Vikings flaws were always on display throughout their thrilling season

They were an enigma all season. A fun team that produced a lot of dramatic finishes, but an enigma nonetheless.

Really, how good were these Vikings?

That was the question that clung to them like lint throughout the entire 17-game regular season.

Were they lucky? Resilient? True contenders? Or a team that somehow won 13 games despite its obvious flaws?

The verdict has been rendered.

Thirteen wins and a record number of one-score victories (11) provided high entertainment value, but this team had little chance to do anything significant in the playoffs.

Not with that albatross defense.

That reality will serve as the epitaph on the 2022 season after one of the wackiest seasons in team history fizzled like a sparkler Sunday.

Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell described his team's 31-24 loss to the New York Giants as an "abrupt" ending, but it barely measured a reading on the surprise meter.

Disappointing? Sure. But surprised? No way.

The better team won — the team that entered the playoffs having won only two of its final eight games of the regular season.

The team that won 13 games and a division title to earn a home playoff game garnered so little confidence among national viewers and NFL pundits that the outcome likely left people coast to coast with a similar response: "See, told ya. The Vikings weren't that good."

Year 1 of the new regime provided many thrills, but it's hard to take a team seriously when it has a defense as over-matched as the one the Vikings trotted out.

The Vikings dragged one of the NFL's worst defenses into the playoffs, and that unit sabotaged any hope of being more than a one-and-done flameout. There were many lowlights Sunday, but allowing the Giants to piece together a 20-play drive took first prize.

O'Connell said he will evaluate every facet of his team in conducting a season autopsy, but he shouldn't need much time figuring out what to do with his defense. The starting point is a change at defensive coordinator after Ed Donatell's first season produced disastrous results in implementing his 3-4 scheme.

Donatell's D banked on timely takeaways and some luck, a blueprint doomed to fail. Even as the Vikings pulled out close victory after close victory, the defense always loomed as a rebuttal. A "yeah but …" argument that probably annoyed coaches and players who felt they didn't get enough credit for a successful regular season, but the skepticism proved to be valid.

The Giants are not a great team armed with an explosive offense, but they feasted on a vulnerable defense that is old, slow and poorly coached.

New York punted only twice as quarterback Daniel Jones never once looked rattled by the headache-inducing noise inside U.S. Bank Stadium or anything that Donatell threw at him.

With the score tied 24-24 in the fourth quarter and the crowd at fever pitch, the Giants calmly marched 75 yards in 12 plays for a touchdown.

The Vikings had two chances after that to match the score. The first drive lasted three plays. The final hope ended with Kirk Cousins throwing well short of the first-down marker on fourth-and-8.

"It's kind of raw right now," veteran safety Harrison Smith said when asked how he will remember this season.

None of the Vikings were in the mood to offer big-picture analysis about the season with any clarity in the immediate aftermath.

Changes are coming this offseason. Perhaps significant changes to the roster. As enjoyable as the season felt, the team's brain trust must evaluate the roster with a realistic perspective.

The team won 13 games despite finishing with a negative point differential. That's an anomaly.

Ultimately, there were two truths about the 2022 Vikings. They produced one of the wildest, most dramatic regular seasons in team history. And their flaws prevented them from being a legitimate playoff threat.