Rand: Twins collapse just like Vikings

In mid-February, we used this space to point out that the Twins' 2011 season had the unfortunate potential to mirror the 2010 Vikings season. The conclusion at the time was that even if everything we could possibly conceive of going wrong for the Twins this year actually happened, it couldn't match the utter catastrophe of the Vikings that preceded it.

It is time to report that such a notion no longer is a certainty. It is time to revisit the notion of whether the Twins -- who still are limping to the finish of their nightmare while the Vikings at least get to start fresh Sunday -- have surpassed their purple counterparts.

Expectation vs. reality

2010 Vikings: The squad brought back virtually every core player from a 2009 squad that came oh-so-close to reaching the Super Bowl. On paper at least, the Vikings looked like Super Bowl contenders once again. From that perch, of course, the Vikings fell to a 6-10 finish, a pretty mighty fall.

2011 Twins: A year ago the Twins won 94 games, and despite getting swept (again) in the postseason, their bloated payroll and key holdovers put them on pace again to be at least a division contender.

They buried themselves with a 17-37 start and also could finish last.

Edge: Still goes to the 2010 Vikings. It's close, but we still say the distance between expectations and results still is greater when it comes to the purple.

2010 Vikings: The Vikings had stumbled to records of 6-10 or worse three previous times in the 2000s, so it's not as if fans were unaccustomed to some slippage.

2011 Twins: This squad almost certainly will finish with the franchise's worst record since 2000 (and by quite a margin). Considering the relative stability of the Ron Gardenhire era up to this point, the overall scope of the decline was rather shocking.

Edge: Twins.

Cumulative calamities

2010 Vikings: A text-messaging scandal, the Moss fiasco, the Childress firing, the Dome collapse -- and we're just getting warmed up.

Edge: Still with the Vikings.

Scapegoat, player edition

2010 Vikings: Favre showed up late (as usual), but this time he couldn't re-capture the magic. His decline was surprising given how well he played in 2009, but it shouldn't have been a shock given his age and history.

2011 Twins: Considering Mauer's contract, age and stature, the weight of all that has gone wrong for him both on the field and in terms of public perception is stunning.

Edge: Twins.

2010 Vikings: A figure who won some grudging respect from fans for success the previous year returned to being the target of finger-pointing for much that went wrong (and fairly so, in many cases).

2011 Twins: See description of Childress.

Edge: This was set up as a tiebreaker, but we're really not sure the tie was meant to be broken.