Nine more games.

It sounds more like a threat than a schedule update.

The Purple Circus heads to Dallas next week. But there could be plenty of commotion before the clowns and elephants leave town. The trade deadline is Tuesday: Be there or be square. Certainly, the coaching staff has to be dangling. But does Rick Spielman deserve to make that call? Has he earned that right?

It’s one thing to have an off year, but quite another to collapse in front of people’s eyes. Even if a coaching change happened to be in the cards, who would replace Leslie Frazier? It’s too late to bring in an outsider. And the internal candidates leave a lot to be desired. Anyway, it wouldn’t make a lick of difference.

And there are nine more games.

How did we get here so quickly?

The Vikings suffered another humiliating defeat on Sunday night. That’s twice in a row on national TV. They are a prime-time bomb. This time, they got walloped by archrival Green Bay. The game wasn’t as close as the 44-31 score seems to indicate as Minnesota scored a couple of garbage touchdowns at the end. Yes, it’s embarrassing.

“We’ve got to do something different,” said Chris Cook.

“Riddle me this, riddle me that,” said Brian Robison.

Everyone was exasperated about the third-down defense, which was pretty much nonexistent.

“There’s not much we can do personal-wise,” Frazier said. “These are the guys that we have. And we’ve got to figure out, schematically, what we can do with the guys that we have, to be better.”

Any time now would be good. Yet he’s right about being limited in terms of personnel. This is the culmination of improper draft choices, ill-fated signings and non-signings. It’s all come home to roost.

The front office should be in hot water for decisions made coming into this season. But who knows with these owners? The Vikings are laughingstocks, thanks to their quarterback shenanigans. They are the punch line in countless jokes about ineptitude and indecision.

Nine more games.

Owner Zygi Wilf spoke to the crowd at halftime as Joey Browner was inducted into the Vikings’ Ring of Honor. I think about Joey a lot while watching some of these current Vikings try to tackle. When Joey got those big mitts on a player, he brought him down. Some of the current Vikings appear to be taking part in a greased pig contest when they go about attempting to make a tackle.

Anyway, listening to Zygi always is like taking a couple of sleeping pills. Sunday, he got a cold-shoulder reception befitting the owner of a team that could finish 1-15 with no victories on sovereign U.S. soil. With the promise of a new, luxury stadium in his back pocket, he also appears to be content to fiddle while the organization burns. The folks around here are frustrated with his team and are thinking that maybe they got snookered.

After all, a commitment should go both ways and there appears to be no commitment to putting a solid product on the field now or in the near future. The team is a mess. Smart football people are supposed to see this coming and at least try to do something about it before it gets out of hand. Spielman and the rest of the front office didn’t see it coming.

“It’s always fixable,” Chad Greenway insisted. “The best part is that is isn’t an effort issue.”

Well, I don’t know. A lot of guys appear pretty mechanical out there. They’re working, but it’s as if they are operating on muscle memory.

Nine more games.

The Packers were the superior team, even if their attention wandered at times. Clearly, they were not on task at the start. Perhaps they had watched the Vikings’ game films from the previous week. Those are enough to make anyone overconfident. But Minnesota’s Cordarrelle Patterson was ready. He took the kick 109 yards and the Vikings shocked everyone by taking the lead.

You might think the Vikings would try to get the ball into the hands of this kid more often. They keep saying they’re working on it. OK, take your time. No rush.

Meanwhile, Christian Ponder was back out there at quarterback and he still can’t pull the trigger. Too often, he waits and watches until he either has to dump the ball or take a hit. Nothing has changed. Back to you, Matt Cassel? How about Tim Tebow? The remains of Slingin’ Sammy Baugh?

There are nine more games. The good news: There aren’t 10 more.

Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com.