I know I’m not the only Vikings fan who experienced a sinking feeling as the second half of today’s game unfolded – that, “Oh God – they’re actually going to choke it away” feeling.  The same stomach-churning sense of helplessness and inevitability that set in while Peyton Manning was leading the Colts back from 15-0 down in week 2.  Except it wasn’t a big-time quarterback like Manning doing the job this time – it was Sage Rosenfels, a guy the Vikings sniffed in the off-season before settling on the Tarvaris Jackson/Gus Frerotte duo.  Rosenfels entered the game because Matt Schaub got hit low by Jared Allen in the first half, hurting his knee, and couldn’t get enough on his throws.  So what does Sage do?  He leads the Texans on a 72-yard TD drive to open the second half, cutting the Vikings’ lead to 21-14.  And he makes it look way too easy – the same way a lot of middle-of-the-road quarterbacks have made it look way too easy against our defense in recent years.

And that right there is the root of the sinking feeling – the sight of a nondescript quarterback suddenly being transformed into Joe Montana.  There are few more frustrating experiences for a football fan than watching their team’s obviously soft zone defense get picked apart like a wildebeest carcass being consumed by hyenas.  It makes you want to reach through the screen, grab your defensive coordinator by the neck and shake him.  That sort of stuff hasn’t been happening with quite the same frequency this year though – for the most part the Vikings have been able to avoid the Jack the Ripper-like slicings and dicings that characterized the late Dennis Green and Mike Tice eras.  Which makes it all the more irritating to see the defense’s soft mushy guts once again laid bare – and not by some brilliant surgeon either, but Sage Fricking Rosenfels.

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