Don't mean to say I told you so....but

Minnesota went up early during there game last night in Arizona. They also scored a late meaningless touchdown with little more than a minute remaining. In between this time most of the game was played and they where outscored 30-3.

Now before we start analyzing this blowout loss, lets put it into some perspective. The Vikings are 10-2 and still are almost guaranteed the second seed in the NFC. With their remaining schedule it was unlikely they would catch the Saints even with a win. Brett Favre is still having his best statistical season of his career. They were playing a inconsistent but good football team that does not need to focus on division games the way other teams do because of the competition.

With that said, how much has everyone's opinion of the Vikings changed overnight? Favre played poorly, and showed signs of his youth forcing throws when made to play from behind. It was almost as if the team has played in a bubble for the last several weeks and the Cardinals where the proverbial scissors.

The usually daunting defense also struggled, giving up large chunks of yardage (although they did play relatively well in the red zone) and had no sacks and only 3 qb hits. Kurt Warner's ability to get the ball away quickly allowed his much more athletic athletes on the outside to manipulate the Viking secondary.

That is what happened but what does it mean and what does it say about the team? Look at the schedule, most impressive win is either Green Bay or a 6-5 Ravens team on the road. Not that these wins should not garner respect, but the Ravens appear to be the only consistent top tier defense they have faced. Especially if either Philly or the Giants, and now Cardinals become the second round opponents of the Vikings they have to be worried about productivity.

All three of these teams have defenses that thrive on quarterbacks who force the ball and Philly and Arizona both have athletes on the outside that will be difficult to contain.

Not that the Vikings are doomed, but a fairly convincing blueprint was just laid out as to how to beat them. Still Adrian Peterson rushed for less than 20 yards, which will likely not happen again, but if i am a Viking fan I do not see Favre going through a playoff team against any of those teams without a few picks.