OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Mike Tice is worried about his defense. Bill Callahan is worried about everything.
After opening the season with a 6-0 record, the Minnesota Vikings have dropped three straight, yielding 101 points in the losing streak. That's a major problem for Tice and his defensive coordinator George O'Leary heading into Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders in an interconference matchup.
But Callahan has more problems than that. He's down to his third-string quarterback Rick Mirer, his top running back Charlie Garner has a back injury and his team is mired in a five-game losing streak.
The latest was a 27-24 overtime defeat to the New York Jets last week. Oakland yielded 424 total yards and squandered a 21-10 fourth-quarter lead.
At 2-7, the Raiders are off to their worst start since they were 1-7-1 in 1964.
Oakland played the last two games without reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Rich Gannon, who will miss the rest of the season with a torn labrum.
Daunte Culpepper passed for 370 yards and four touchdowns and Randy Moss caught 11 passes for 120 yards and a score, but the Vikings fell to the San Diego Chargers, 42-28 last week in the first part of their West Coast trip.
Minnesota's defense yielded 458 total yards. Doug Flutie passed for 240 yards and two touchdowns and LaDainian Tomlinson shredded the Vikings for 162 yards on the ground.
The previous week, Minnesota allowed 451 total yards, including 137 on the ground to Ahman Green, in a 30-27 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Yet despite the three-game losing streak, the Vikings have a two-game lead over Green Bay in the NFC North. And while the Vikings play here on Sunday, the Packers will visit Tampa Bay.
Moss is second to St. Louis' Torry Holt with 63 receptions for 998 yards and 10 touchdowns. He is on the verge of becoming the first receiver to reach 1,000 yards in each of his first six seasons.
Meanwhile, Oakland's Jerry Rice, the NFL's all-time leading receiver, has zero touchdowns in nine games this season. He has 41 catches for 523 yards, raising his all-time leading totals to 1,497 receptions for 22,112 yards.
Oakland leads the series, 7-3.
