Such is the unforgiving nature of football, and the all-consuming intensity that permeates every game, that on Monday morning the Gophers woke up tied for the Big Ten West lead and it felt like their season was over, while the Vikings barely avoided losing to one of the only teams in the NFL worse than they are, and it feels like a rebirth of sorts.

Every game in both college and the NFL is all-in every week, which is what makes football so compelling. If the Wild or Wolves lose a game they were supposed to win, or steal a victory in which they easily could have lost, the gloom or satisfaction is fleeting. It is one of 82, and unless the game has an immediate impact on whether the playoffs are made or missed, it is easily forgotten.

Baseball? The Twins get almost twice as many games to quickly cruise past wins or losses (more of the latter recently, of course, which is not to say they don't add up).

It's what makes the postseason in all three sports so compelling; when a sport used to a marathon pace suddenly becomes a sprint — every basket, goal or run magnified — the heightened sense of importance can be felt from players and fans alike.

But football, for better or worse, has that same type of feeling every week. NFL teams only get 16 chances to win or lose; college teams get even fewer. One botched opportunity or one game snatched from the fire can literally make or break a season.

As such, even though math tells us the Gophers are far from finished after taking a mighty tumble against a very bad Illinois team Saturday, logic tells us that the loss has the potential to do massive damage to a promising season.

Minnesota had been teetering on the edge of this for a while — tied late at home with Northwestern, trailing late at home against Purdue before pulling those games out — so the loss to the Illini in some respects feels like the correct adjustment to our expectations. Maybe the Gophers just needed to lose one of these times to learn their lesson. Or maybe it is what it feels like: any chance for this to be a special season depended on not losing that game.

Similarly for the Vikings, who were full speed ahead on another miserable 2013-esque loss before first-rounders Teddy Bridgewater and Anthony Barr combined to force overtime and win at Tampa Bay, any chance for this to be anything but a lost season revolved around beating the Bucs.

Last week's loss at Buffalo was the setup punch, but Sunday would've been the knockout. Instead, you look at the schedule: home next week against Washington, a bye, then at the imploding Bears, and you wonder if .500 is a realistic goal. And then you see there are three consecutive home games after that … Must-wins, all of them; then again, what games aren't in football?

MICHAEL RAND