It would be really nice if someone got fired this week.

It doesn’t matter who, just as long as somebody’s head is spotted rolling along Vikings Drive in Eden Prairie. That would at least serve as an acknowledgement that things aren’t quite as they should be with the team. Call it a feel-good gesture. Plus, it would demonstrate that someone really is in charge of the Vikings and that someone really is paying attention.

Again, I don’t care whose head rolls as long as it is swathed in purple. It could be a player, coach or front-office type. But throw the people a bone and toss them a ceremonial head.

The Vikings fell to 2-8 Sunday because of a loss to the undisciplined, dumber than a sack of hammers Oakland Raiders. The black and silver were called for 12 penalties, most the result of late hits, blows to the head and facemask violations. They often were blatant infractions.

Yet Minnesota still fell short. How does that happen? Well, when a team can’t execute a simple snap and hold on a field-goal attempt, that’s a problem. Two fumbles at key junctures don’t help. The Vikings had their share of bad penalties, too. But the three interceptions tossed by Christian Ponder were absolute killers.

That was very discouraging because young Christian is the hope, the truth and the light for Vikings fans. He is the only legitimate reason to keep watching this season. When he has a bad game, the locals hurt deep down to their very souls. And Ponder bruised a few souls Sunday.

“Not a fun loss, especially when so much of that loss was contributed to by my play,” Ponder said. “Bad decisions by me.”

Nobody argued with him.

Two of those interceptions came as the result of terrible throws in the red zone. On one, the Vikings were at Oakland’s 20. Another came from the Oakland 5. The other interception, on another lousy throw, came at Minnesota’s 20 and led to a Raiders field goal.

It was a very tough day for a young quarterback.

“I’ve got a lot of learning to do, a lot of improving,” Ponder said.

Yes, and there is a lot on his plate. The Green Bay Packers showed last week just how much mayhem a heavy blitz could create. The Vikings’ offensive line is leaky, and Ponder is inexperienced. So they sent in the hounds, and Ponder really struggled. The Raiders did the same thing with similar results.

“I think between this game and last game, everyone is going to keep bringing blitz and put pressure on us to make plays,” Ponder noted.

The antidote, of course, is to make a couple of big plays downfield against one-on-one coverage. Then the defense would have to back off. But the Vikings have not been able to do that. So Ponder either has been running for his life or making ill advised throws.

He wasn’t the only one making mistakes, of course.

“We beat ourselves again,” tight end Visanthe Shiancoe said. “We pretty much gave them 17 points. We beat ourselves. I know you’re tired of hearing me say it. I’m tired of saying it.”

I’m tired of watching it.

Ponder finished with 19 completions in 33 attempts, 211 yards, 2 touchdowns and three interceptions. His final passer rating was a puny 59.0.

“Some of what happened today with Christian is exactly that, just having to go through what a lot of rookies in this league go through,” coach Leslie Frazier said. “It’s part of the growing-up process, and he’ll learn from it.”

Frazier, like Ponder, opted to take responsibility for the loss.

“At the end of the day I’m responsible for our football team,” he said.

OK, well, maybe it could be Les’ head rolling down Vikings Drive. I’m not fussy, even though I like Les and God Himself probably couldn’t win with this bunch. But I don’t even care if they fire a security guard, as long as it’s somebody with a title. Whoever is in charge of hiring and firing – it’s a closely held organization secret – could hire a temp, give him or her a title, and then lower the ax. It would make people better.

And it might even suggest that someone is in charge of this listing ship.

What people probably want to avoid is getting too down on Ponder. Geez, after him what else is there? So this one will have to be chalked up to growing pains and nothing more. That way, people can keep hope alive. I’ll say this for the kid: he was very sorry that he messed up.

“Probably all three of those interceptions I tried to do too much, make a play out of nothing,” Ponder said. “Bad decisions.”

We definitely don’t want to see Ponder’s head bouncing along on I-494 in front of the Winter Park complex. But as far as anybody else’s, I’m pretty open.

Follow Tom Powers at twitter.com/TomPowersPP.