Vikings fail under the bright lights

They've played in two games designed to attract television ratings. They are 0-2 in those games while being outscored 50-16.

In the first, on a Monday night in September, they were manhandled by a team, San Francisco, that has become a joke. In the second, on Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium, they lost 30-13 to a team that had lost three straight.

The Vikings held every perceived advantage entering their biggest game in four years. They had won five straight while the Green Bay Packers were thought to be physically battered and reeling. The Vikings were the healthier team. They were playing at home.

Sunday, the teams offered reminders why, since 2009, the Packers have won more Super Bowls than the Vikings have won playoff games.

Green Bay shredded the Vikings' strength, its defense; and dissected its weakness, the offensive line.

The teams are tied for the division lead but the Packers left little doubt as to which is the one to beat as the NFL season enters the hand-warmer phase of the schedule.

All of the Vikings' flaws past and present surfaced at the worst possible time.

The offensive line collapsed.

Mike Wallace, the latest veteran free agent signed to jump-start the offense, dropped a pass early in the game and didn't do much for the rest of it.

The Vikings' defense failed in its attempt to keep Aaron Rodgers in the pocket, and he proved his arm strength and accuracy on the run have not waned.

Blair Walsh missed an extra point.

A team that had prided itself on taking few penalties drew enough flags to fill the United Nations General Assembly.

The Vikings have not this year beaten a team that currently has a winning record. Sunday marked the beginning of the more difficult portion of the schedule, and their primary solace the rest of the way is the knowledge that they won't hear Packer fans chanting again in this calendar year.

"We play them again January 3,'' Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater said.

There is danger in assuming that game will decide the division. In the NFL, celebration and panic can be separated by a week. At 7-3, the Vikings play their next three games against Atlanta, Seattle and Arizona. Winning five straight does not inoculate the Vikings against a sudden losing streak, just as the Packers' three straight losses proved meaningless on Sunday.

"We have a lot of veterans around here so we knew how to approach a game like this,'' Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji said. "We have been so used to being the hunted in the division and now that we were the hunters, it feels good to have come out on top on this one.''

A loss like this can expose not only a team's flaws, but also the illogic of its fan base.

If you think the Vikings lost because their quarterback didn't play well enough, you're not giving Bridgewater credit for completing 25 of 37 passes for 296 yards, a touchdown, no turnovers, and rushing for 43 yards while under pressure on almost every dropback. If everyone in purple had played as well as Bridgewater, the Vikings would be printing playoff tickets today.

"Everybody wants Teddy to throw for 250, 270 yards,'' Zimmer said. "Now he did. Yea!''

Zimmer offered that last word with heavy sarcasm, the proper tone on a day when the Packers amused themselves with the upstarts in purple.

Jim Souhan's podcast can be heard at MalePatternPodcasts.com. On