Community Faceoff: Vikings fall? Tomlin's onside kick? Crucial upsets?

CBSSports.com Community members take on the hottest issues of the day.

thatlsk: Well, the Vikings biggest problem is that Adrian Peterson isn’t playing anywhere near how one of the best backs in the NFL should be playing. Through the first eleven games, in which the Vikings got off to a 10-1 start, Peterson was averaging 99 yards a game. Over the last three games, two of which the Vikings have lost, he’s averaging 50 yards a game. And in those two losses in particular, he was held to less than 40 yards. His lack of production is turning the Vikings into a one-dimensional team on offense, and they cannot win that way. Also, Brett Favre’s play has fallen off. He has more interceptions (4) in the last three games than he had in the previous 11 games. Because of the fall off in play by both Peterson and Favre, the Vikings went from averaging 31 points a game over the first 11 games to averaging 18 points in the last three. And now the question returns as to whether, at 40-years-old, Favre still has enough in the tank to deliver for this team down the stretch. The Vikings seem to have more problems than any 11-win team should.

NFL-Solomon: Personally, I don’t think it really is some great mystery or serious problem. So let's try to keep a little perspective shall we? They've only lost three games, and were only outplayed clearly in two of those. The last two. And what do they both have in common? Sub-par performances from both Favre and Peterson. All players have an ebb and flow, good days and bad, superstar or not. Unfortunately, the Vikings two biggest offensive weapons are synching up their bad performances. No worries, though. They won't stay in synch... that is, both of them out of synch at the same time. Hmm, I'd say this mystery is solved folks, if it wasn't for those meddling coincidences. Sorry, no man behind the curtain here.

thatlsk: Let me start off by saying that Mike Tomlin’s call was one of the dumbest and most bizarre decisions I have seen in all my years of watching football. I understand his rationale, though. The Steelers defense had been giving up points and yards all game, so if they do recover the onside kick, they win the game. But, you don’t gift wrap sure points to the opposing team in the fourth quarter. He’s lucky the call didn’t blow up in his face. Fortunately for him, the Steelers pulled out the win. And, at the end of the day, all people remember is whether you won or lost. Belichick’s decision received so much scrutiny because his team lost the game. Tomlin avoids that because his team was still able to pull out the victory. I think the decision can still have a negative effect in the Steelers locker room, even though the game was won. When a coach pulls a move like that, he’s sending a clear message that he doesn’t have any faith in his defense; this, in turn, might lead to the defensive players losing faith in their coach.

NFL-Solomon: Should winning cure all? At first I was going to say of course not. A dumb decision is a dumb decision. But if you look at how both of these incidences unfolded, they ended up being treated quite differently. Sure, Tomlin got criticized, but to nowhere near the same level that Bill Belichick was. Tomlin's error didn't capture the nation's focus even in a football sense. It was merely a footnote. Why though? Both calls seemed to be equally dumb by general consensus; the only real difference is that Tomlin won. It is similar to the wartime adage that the winners write the history books, but in this case, rather, the winners have the media write the history for them. And nobody really cares if what you did seemed dumb if it all works out in the end. Maybe if Tomlin doesn’t make that “mistake” the Steelers lose? So, personally, dumb is dumb, but winning is everything in the court of public opinion.

thatlsk: The team that was hurt the most by their loss would have to be the Jets, because the Vikings, Packers, Broncos and Saints are all inside the playoffs for right now. The Saints and Vikings both already have their positions locked up, and if the season ended today, the Broncos and Packers are both in. More importantly the Broncos and Packers both control their own fates, if they win out, they’re in the playoffs. The Jets, on the other hand, not only have to win the remaining games on their schedule, they also have to hope for other teams to mess up. They play the Colts and Bengals down the stretch, which, on paper, looks like two tough matchups. But you never know how much the Colts will play their starters, and the Bengals aren’t likely to catch the Chargers for the No. 2 seed in the AFC. So, they might rest players as well, making both games winnable, but then they also have to hope that a few other teams lose, and that their record of 9-7 is good enough to make the postseason. The Jets hurt themselves the most by losing in week 15.

NFL-Solomon: To be honest, the Saints' loss doesn't hurt them at all. In fact, it just may help them by easing some of the pressure. So it's not them. The Packers and the Broncos both faced teams they were expected to beat handily, but it didn't hurt either team too badly because they both still currently own a wildcard spot. Maybe it hurt the Broncos more than the Packers, because the NFC only has one other possible "living" team, the Giants. The AFC, meanwhile, has six teams breathing down the Broncos’ necks. The Vikings position didn't change really at all, so it has to be the Jets. Instead of grabbing a wild card spot, or at least positioning themselves at the top of the alternates, they became just part of the "almost made it" pack. At least that’s their current situation.