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The Buffalo Bills’ streak of playing competitive football against their opponents came to a resounding halt in Minnesota on Sunday. The Vikings came within a Brett Favre interception of reaching the Super Bowl last season, and their expectations were high coming into this year. Along with the Dallas Cowboys, they have been one of the biggest disappointments instead, to the point where it resulted in the firing of the head coach, Brad Childress. Obviously, under interim coach Leslie Frazier, the team is rejuvenated, and back playing at the Super Bowl contender level of last season. The Bills ended Favre’s day three plays into the game when rookie Arthur Moats leveled him from behind, injuring his shoulder, but backup Tarvaris Jackson came in and, after a pick-six interception by Drayton Florence, settled down to lead the Vikes to 38 unanswered points and a 38-14 win. The Bills were their own worst enemy in this game with 5 turnovers and numerous penalties. They were physically overwhelmed on both sides of the ball for the most part, and the game announcers talked about how Minnesota RB Adrian Peterson, nursing an ankle injury, begged the trainers and coaches to let him play. Small wonder, since a game against the Bills’ defense this year is all but a guarantee of a 100 yard game by the opponents’ running back. Peterson not only rushed for over 100, he also ran for 3 touchdowns. For the most part this season, the Bills’ offensive line has stayed intact, with a few exceptions. In this game, however, it looked like a scene out of the 2009 season. Starting guard Eric Wood was inactive with an injury, and center Geoff Hangartner was injured during the game, forcing Wood’s replacement, Kraig Urbik, to move to center. Then Urbik got hurt and Andy Levitre had to move to center. Ed Wang, a rookie tackle, saw his first action of the year, taking Levitre’s place at guard. The line, even before the injuries started mounting up, was getting beaten badly by the Vikings. Ryan Fitzpatrick was under intense pressure all day long and had probably his worst game since becoming the starter. It was one of those games that they just needed to get through and try to survive physically, then forget about as they try to regroup for next week’s game. One of the most disappointing parts of this game was the play of the defense. Leodis McKelvin had an awful day, getting beaten numerous times, getting called for an interference penalty, and losing a fumble on a kickoff return. McKelvin was a high first round draft choice, and the expectation should be that by now he be a major team leader on the defense and a playmaker. If Darrelle Revis traps opposing receivers on “Revis Island” and shuts them down, then by comparison McKelvin Island is a vacation retreat for opposing receivers. Also, when the Bills look to upgrade the defense next year, they need to look at adding some team speed. Players like Marcus Stroud, Chris Kelsay and pretty much all of their linebackers look old and slow in pursuit of opposing quarterbacks and runners. There’s no question that every player on the team is playing hard and giving all he has, but the current talent on the roster isn’t good enough to take this team into a winning era.