soon).  Cedric was moved to LCB… and we spent the day enjoying the coverage stylings of… Asher Allen. Everyone was getting burned back there. Sanford, Allen, Johnson when he was playing. What a nightmare. Just goes to show you that the Packers may not be as great as people think when ARodg couldn’t find a way to torch us. This, along with the o-line, should be the focus for the 2012 draft.

So next week is our bye. I bloody hate bye week. I love the Vikings and I love seeing them on my TV. Purple just makes me happy. Luckily, we go into the week with a W. Hopefully the team won’t let up on the focus for our week back. It’s time to hand those Pukers a loss. And I think we’re just the team that should do it.

Skol Vikings Nation!

McNabb got benched, praise Odin. But for how long?

Well, Vikings fans, it’s game 6 of the 2011 season. Or 2010 Redux as I like to think of it. Only we won’t win as many games this year.

We just had our ascot handed to us on a platter by the woeful Bears. That’s right, we made the Bears’ offensive line look stout. We made Cutler look like Brady – or at least capable. And our entire team looked utterly and completely inept.

We can feel the Puker Nation cackling with glee at our misfortune… all while insisting the Bears are their biggest rival. And guess what Purple People – those Pukers are up next on our schedule! Oh yeah. Can’t wait for that game!

If you’re reading this, you’re at least hanging around like me, watching travesty after travesty, week after week. We’re not band wagon fans, are we Vikings Nation? Did you know that there are repulsive Puker fans out there saying that we’re probably down to 200 fans now that Favre is gone? Well, we will continue to be here and the Puker fans will continue to be as classless as their team, flipping off their own players on TV (Yeah, AJ Hawk – I’m talking to you Mr. Non-Role Model).

Gee - Frazier actually made a decision tonight.

I thought a lot about what I would say about this game. After considering my options, I’ve decided that the Good/Bad/Ugly format isn’t going to work because, aside from Frazier FINALLY acting like a coach and benching McNabb, there was nothing good about this game. Not one thing.

After the game, in his presser, Frazier wouldn’t commit to Ponder or McNabb. The coaching staff is going to “discuss” it tomorrow. Frazier finally displays some coaching gravitas by benching McNugget and then he ruins it in the post-game presser because he’s too McChicken to make difficult decisions by himself. Terrific. I’m sure that Tony Dungy would do things exactly the same way. Hopefully my sarcasm comes through.

The Vikings have a big decision to make. They could assume that continued losses might jeopardize the stadium approval and actually try to win (operative word: TRY), they could keep things status quo and join the Dolphins and the Colts in the “Suck for Luck” bowl, or they could make radical changes and try to determine their talent needs for the next draft – and stop worrying about the division standings.

The Bears sacked McNabb 5 times. This isn't McNabb. So what?

Maybe you’re wondering what I would do. Or, you might not care. If you don’t care, you can stop reading here. If you’re interested, continue reading.

I’d go for option 3. Radical change. Starting at QB. Frazier shouldn’t have quibbled during the post-game presser. He should have stated specifically that a) this season is going nowhere, b) he was wrong to bring McNabb in and c) Ponder and Webb will be taking the QB position for the rest of the season. But honesty and decisiveness are not Frazier’s strong suit.

I’m not going to rehash my “What I Would Do If I Were Leslie Frazier” post. What we need right now is for Leslie to make the tough decisions. If he can’t, he should be relieved of his duties and the Wilfs should use their connections to hook us up with an interim coach that has the guts to do what needs to be done.

Stopping at a QB change will buy us very little, save the NFL experience either Ponder or Webb – or both – would gain. I don’t mean to diminish that, but we need to evaluate all of the talent on this team, which means sitting starters and looking deep into the line up. This is a lost season. We’re going nowhere and if we do not take stock in what we currently have on the roster, we will have no direction as to which way to go, heading into the 2012 draft, in order to secure what we need from a talent perspective to be competitive again quickly.

Personally, I thought Webb should replace McNabb. He's got better wheels.

I’m not talking obvious things – like our Woe-Line issues and our sieve-like secondary. Those are easy targets. But who is sucking up valuable roster space? I’m sure there are 10 people we could cycle off easily – but which ones should go? We should take the rest of the season to find out.

Putting Webb and Ponder in the game would generate excitement in the fan base. If we’re going to lose, let’s watch these kids grow.

As much as it pains me to say it, I’m not looking forward to next week’s game at all. And if Frazier comes out on Wednesday and says either a) he hasn’t made a QB decision or b) he says he’s starting McNabb, I will likely attempt to boycott the viewing of the game. Of course, by Sunday, my resolve would crumble and I’d end up watching anyway, so I’m just going to admit I’ll be watching and hoping for as many AR face plants as possible.

I expect to see this next week.