BAD NEWS:Two key players decided to leave Minnesota Vikings  today after the…….

Is it better to play an awful football game and win or a great game and lose? Fortunately for the Vikings, they get to contemplate the first scenario after their shockingly painful 3-0 victory over the sad sack Las Vegas Raiders.

So here’s the positive: the Vikings (7-6) are fighting for a playoff spot and they came into this game with a two-game losing streak against a team that had found new life under an interim coach who is loved by his players. They found an ugly way to win the game in a week where the first-place Detroit Lions (9-4) lost badly to the last-place Chicago Bears.

The Vikings remain in the No. 6 spot in the NFC playoff structure, and they still have a chance at the division title. Even though they are two games behind the Lions, they can still win the division title if they beat the Lions in the two games the teams have remaining against each other – and other factors also break their way.

The Vikings have 4 games remaining to the season, and their defense is playing at a sensational level. The weak point of the team for the previous three seasons has turned into the team’s strength. The turnaround is clearly shocking, and defensive coordinator Brian Flores can’t be given enough credit for the improvement.

“Let me just tell you something,” Kevin O’Connell said to his team in the locker room. “This (expletive) defense is a championship defense.”

So, that’s the good news. The bad news is that their once formidable offense has disappeared. Actually, the offense has reached a point where it is less than zero.

O’Connell was hired because he is something of an offensive guru, an innovator who can get the best out of his team and take his players to a new level. There has been no doubting that reputation since he came to Minnesota, as he put in a wide-open offense that featured great players like Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson. The offense clearly carried the team until Flores came along because the defense was abysmal.

Suddenly, the Vikings have lost their offensive mojo and become a very good defensive team. Cousins is out of the picture because of a torn Achilles. Jefferson missed seven games with a hamstring strain, and when he returned to action against the Raiders, he suffered a new injury that caused him to go to a Las Vegas hospital.

The initial report indicated that Jefferson had suffered a chest injury. However, he took a huge hit to the lower back. He went from the field to the sidelines, the sidelines to the injury tent, the injury tent to the locker room, and the locker room to the hospital.

At the start of the year, Jefferson set a goal of soaring past the 2,000-yard mark. Instead, it feels like a lost season for a player who is the best at his position in the league when he is healthy.

O’Connell has to figure out a way to put a representative offense on the field during the last four games of the season. He has three decent-to-good weapons to work with in tight end T.J. Hockenson, rookie wideout Jordan Addison and veteran K.J. Osborn.

A decision has to be made at the quarterback position. The likelihood is that Nick Mullens will get the start when the Vikings play at Cincinnati Saturday, but Josh Dobbs has not been ruled out yet.

The running back position took a huge hit against the Raiders as Alexander Mattison left with an ankle injury and so did right tackle Brian O’Neill.

So now O’Connell is going to be put to the test. He has to take a team that has no workable offense and make it functional.

He has almost no time to do it, but the good news is that he doesn’t have to raise the offense to a spectacular level. The defense is there right now, so the offense has to be functional.

An offensive guru has a major challenge on his hands, one that would be impossible for many. But it can’t be for O’Connell.

He has to find a way to take an offense that could not get out of its own way on Sunday and turn it into one that can help his team get to the playoffs.

And to answer the question posed at the opening of the column, it is better to play an awful football game and win. It gives that team a chance to survive and advance – and that’s what professional sports is all about.