Mark Craig's Gameday Insider: A logjam heading south

Nothing has gone right for the Vikings this season.

Donovan McNabb as a one-year bridge to the Ponder era? Wrong.

Bernard Berrian, play-action deep threat? Wrong.

The Big Three of Antoine Winfield, Cedric Griffin and Chris Cook? Wrong, really wrong and holy-cow wrong.

Things have gone so wrong that even right will feel wrong when the Vikings beat the Redskins in Washington on Saturday.

C'mon, can't you feel it? With the No. 1 overall draft pick inching into their grasp, can't you just feel the wrong-way Vikings beating the Redskins, especially now that the Colts have strung together two victories heading into a winnable season finale at Jacksonville?

While the Packers, 49ers, Patriots and Steelers throw haymakers at the top of the league, the Vikings, Colts and Rams have quite the pillow fight going on in the basement. The Vikings and Rams are 2-12, while the Colts are 2-13 following Thursday night's upset of the Texans.

Strength of schedule changes from week to week based on what everyone's opponents do that particular week. So in the case of a tie, we won't know how this all shakes out until after all the games are played.

However, the Colts still have quite the lead with their strength of schedule at .531 (120-106). All Indianapolis has to do now is lose focus, get on different pages and STOP WINNING!

The Vikings are No. 2 with their strength of schedule at .567 (127-97). The Rams are No. 3 with their strength of schedule at .589 (132-92). Everyone else has at least four victories.

Losing two more won't be easy, even for one of the worst teams in Vikings history. After their trip to Washington, the Vikings finish the season at home against a lifeless Bears team that's lost four in a row.

The Rams, meanwhile, have a much easier route to 2-14, with games at Pittsburgh and home against the 49ers. The Colts finish up against a Jaguars team that's 4-10 and has lost four of its past five.

The Colts would take Luck. It would capitalize on a well-placed awful season, but it also would be awkward to have Peyton Manning's successor on the roster while Manning possibly returns from a neck injury and plays throughout the life of Luck's rookie contact.

The Rams have 2010 No. 1 overall pick Sam Bradford. So they obviously would trade the pick and build around Bradford.

The Vikings could go either way. Luck probably has a better future than Christian Ponder, this year's 12th overall pick. But if any team knows the franchise-changing value that comes with trading for three No. 1s and two No. 2s, it would be the Vikings.

In 1989, the Vikings traded three No. 1s and three No. 2s to the Cowboys. The Vikings got Herschel Walker. The Cowboys got the building blocks for their dynasty of the 1990s.