It's almost as though it was destined to happen this way, isn't it?

All season long, as hopeful as we were, wasn't there always that nagging feeling that Adrian Peterson would fumble, that Brett Favre would toss a careless interception, and that the Vikings would fall short?

The Brett Favre era in Minnesota, whether it ends with Sunday's game or not, can't possibly be considered a failure. Favre led the Vikings as far as they've gone in 33 years, and it's difficult to imagine that they would have achieved as much with Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson at the helm. When a few of my Viking fan friends were engaged in existential hand-wringing over the signing of our longtime rival quarterback, my question to them was, "Well, what's the worst-case scenario with Brett Favre? The Vikings don't win the Super Bowl? A lifetime of watching football has led me to believe that I can survive such an eventuality."

But it still hurts. We root, and we care, and we hope, and we lose. Every year. This one was especially painful, of course; a long field goal attempt at the end of the fourth quarter on the Superdome turf was no gimme, but it would have been nice to at least have had the chance to try it. But no, thanks to Brett Favre, it was not to be.

And how much longer will our team tolerate Adrian Peterson and his now practically guaranteed two or more fumbles in any big game? How much longer will we tolerate Brad Childress, and his coaching staff's singularly inept handling of the clock at the end of every half? Childress recently signed a contract extension and Peterson is, Vikings fans now undoubtedly regret to have to admit, too good to let go. Favre won't make it through another season like this one; that much is almost certain.

In fact, one can't help but fear that the Vikings' window of opportunity has slammed shut. Next season we'll have to make do with a quarterbacking hodgepodge because Favre, at 41, can't possibly last an entire year, even if he does decide to come back after his inevitable will-he-or-won't-he offseason dance. The season after that could be cancelled by a labor dispute for all we know. Hell, the next time the Vikings host a playoff game, it could be in Los Angeles.

A gloomy outlook? Yeah. A little far-fetched, I can admit... but it's hard to look on the bright side now.

We love sports. But they don't love us back.

Such is life.

--JOE MULDER