Vikings lose, but do they care?

Water dripped from the ceiling Sunday afternoon as Vikings coach Brad Childress stepped behind a lectern. Upstairs, a clogged pipe had flooded the Metrodome concourse with several inches of water, trapping suite holders -- including owner Zygi Wilf -- inside their boxes.

On the field, the Vikings had just absorbed their most embarrassing loss of a disappointing season, trailing St. Louis by 34 points in the fourth quarter of a 41-21 defeat. Some players appeared indifferent, raising the specter of a team that had quit on its first-year head coach. A few seemed agitated with the apathy.

One player was deactivated as he neared key performance incentives. Everyone, however, was thrilled for the season's merciful conclusion.

With a flood upstairs and a drought of emotion downstairs, Childress was asked to measure the progress of a program that finished 6-10 -- three games worse than the 9-7 record that got former coach Mike Tice fired.

"I believe we are going forward," Childress said. "I think we have some groundwork laid. Obviously it hasn't paid off in terms of wins, and that's the bottom line: wins and losses."

The Twin Cities media has spent much of the past 10 days chronicling discontent both inside and outside the Vikings locker room. Much of it has centered on Childress' distant relationship with his players, highlighted by the Christmas Eve release of veteran receiver Marcus Robinson.

Eliminated Dec. 21 from postseason contention, some players seemed to have packed it in long before kickoff -- a shaky show of support for their coach. The defense gave up a season-high 168 rushing yards, including 142 by Steven Jackson, and missed a chance to set the NFL's modern-day record for the stingiest run defense. The offense, meanwhile, did not manage a first down in six of its 12 possessions.

"I don't think [we] were ready to play today," defensive tackle Kevin Williams said. "We missed some tackles. [Jackson] was running hard, and then you pile on the fact that you're already halfway out the door when the game starts. ... If you don't come out with your mind frame ready to play, things like that happen."

Said cornerback Antoine Winfield: "[Rams coach Scott] Linehan had them ready to play. They went out there and ran their offense, ran their defense and made a lot of plays. They did enough to pretty much blow us out."

Childress referred vaguely to the flat performance -- "[We were] looking for guys to compete, and I thought they did at different times at different levels of competing," he said -- but was unwavering in his evaluation of his program.

"It's like remodeling a house when you're in it," Childress said. "It's not comfortable, and the neighbors don't like looking at it with the family room knocked off. That's what I would liken it to. ... It's a little bit painful sometimes, a little bit uncomfortable sometimes."

The Vikings had nine days to prepare for Sunday's game, but their offense was unchanged and their personnel resembled an intersquad lineup. They started three rookies -- quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, right tackle Ryan Cook and receiver Martin Nance -- and managed only one scoring drive until midway through the fourth quarter.

While the Vikings took long looks at Nance and fellow rookie Jason Carter, second-year player Troy Williamson was inactive. Childress said he wanted to give the rookies maximum playing time, but importantly, Williamson would have earned a $250,000 bonus if he had caught at least four passes. And by sitting out the game, Williamson is in danger of missing out on a $1.25 million bonus for appearing in at least 45 percent of the plays.

Such a low priority on winning almost certainly pervaded the locker room, and shoulders slumped further when cornerback Ron Bartell returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown on the game's third play from scrimmage. The Vikings defense was also flat and mostly watched as Jackson became the first tailback to run for at least 100 yards against it in 2006.

"You've never seen us play like we did today on the defensive side of the ball," safety Darren Sharper said. "It was the last game. Maybe a lot of people thought it didn't mean anything. That might have been one of the reasons why. But we didn't play with the fire we feel that we have played with in the past."

And with a whimper, the Vikings completed their fifth nonplayoff season in six years.

"Not acceptable, just not acceptable," Winfield said.

As an offseason roster overhaul looms, Sharper was among a half-dozen players who openly questioned their future.

"Ten years [in the NFL] and I've never had a losing record," Sharper said. "That's kind of hard this year to deal with that, seeing 6-10. That's terrible. I've never experienced that and don't want to experience it again."

When he was done speaking, Sharper walked up a flight of stairs to the players' exit. Fittingly, he happened upon the flood's remnants.

The stairs were roped off. Shaking his head, Sharper whirled and began looking for a way out of a messy scene.

Kevin Seifert • kseifert@startribune.com