A general rule of digital journalism is "don't read the comments," but let's indulge for a moment and look at some of the 468 (and counting) messages left by readers on the Star Tribune game story describing Sunday's 34-23 loss to Detroit.
"Defense can't be 'fixed' at this stage of the season, folks." ... "Fire Donatell today." ... "Well, once again Viking Fans don't need to get overly excited about any Super Bowl aspirations."
Looking across fan bases nationwide or even worldwide, we would probably find that angst-driven chatter dominating over happier talk about teams is a feature, not a bug.