Sorry if it rambles - it was a slow day at work.

This past Monday reminded me of being back in school. You wake up grudgingly, your alarm blaring at you, because Christmas Vacation is over and it's time to go back to school. You've done nothing but enjoy the time off, doing what you wanted to do, doing nothing, eating great food, forgetting all that pesky stuff they tried to teach you, and had fun. But now, it's over.

That terrible moment has finally come.

The Vikings' season has come to a conclusion with the 26-14 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. It was a defensive struggle that compounded the futility of

the Vikings' offense that us fans have struggled watching all year.

Some observations:

Tarvaris Jackson was pitiful. His official stat line was 15 of 35 for 164, no touchdowns, and one interception. That's an average of 4.7 yards per completion. He completed 42.9 percent of his passes according to that line, but if you take out the three dump offs he had to Chester Taylor at the end of the game in garbage time, it drops to 12 of 32. That's a percentage of 37.5. In the National Football League, completing just over a third of your passes is simply unacceptable. Moreover, if you watched him on his drop backs, he was constantly checking the pass rush, then the coverage downfield. Moreso, he had his receiver picked out before the snap of the ball. He absolutely stared his intended target down, coverage be damned, and threw it (see: Samuel, Asante). If you're interested, his quarterback rating was a dismal 45.4. At least it was higher than his completion percentage. At one point in the second half, Tarvaris threw seven straight incompletions. SEVEN. Who else in the NFL does that?

Tarvaris Jackson's inconsistency is killing the Minnesota Vikings.

More on the future of the quarterback position later. I'm actually not that critical, but that game was just awful.

Adrian Peterson ran the ball, got one huge play, but was stymied for most of the game. Why was the so held back? Because the quarterback is a non-threat. Peterson was the rushing leader despite facing seven and eight men in the box almost every play he's in. Why do you think Chester Taylor does well when he's in? Defenses back off, knowing that Taylor is a better pass blocker and they are playing the odds that it will be a pass from a sub-par quarterback. Usually, they're right. Again, it comes down to the "most important" position on the football field: the quarterback. If opponents were scared of the pass, Adrian Peterson would not have to face so many defenders all the time.

I will give Childress some credit; he uses Chester Taylor well, though he may be a bit underutilized, and catches opponents in some very pass oriented defenses in many situations. You can't really blame him for wanting to run more with the best runningback in the NFL, can you? I certainly don't.

Speaking of Brad Childress, I can honestly say I wasn't unhappy with the way he called the game. He can't directly control how the offensive players actually play; he can only tell them what to do. Aside from a strange ending to the first half, where the Vikings ran the ball up the middle, called a pass that fell incomplete, and then another run up the middle concluded with the Eagles' last timeout. This series of events gave the ball back to the Eagles with enough time to get close for a field goal. Luckily for the Vikings, Chad Greenway made a great diving tackle to keep the Eagles' receiver in bounds to end the half.

At the time, I wondered: "Why would Chilly call a pass when they were trying to run the clock out?" It made about as much sense as going swimming in January in Lake Minitonka. In retrospect, I wasn't as perturbed by it, considering I'm sure Childress wanted to call a high percentage pass play to get his receiver out in open space with the ball to make something happen. Of course, with Tarvaris having the day he had, the pass fell to the ground, the clock stopped, and the game almost ended before the second half began. I don't blame Childress for the call; I actually praise him for taking a shot with something other than the expected run. On the other hand, I wouldn't have blamed him for calling a play to get it into Adrian Peterson's always capable hands, but the offense needed a spark. Unfortunately, that jolt was left in the clouds above the Metrodome.

The defense, sans Big Pat Williams, was still amazing. They kidnapped Brian Westbrook for 98 percent of the game, keeping him locked away from the endzone except for that one tiny screen pass. Much like Adrian Peterson, you can put so many people on Westrbook, but you can't hold him down the entire game. These two are a pair of the biggest playmakers in the National Football League. Despite that one play, Westbrook still only had 38 yards on 20 carries. If you eliminate his 71 yard screen reception, he was limited to two receptions for 12 yards. Pretty good, if you ask me. The pass defense did allow a lot of passing yards, but in Andy Reid's pass-first offense, that's to be expected. You can't cover all the receivers, all the time.

The difference in the game was Donovan McNabb. While the Vikings defense completely obliterated Westbrook (minus the one play), McNabb completed passes to eight different receivers and hit the 300 mark for passing yards. While he threw one interception, it might as well have been a punt considering the game was more about field position than points. While I was ecstatic the Eagles were denied entrance to the endzone, I'm sure the Vikings punted three or so plays later. McNabb kept his composure, moved the ball at least 20 to 30 yards down the field before punting, and made sure the Vikings inept offense was pinned as deep as possible to start their drives. Every time I saw him complete a pass on third and long for a first down, my heart just sank, and for two reasons.

The first, obviously, is because the defense stayed on the field. The second is the, "What if?" scenario that kept running through my head like a hamster on a wheel.

What if?

What if the Vikings had a consistent, even mediocre quarterback who could hit the open man when necessary?

What if Adrian Peterson didn't have to carry the team as much?

We actually got a taste of that in the Arizona and Atlanta games. Jackson was 33 of 53 for 396. That's a completion percentage of 62.3 percent. If he could do that consistently, even disregarding the six touchdowns he threw in those two games, if he could just hit the open receivers when necessary, there would be no questions at all. He could lead the Vikings deep into the post season.

This leads me to the second part of this particular post: the offseason.

We'll save the juiciest part for last. Quarterback, you must wait.

First off, special teams coach Paul Ferraro needs to be let go or demoted. I don't care if special teams monster Heath Farwell out for the year, one man does not make that big of a difference. Special teams doesn't get the attention offense and defense does, but it's a huge part of every possession. If your return man brings the ball from your own 15 to your own 35, that's two less first downs your offense has to get, or considering a three and out, that's two more first downs your opponent would have to (conceivably) get. The same goes for coverage. You get that guy after only going five yards, that's a helluva lot farther to go than if he gets 25 more on top of that. The Vikings should get rid of Ferraro and get a fresh start for their special teams.

Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/All-Around-Stud Leslie Frazier is most likely heading to (supposedly) greener pastures as a head coach of another team. I have nothing but respect for him, so I hope if he does take a job, he does great. As long as it's not against Minnesota. Replacing Frazier will be tough, considering he took the best run defense in the NFL, maintained it, all the while improving the pass defense. Having Jared Allen helps a lot with that as well, but to keep that streak alive, it's going to take someone with good defensive knowledge. Who that is, I can't speculate very much. Sure would be nice to get a proven guy, like Rod Marinelli; you'd think guys like that would be chomping at the proverbial bit to get a group of defenders like the Vikes have. Maybe Frazier sticks around, maybe not. Either way, the guy deserves all the credit thrown his way, no doubt about it.

I'm split on Darrell Bevell. The offense was usually pretty good, what with All Day in the backfield, and when Tarvaris was playing consistently or when Gus Frerotte was not throwing picks, things rolled along very nicely. I'm not sure on Bevell. I'd have to think about that some more before deciding for sure, one way or another, what to do with him. For now, I lean towards him staying.

I'm actually happy with what Brad Childress has done this year. He started out slow, swallowed his pride, and benched Jackson in favor of Gus Frerotte. That took some guts to admit his mistake so early. It did, in effect, save the season. At least, we'll never know what would have been, but with Gus at the helm the Vikings won a lot of games. The man coached a team that got to 10 wins. That's nothing to scoff at, folks. The man did some good things. He's improved his coaching steadily every year since he's been here. He'll follow it up with his best year yet next year.

It looks as if All Pro center Matt Birk has probably played his final game with the Minnesota Vikings. Matt Birk has always been one of the best players on the Vikings and I know I will miss his red-headed presence on the field every Sunday, should he actually be gone. Likely to replace him is John Sullivan, taken out of Notre Dame. The Vikings had some foresight and drafted a guy to groom in Birk's place, but Mr. Sullivan has some pretty big shoes to fill, that's for sure. I'm sure he'll performadmirably. This could all be moot, as the Vikings could easily sign Birk to a one year deal to keep him for another season, which would be my personal preference, but it was reported that after the Eagles' game he went around shaking everyone's hand and getting pictures taken with all the players. Sounds like he knows he's on the way out. I hope he and I are both wrong.

Finally, the quarterback position.

I will easily admit, when Tarvaris Jackson took over, I was worried. I voiced that opinion openly. However, after the Atlanta game, I became a believer. I thought, "Hey, maybe this guy has turned a corner." Alas, it was only an illusion. Much like last year, we see flashes of brilliance from Tarvaris, but he fails to deliver on a consistent basis. You have to be as consistent as the train arrivals in the NFL. You can't arrive ten minutes late one day, five minutes early another, not even show up for Friday. You have to be consistent. Hit the open man. Throw it away. Take the sack. Scramble for two yards. I realize no one will be perfect, and people have bad games, but his inconsistency is absolutely murdering the Vikings offense at times.

Now, if Tarvaris Jackson can be the guy in Minnesota, I'll celebrate like I won the lottery. I don't think installing him as the starter automatically is the way to do it; however, I think he can pull it out if it means enough to him. So what do the Vikings do?

First, they need to make sure Jackson knows he isn't guaranteed to have the job. To do that, they need to do one of a few things, all of which involve bringing in another quarterback. Tarvaris Jackson needs competition in the offseason and in training camp. I think that is the only way the Vikings keep Tarvaris as well as give themselves a legitimate shot at having a good to great quarterback for next year. The Vikings need to either:

A.) Bring in a crafty veteran in his thirties, preferably early- to mid-thirties, to compete with Tarvaris and lead the team for a season or two. An example of this type would be a Kurt Warner, Donovan McNabb, Jeff Garcia, Chris Simms, or anyone who's bounced around a bit and needs a fresh start.

B.) Draft another quarterback in the first round who could be an actual franchise quarterback right from the get go. It's possible that a Mark Sanchez falls down to our spot, or we trade up a few positions in order to get someone, but bringing in another young player to give Jackson some competition and give a rookie a chance to start. While I realize it's an anomaly, look at Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco - they both have nearly identical offenses to the Vikings. Just think what a Flacco would look like in purple behind center.

C.) My favorite option up until a few days ago, trade for a young, established quarterback. In my mind, I wanted Matt Cassel. Obviously, reports are flying in that the Patriots are going to franchise Cassel, and no player who has one year of experience under his belt is worth two first round draft picks (the automatic asking price with the franchise tag applied), so this option has really dropped off. No team in their right mind would trade their starting QB for less than a King's ransom, so it looks like I'll have to go back to dreaming of Matt Cassel throwing to Bernard Berrian. Maybe Matt Lienart? Nah.

Using one of those options will give the Vikings some options at quarterback, which I think is the primary concern that needs addressing at this point. Something needs to light a fire under Tarvaris Jackson's butt, and threatening his starting job (again) should do it.

It's all just my speculation, of course, and no one will know until Brad Childress and company decide to make their moves. All in all, it's been a great season. Minnesota hasn't had 10 wins in many years, so I'm happy to reach that milestone and win the North. I'm already looking forward to the Vikings defense of the NFC North crown next season. Enjoy the offseason, everyone. The Vikings had an amazing run.

I'll be around with more offseason shenanigans, such as free agency, the draft, and other random ramblings.

Until then -

Skol Vikings!
Woot Woot!