Schedule gives Vikings hope, if 1-3 doesn't become 1-4

A mistake-filled loss Sunday at Tennessee left the Vikings with a 1-3 record for the second consecutive season and in dire need of a victory Monday night in New Orleans.

What the loss did not do was cause the Vikings to question whether there still is time to make a run at a postseason berth. Playing in what is shaping up to be an incredibly mediocre division, the Vikings are only one game behind NFC North-leading Chicago and Green Bay (both 2-2). Minnesota holds a half-game lead on Detroit (0-3).

"With the three NFC games [against the Saints, Lions and Bears] coming up, it's easy for me to say it's not how you start it's how you finish," Vikings coach Brad Childress said Monday. "But it is how you finish and what you learn as you go and how you continue to improve."

Childress can't be blamed for maintaining a positive outlook as he faces a situation similar to 2007. Things actually seemed worse a year ago when the Vikings won only one of their first four and dropped three games behind the Packers.

The Vikings were 3-6 following an embarrassing 34-0 loss on Nov. 11 at Green Bay but rebounded to win five in a row and were in playoff contention before losing their final two regular-season games.

Management believed spending big money in the offseason on Pro Bowl defensive end Jared Allen, receiver Bernard Berrian and safety Madieu Williams, who has yet to play because of a neck injury, would help to avoid another disappointing start. That hasn't been the case.

Monday's game against the Saints will begin a three-game stretch for the Vikings leading into their bye on Oct. 26. Minnesota will play at New Orleans (2-2) and Chicago with a home game against the Lions in between.

History indicates that even playing in a weak division might not be enough to save the Vikings if they lose to the Saints. According to STATS Inc., only nine of 173 teams -- 5.2 percent -- have qualified for the playoffs after a 1-4 start.

In the same time period, 28 of 266 teams -- 10.5 percent -- have made the postseason after beginning 1-3. San Diego did it last season, winning the AFC West with an 11-5 record.

"We still have a chance," veteran safety Darren Sharper said. "We can't look and think about how much of a hole we're in now. Last year we were in a similar hole and we bounced back, went 8-8 and still had a chance to get into the playoffs. The way things are shaping up -- not to say that we're satisfied with being at an average record -- we're not out of things at all."

Sharper actually was part of the last team to begin 1-4 and qualify for the postseason. That came in his last season with Green Bay in 2004 when the Packers rallied to go 9-2 in their final 11 games and win the NFC North.

If the Vikings are going to bounce back, they will need to begin cleaning up their miscues when they return to practice Thursday. Players won't practice today or Wednesday because of the extra day before the next game.

Sharper said Monday the Vikings' problem is that "we're just killing ourselves at the wrong times in games." Sunday's litany of mistakes included penalties (seven), dropped passes and the biggest sin of them all, turnovers.

The Titans were given a short field with which to work on three occasions (two fumbles, one interception) and turned that into 21 points in a 30-17 victory. The Vikings lost a third fumble in the third quarter on a botched exchange between center Matt Birk and quarterback Gus Frerotte.

The Vikings went from tied for 10th in the NFL with a plus-1 in the take-away, give-away department to tied for 21st at minus-2 entering Monday's Baltimore-Pittsburgh game.

"Our guys are smart enough to look at some of the circumstances and realize that at times we're our own worst enemy," Childress said. "We need to pick ourselves up. The answers are in that locker room."