Minnesota Vikings: Winners and Losers at the Season's Quarter Mark

The Minnesota Vikings could be argued as the worst team in the NFL at this point in the season. With the ups and downs we've seen so far this season, there are some clear winners and losers associated with this team.

Going 0-4 to start the season isn't just a disappointment to Vikings fans, it is a dreadful shortcoming for a team considered by some to compete once again for a divisional title.

Because that is not really the case at this point, the time has come for the Vikings to identify what is working and what is not, and readjust the rest of their season.

Despite a start that is tied for the worst in team history, there is still some upside to look at so far this season. Some key players clearly outshined others on the squad and deserve recognition among all of the negative comments surrounding this team.

While we assess what is working well for this team, it is still essential that we find out what is hindering its success and eliminate our shortcomings.

Here's a look at the Vikings' winners and losers at the season's quarter mark.

Loser: Donovan McNabb

I'm not the kind of guy that is going to put all of the season's blame on one player, but you all knew this was coming so I'm getting Donovan McNabb out of the way early.

McNabb came to Minnesota with his last opportunity as an NFL starting quarterback. After so much negativity in Philadelphia and Washington, McNabb had the chance at a fresh start with a fan base that believed in him.

In the past four games, McNabb has wasted that opportunity. Like I said, I won't put all of the losses directly on McNabb's shoulders, but the apathy he shows with his teammates on Sundays makes it hard to feel bad for the guy.

While he has made a few decent plays, they have been hidden by an overall trend of bad throws and a lack of effort.

The McNabb I grew up watching and admiring would tuck the ball and pick up key yards on the ground if he didn't have a receiver open down field.

Now it seems like he is so worried about getting hit, he only steps up in the pocket a third of the time he really needs to. He seems uninspired as a player which is really discouraging to fans.

With McNabb's four touchdowns, 680 yards and two interceptions, he is statistically not all that bad. When you consider the three blown leads of at least two touchdowns per game, however, the inability to even convert on third down becomes the ultimate concern.

McNabb likely has one more chance this week against the Arizona Cardinals to hold on to his starting job—or even his job in general.

Winner: Christian Ponder

With the negative attention surrounding Donovan McNabb, Vikings rookie Christian Ponder is in a prime position to come in and save the day in Minnesota.

Given the 0-4 start, fans are already after Donovan McNabb's head and want to see the player we used our first round draft pick on. That said, there is already a positive association with Ponder even though he hasn't played a snap of regular season football in the NFL.

Like I said, this week is really McNabb's last chance at keeping his job. I'm not saying that Arizona will be an easy win by any means, but they will be the weakest opponent we face in the foreseeable future.

If McNabb struggles, even through the first half, Ponder will enter the game in the Homer Dome and save the day.

Expectations aren't very high at this point and Ponder will have the fans behind him so long as he even shows that he is a little bit better than McNabb—or at least tries harder.

Ponder has already been named the face and future of this franchise and with the directions things are headed, Ponder watch is officially on in Minnesota.

If McNabb chokes once again this week, Ponder will replace him sooner than the coaching staff is letting on. Either way, Ponder will be the starting QB of this football team by the end of the bye week.

Loser: Bernard Berrian

As most of you know, Minnesota's "deep threat" Bernard Berrian was in a publicized Twitter battle in which he told a legless war veteran to "sit down and shut up."

Berrian has since apologized for his comments, but the content of the tweets—Berrian's play—hasn't yet been addressed in the way that it should by the team.

Berrian has been the biggest disappointment on this team for the last three seasons. His complete lack of production was the cause for a reduction of his contracted salary before the 2011 season began, which hasn't seemed to shake him into playing any better.

Though Berrian that is considered the deep ball catcher on the team, it was Devin Aromashodu that went deep for the touchdown against Brandon Carr.

Besides the one touchdown pass in preseason, Berrian hasn't made any real splash this season. He claimed that he has been getting open, but I think that most of us watching the games would beg to differ.

Berrian might be this team's biggest loser, but I'll let you all speculate on that.

Winner: Chris Cook

The Vikings' most pleasant surprise this season has been second year corner Chris Cook. The young DB suffered two torn menisci last season, barely see the field but playing well when he did.

The former Virginia Cavalier is back with fire this season and has been competing at a very high level. He even looked pretty good against league-leading WR Calvin Johnson in Week 3.

Cook is growing into the kind of player that the Vikings drafted him to be. Despite being considered a bust after only his first year, the young corner has battled injury to prove that he can bump-and-run with the best of them.

Cook's play has truly been one of the few bright spots for the Vikings this season.

Loser: Cedric Griffin

Like Chris Cook, Cedric Griffin came into 2011 battling off multiple knee injuries to prove that he could still be a top corner on this team.

So far his injuries haven't effected him much, but being out of the game for so long definitely set Griffin back a few years.

Griffin has looked sloppy in coverage and his tackling has been, well, embarrassing to say the least. He and Jamarca Sanford essentially let Dwayne Bowe walk into the end zone for Kansas City's only touchdown last week.

Griffin doesn't need to worry about his job security by any means, but his play has been disappointing this season. Hopefully he will be able to turn things around for this week's matchup that features a guy from Minnesota—Larry Fitzgerald.

Winner: Everson Griffen

When the Minnesota Vikings named Brian Robison the starting left defensive end, things didn't look good for Everson Griffen, who was arrested twice during the offseason.

Griffen's talent likely would have been wasted with Robison receiving a good majority of the snaps, but Griffen's versatility and ultimate pro potential played to his advantage.

Griffen decided to make the best of his versatility as a pass rusher and fill in for the Vikings at defensive tackle and outside linebacker in certain packages. This is great for the Vikings who were left discouragingly shallow at both positions after preseason injuries to several key backups.

The USC product has shown why he was considered a first round talent even though character issues saw him fall to the Vikings in the fourth round.

I, like most Vikings fans, have had my doubts about Griffen—especially after his arrests—but he proved me and all of the other naysayers wrong and has really become an asset to this team.

Griffen has become a key contributor to the defense. Even though he had a facemask penalty to begin the game against the Chiefs, it's very clear that he has a high ceiling and seems to be improving with every snap.

Loser: Remi Ayodele

This was the only picture I could find with Remi Ayodele playing with the Vikings, probably because the guy hasn't done a thing so far this season.

Ayodele was brought in through free agency to replace Pat Williams on the defensive line.

Through preseason, Ayodele looked pretty good, but most of you probably haven't heard his name called yet in a game. That is because it hasn't.

Ayodele has no tackles through four games and the Vikings have been getting the ball run on them much more than they have in recent years.

It could be because Ayodele has been receiving double teams. But when you have guys like Jared Allen and Kevin Williams beside you on the line, that is a hard thing to believe—at least for a majority of the plays.

Minnesota has a lot of young talent at defensive tackle that is itching to reach the field. If Ayodele isn't up to the challenge, I'm sure Christian Ballard or Letroy Guion would be.

Remi Ayodele needs to step it up or he will find the bench in a hurry.

Winner: Erin Henderson

Though Erin Henderson didn't have much competition for the starting weakside linebacker position, he has truly made the most of his time on the field so far.

The young LB has really stepped up and made an impact on this team, even after going undrafted. Henderson's hard work and determination earned him a spot on this team, despite what some might say of his older brother E.J.'s influence.

Though Henderson has made some minor mistakes, he has, for the most part, played very well and will likely hold onto his starting job for some time.

His tackling has really improved since being named a starter and he has surprisingly been the most impressive of a LB corps that features two Pro Bowl candidates in Chad Greenway and Erin's brother E.J.

Henderson really has been a winner so far this season and hopefully he'll be able to keep contributing to this team as the season drudges on.

Loser: E.J. Henderson

I'm not saying that E.J. Henderson is playing awfully, but is very clear that his season-ending leg injury from two years ago is still bothering him.

Henderson played in a limited number of snaps last week against Kansas City and when he was on the field. He didn't look very good.

Henderson is no spring chicken anymore. While he is not in sight of a retirement by any means, he definitely needs to preserve the health in his leg to prevent it from getting injured again.

I would say that Henderson should take a week off to recover, but the Vikings don't have the luxury of allowing him to do that with key backup MLB Jasper Brinkley in IR.

I know that technically I'm calling EJ a loser, but in reality he has still been playing pretty well considering the fact that he's been playing on a very swollen knee for the past three games.

Hopefully he'll be able to survive through the bye week and come out recuperated when play resumes.

Winner: Jared Allen

I could go into great detail about how well Jared Allen is playing so far this season, but my recent article regarding that subject does a pretty adequate job describing just how I feel about his play.

Overall, Jared Allen is still one of the best defensive players in the NFL and is only a half of a sack away from being tied for first in the NFL.

Allen has re-emerged as one of the clear leaders on this team and is playing with a kind of fire that scared opposing left tackles—just ask Jeff Backus.

Allen is on pace to reach his 100th career sack this season. If he keeps playing well he could receive a lot more praise than just for that accomplishment.

Loser: Vikings Coaching Staff

I want to be clear in saying that I don't think Leslie Frazier will lose his job this season. I do believe, however, that his coordinators will be replaced at the season's end and they certainly won't be missed.

Bill Musgrave has put together essentially the most vanilla, boring, useless offensive playbook the Vikings have ever seen. You know you aren't doing well when Minnesotans are missing Darrel Bevell.

Fred Pagac, on the other hand, has shown glimpses of competence. For the most part, however, he has called some bad plays in key moments of the game.

The most puzzling of the calls has been switching away from the Cover 2 when trying to preserve a lead in the fourth quarter. The aggressiveness has been nice to see in the play-calling, but sometimes you just have to play smarter than that.

Despite what I said opening this page, Leslie Frazier has not done a good job managing this team so far. His main job as the head coach is to inspire and get maximum potential out of his players. He has done neither.

At what point is Frazier going to stop taking responsibility for his players and start demanding more out of them?

The fans, media and coaches in Green Bay and Chicago would never stand for the kind of disappointment this team has shown. So why is Frazier babying this team so much? When will he start demanding perfection like any head coach should?

That's right, I'm calling you out coach Frazier. Start demanding more from my favorite team, because I am certainly demanding more from you.

Loser: The State of Minnesota

Minnesota is truly Loserville, USA.

Our favorite team, the Minnesota Vikings, went from being a game away from (winning) the Super Bowl, to now being considered one of the worst teams in the NFL within the matter of two seasons.

The Timberwolves, Wild and Twins have not been any big step up either, all collectively bottoming out their respective leagues.

Despite starting the season 0-4, the worst part of being a Vikings fan right now is that we still don't know for certain that the Vikings will even be in Minnesota next season.

When do we as fans start demanding more out of our sports teams? We need to demand perfection from our players and coaches in all of our sports. If they can't produce, find someone who can.

I am sick of associating myself with teams that don't play to their potential. As a loyal Minnesota sports fan, I will never give up on my teams.

But this season has already spoken to the kind of heartbreak we as Minnesotans have experienced just four games into the season.

For another year, at least, Minnesota remains Loserville, USA.