Patriots 28, Vikings 18

Another Sunday, another loss for the Vikings, this time 28-18 to the Patriots in Foxboro.  The Vikes drop to 2-5 for the season.  With 9 games left they're are looking at needing at a minimum of a 7-2 finish to make the playoffs.  That's doable but they need to play much better than they have been.  There just seems to be something missing this year, maybe they just got old and lazy, I don't know.  Other observations?   1) Would somebody send out an Amber Alert on Jared Allen already?  Yet again, no sacks for Allen, he's got 1 sack in 7 games.  Perhaps he needs the mullet back.  2) Speaking of sacks, Jared Allen isn't the only one with the lack of them, they've got only 6 all year, that's in 7 games, that is ridiculous, perhaps they need to try more than a 4 man rush on occasion.  3) The lack of a pass rush has also not helped their porous secondary much, you give a QB like Tom Brady to find an open receiver and he probably will.  Back to the secodary, Asher Allen continues to underwhelm with his play at CB, Madieu Williams didn't impress me much either at DB.  4) What happened to the OL?  Favre is getting the hell beat out him week in and week out, I realize that he's not as mobile as he used to be but much of the blame also needs to fall squarely on the play of the OL.  5) I'll give Favre some credit, he didn't play bad considering he has 2 fractures in his foot, still, that being said, I'm really not sure if he put the team first by playing today, he's not as young as he used to be, there's still a long season ahead, he's got a bum ankle and a sore elbow (and now a sore chin), a week off may have helped immensely.  6) Why are they not using Randy Moss more (1 catch for 8 yards today)?  Isn't that why they brought him in?  Find a way to get him the ball already.  7) The offense is just way too predictable, run, run, pass, run, run, pass, they need to do a better job of mixing things up.  8) Does Brad Childress start getting some heat?  This team is under performing big time with a veteran laden roster, the owners need a winning team to sell the public on a new stadium, they've got a coach in waiting in Leslie Frazier, it could get interesting.  9) They've got the struggling Cardinals next week in Minneapolis, it's really a must win (actually, a must win for both teams).