On September 11, 2006, the NFL season's Monday Night Football slate began with the Washington Redskins hosting the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings had a head coach making his debut that night and he was successful. Brad Childress got coaching victory number one with the Vikings' 19-16 victory. In fact Childress would also win his second game for a 2-0 start.

The next time the Vikings were to play at FedEx Field would be last season on November 28th. Brad Childress did not get to make his return trip however, because following the Vikings' 31-3 drubbing at the hands of the Green Bay Packers in the Metrodome the week prior, Childress was fired.

As it turned out the promoted Leslie Frazier would be the one making his head coaching debut at FedEx Field that next time around. Like Childress, Frazier was successful in leading the Vikings to victory over the Redskins. Last year's 17-13 win at Washington was a breath of fresh air, as the Vikings played 60 minutes of  sound, relatively error-free football. Such was not a frequent occurrence last season, and like Childress, Frazier would also go on to win his second game for a 2-0 start.

Last year when the Vikings headed to Washington they were a 3-7 mess. This time as they head back to Washington for Saturday's Christmas Eve matchup, the Vikings are a 2-12 mess. Things have not gone well at all for Frazier this year, as his debut victory against the Redskins last year did not turn out to be an accurate predictor as to how he would do as a head coach. Thus far anyway.

Last Sunday's Vikings loss to the New Orleans Saints 42-20, was the first time all year that an opponent visiting the Metrodome has manhandled the Vikings. In the other five home losses, the Vikings had a chance to win in each game's final  minutes. While the Saints are simply a superior team to the Vikings this year, the lack of effort and intensity from a large number of Viking players was still very disturbing nonetheless.

One positive that did come out of the contest for the Vikings however, was the imagination shown on offense. The Vikings - particularly with the season-ending injury to Michael Jenkins - lack depth at wide receiver. Although, what the Vikings do have are two very versatile wide receivers(Percy Harvin and Joe Webb), two very good pass catching tight ends(Visanthe Shiancoe and Kyle Rudolph), two very punishing running backs(Adrian Peterson and Toby Gerhart) and two very mobile quarterbacks(Christian Ponder and Joe Webb).

Why on earth the Vikings have not featured a wide-open offense with clever formations and interesting wrinkles utilizing these players interchangeably and in non-traditional ways, has been baffling all season long. Finally in game 14 of the season, Webb was used some both at wide receiver and quarterback, there were wildcat formations, there was a formation with both tight ends lined up in the backfield with Harvin at tailback, and a rare shuffle pass to Gerhart that resulted in a touchdown. While the Vikings could have had opposition defenses off balance all year long, the coaching staff definitely stayed too vanilla for far too long.

While the creativity on offense did not result in much tangible success this past Sunday against arguably one of the two best teams in the league (three games involving the Packers, and Saints is brutal by the way), had the coaching staff not kept their versatility on offense under wraps all year long, the Vikings almost assuredly would have won a handful of the many nail-biters that they have lost this year.

While only 13 months have passed since Frazier began his head coaching career at FedEx Field, there is plenty of justification for his fate being the same as his predecessor's when Childress was scheduled to make his return to this venue, especially since the return also follows a home shellacking just like last year's. While last year's home shellacking was from the eventual Super Bowl Champion, and this year's home shellacking might be from the eventual Super Bowl Champion, in each instance, the lack of effort from so many of the players was quite a damning reflection on their head coach.

Since his initial two wins last year, Frazier has gone a horrific 3-15. Childress, Frazier's predecessor, was fired coming off of a season which saw him receive a massive contract extension and a trip to the NFC Championship Game. Though the current coach has nothing like that to even fall back on, unlike Childress a year ago, ownership is nonetheless allowing Frazier to make the return to his head coaching birthplace.

Perhaps the Viking players will give Frazier a Christmas present, 60 minutes of sound, relatively error-free football. For the Vikings, not such a game has happened a single time this year, if it does occur on Saturday, the team will almost certainly produce its third win. That formula did work at FedEx Field last year, and maybe that same formula can allow the beleaguered head coach a fresh start all over again. For Frazier, back where it began.