Dan Wiederer of the Strib (really, I'm not singling him out, but he's writing some good stuff lately) posits that the Christmas Eve win against Washington might turn out to be the costliest in team history. They won an exciting game, but lost control of the #2 draft pick while watching Adrian Peterson get his knee Culpepper'ed in the second half.

And as Jeremy Fowler points out in the Pioneer Press, with the Rams holding an auction at #2 for the right to draft Robert Griffin III, the Vikings might be on the verge of missing out on a trade that can get them some instant impact players and hasten the turn around back towards the top of the division and conference.

I only have one thing to say: Stop it. Right now.

I get that the Vikings need help, I do. Anyone can see that. But the thing about the NFL draft is that it's a complete crapshoot--half the guys drafted in the first round never pan out, and historically, the guys that seem to do the best over the course of a long NFL career are tackles. Why is that? I don't know

But I do know that teams that like to do a lot of trading more often than not end up outhinking themselves by a half, and end up with Ryan Cook and Tarvaris Jackson. Trying to get too cute invariably ends up with an ugly draft.

I also know that the farther back you move in the draft, the greater the chance that your guy doesn't pan out increases. Just because you make a trade for more picks doesn't guarantee you're going to get the players you'll need to help turn the longboat around.

And there's also a good chance that St. Louis might be asking a King's ransom for their #2 pick and won't be able to get a deal done, leaving Minnesota as the next team up. Look, my ideal scenario is making a trade for an extra first and a second round pick, drop two or three spots, and still get Matt Kalil, but that's a big risk.

Let's go with the KISS Principle: Keep It Simple, Son. Don't worry about all the stuff going an around the Vikings, and hunker down and wait for their pick at #3. Then draft Matt Kalil and don't look back.

Really, if they do end up with the guy, I don't see how ending up with a franchise LT for a decade ends up being the 'costliest win in franchise history'.