Souhan: Vikings ship is sinking but next three games could be life raft

The Vikings on Sunday honored the 25th anniversary of the Herschel Walker trade by pretending it was a national holiday and taking the day off.

They played as if they had again given away 13 players — this time, all of them offensive linemen.

Detroit's front four so thoroughly whipped the Vikings line that you didn't just fear for the safety of Teddy Bridgewater; you feared that Bridgewater, Chandler Harnish, McLeod Bethel-Thompson and Sean Salisbury would get hurt, too, and the Vikings would have to play Christian Ponder.

Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders canceled practice Sunday morning to bring his players to the Vikings game, so they could watch another offense that specializes in three-pointers.

By the end of the Vikings' 17-3 loss at TCF Bank Stadium, they were a battered 2-4 team accused of irresponsibility by their coach and missing their franchise player, veteran starting quarterback and big-money tight end.

Mike Zimmer was so angry he admitted he has had to fine an inordinate number of players for tardiness, and stopped himself abruptly mid-sentence, as he was about to utter a word featuring hard consonants.

"If we don't take care of things better than we did today it doesn't matter what we have ahead of us,'' Zimmer said.

But they're not. Not yet.

Remember when Matt Cassel was throwing darts in the preseason, Adrian Peterson was saying "this is the offense I've dreamed of" about Norv Turner's scheme, Kyle Rudolph was looking like the second coming of Jay Novacek and the biggest question about the offense was not how it would score, but how much?

Remember when Zimmer was flummoxing St. Louis in the opener with his chameleon defense?

Back then, a realist would have admitted this team would do well to win two of its first six games.

That's what this diminished version of the Vikings has done.

They lost at New Orleans as Cassel was injured, in a stadium where visitors rarely win.

They beat the Falcons in Bridgewater's promising first start. They lost at Green Bay when Ponder was forced to start.

And on Sunday they lost because the most important matchup of the game — their struggling offensive line against the Lions' Fearmongering Foursome — prevented the Vikings from functioning.

If they had remained whole and avoided their recent tradition of trying out three starting quarterbacks every month or so, they might still be 2-4.

The portion of the schedule that will determine their fate begins Sunday. In their next three games, the Vikings play Buffalo, Tampa Bay and Washington. Win three, and the Vikings can contend for a playoff spot. Win two, and they could play meaningful games in December. Win one or none, and Zimmer will be right to bite his tongue and fine his players and pray his can reshape the team in his red-faced image next spring.

The Buccaneers have lost five games by a combined 87 points — and they won at Pittsburgh. The Bills beat the Bears in Chicago, and the Bears beat the 49ers in San Francisco, and the 49ers beat the Cowboys in Dallas, and Dallas beat the defending champs in Seattle.

An NFL season never has to make sense; the numbers just have to add up in the end.

The eye test Sunday revealed a team lacking in high-end talent and incapable of supporting a rookie quarterback. But that was just this week. Two weeks ago, Bridgewater shredded the Falcons, who are something like an NFL team.

The Vikings might not be good, but neither are most of the teams remaining on their schedule.

To paraphrase Yogi Berra, in the NFL it ain't over until the fat guy falls down and gets your last competent quarterback killed.