Minnesota Vikings: Grading the Disaster That Was 2010.

The Minnesota Vikings completed their lackluster season with a lackluster performance, losing 20-13 in the season finale to the Detroit Lions.

The loss dropped the Vikings into a last place tie in the NFC Central with the Lions.

A 6-10 record is about all these two team have in common as they appear to be heading in different directions.

For the Lions they end the season with a four game winning streak—their first in 12 seasons.

For the Vikings it represents a six game drop from last season, and for the seventh year over the past 10, watching the playoffs instead of participating in them.

The expectations for the 2010 season were extremely high after coming so close last year.

The Vikings' failure this season can be correlated to one main factor—the play of Brett Favre. 

Favre's two seasons in Minnesota were the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Just as a pendulum swings from one extreme to the next, so was his play at quarterback. From a 107.2 passer rating in 2009, to a 69.9 in 2010—the best and worst of his 20-year career.

The Minnesota Vikings close the 2010 season with a lot of questions marks: who will be the head coach and who will be the quarterback are the top two heading into an off season that, without a collective bargaining agreement, looms with its own uncertainties.

Here's my assessment of the season, assigning the final grades for the various parts of the team and organization. 

Rushing Offense:  B

The Vikings' running game was the strength of the offense.

Adrian Peterson, the only Pro-Bowl player selected from Minnesota, had another solid year. Playing in 14.5 games this season he finished with 1,298 yards for an 86.5 yards per game average. Down only 85 yards from last season.

The Minnesota Vikings' run offense was slightly better than last season with 4.5 yards per carry average in 2010 compared to 4.1 last season. 

However, last season Peterson led the NFL with 18 rushing touchdowns as the team finished with a total of 19, compared to 16 rushing touchdowns for the team this year. 

Passing Offense: D

The Minnesota Vikings' passing offense never got on track for 2010.

From the beginning quarterback Brett Favre was never 100% healthy.

From off-season ankle surgery, to a tendinitis in his throwing shoulder, numbness in his throwing hand, and finally a concussion that ended his season, and his career, with two games remaining this year, Favre was not able to replicate the success he and the offense has last season. 

Part of the difficulty was that he was without his favorite wide receiver, Sidney Rice.

With Rice out of the lineup for the first nine games of the season someone needed to step up—no one did.

This was a season the Vikings needed Bernard Berrian to be a force—instead he had the fewest receptions since becoming a starter in the NFL. He finished the season without a single touchdown catch—the first time since his rookie season with Chicago in 2004. 

Vikings' quarterbacks combined for a 67.7 quarterback rating in 2010—only Arizona and Carolina were worse in the NFL. This after leading the NFL in 2009 with a 107.3 rating.  

Overall Offense: C-

Going from the second highest scoring offense in 2009 at 29.4 points per game to 29th in 2010 scoring only 17.5 points per game is the single largest indicator as to how far this team fell.  

Rushing Defense: C+

The strength of the Minnesota defense has been their ability to stop the run. In 2010 their average per game exceeded the century mark. This season they allowed 102.2 rushing yards per game, up from 87.1 of last season. 

The lack of scoring from the Vikings' offense put more pressure on the their defense.This allowed their opponents to run the ball more often. Teams ran an average of 26 times per game this season, up from 22 times in 2009.

Passing Defense: B-

With the loss of Cedric Griffin in the fourth game of the season, and the fact that the Vikings' sack total dropped from an NFL best 48 last season, to only 31 this season, one might think the passing defense regressed—surprisingly that's not the case. 

The Vikings actually gave up eight fewer passing yards per game, and intercepted four more passes for a total of 15 this season.

Overall Defense: B-

The slight improvement seen in the Vikings' pass defense was taken up by the drop in the rush defense. In 2010 the defense gave up 312.6 yards per game, up from 305.5 in 2009. 

They also gave up 2.2 points more per game. When that is combined with the 11.9 drop in scoring per game, it adds up to a two touchdown differential from 2009 to 2010 for the Minnesota Vikings.

Special Teams: B

The only real positive that came out of the special teams in 2010 was Chris Kluwe placing 32 of 83 punts (38.6 percent) inside the 20 yard line.

Of course the lack of offensive production this season gave Kluwe 10 more punts this season than last.

On the punt return side, the Vikings averaged only 9.0 yards per return, down from 9.5 in 2009.

The kick off coverage team allowed an average 24.5 yards per return, an increase of two and a half yards over last season.

While on the return side with eight more returns this season over 2009, the average dropped from 23.2 last season and two touchdowns, to 22.1 and one touchdown this year.

With the scoring down, place kicker Ryan Longwell only attempted 18 field goals this season, making 17 of them with none from greater than 50 yards. Compare that to 26 of 28 in 2009 including two for two from 50 yards. 

Coaching: Incomplete

Interim head coach Leslie Frazier has a 3-3 record after taking over in week 12 following the firing of Brad Childress, an improvement over the 3-7 record at the time. 

Although an improvement, Frazier would have helped his chances of removing the interim tag from his title if he could have followed the impressive victory over the Eagles in Philadelphia with a win in Detroit. 

Overall: C-

As one of the preseason favorites to make it to the Super Bowl, anything short of that unfortunately makes 2010 a failure. 

Add the fact the team went from first place in the division, winning consecutive division titles, to tied with the Lions for last place, and 2010 was certainly a utter and complete failure.

In order for the Minnesota Vikings to turn things around in 2011 as quickly as they fell apart for 2010, they will need to find a starting quarterback that can lead this team. That is the most glaring difference between 2009 and 2010. Whether that is Joe Webb or perhaps another aging veteran is one question that will need to be answered.