Mike Woods

Hey Minnesota, it’s your turn to join the playoff party.

So how you feeling about this?

Scared? Terrified? In need of a bucket?

You’re right, this is no time to celebrate. Trouble lurks, like a knock on the door at 3 a.m.

And those hard-charging, confident Dallas Cowboys on the other side are not your greatest concern.

On the one hand Minnesota, in your corner you have one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to put on a helmet in Brett Favre and the best running back in the world in Adrian Peterson.

But you know Batman and Robin are just as apt to go Jekyll and Hyde on you and transform into Captain Interception and Major Fumbler.

The two guys who will be trusted with the football the most are the same two guys who, you know, should be trusted the least.

Kind of stinks, doesn’t it?

It’s clear Favre has emerged the winner in the power struggle with his coach Brad Childress, and thus he will be deciding what plays to run and which ones to check out of as he sees fit.

So where does that leave Peterson? Classify him as the greater of two evils.

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The Vikings no doubt have doubts about entrusting the game in his hands of stone. For the second straight season, he led all running backs in lost fumbles; six this season and nine in 2008.

At a time when winning the turnover battle is never more important — just see last weekend’s four wild-card games as reference, as the team that won the turnover battle advanced — Peterson remains a turnover waiting to happen. How can you trust him?

It’s not just that, but the Vikings’ running game has been a boom or bust operation all season. On the one hand, they rank 31st in the percentage of runs where the running back has been tackled at or behind the line of scrimmage.

On the other, Peterson has 12 runs of 20 or more yards to rank second in the league and three runs of 40 or yards to tie for fifth.

So what are you going to do, keep giving it to him in hopes that he busts a long one, knowing that at the same time he is just as likely to drop it on the carpet?

I guess you turn to the future hall of famer, who insists to anyone who will listen, that he has nothing to prove. That’s hilarious because, last time we checked, the NFL never began a program in which quarterbacks receive tenure.

The national lovefest Favre enjoys has always blurred the reality, but the reality is The Old Man has some serious work to do to repair his fading legacy — off-field issues aside.

Favre has been one of the worst quarterbacks around over his past decade of playoff games. Since beating the 49ers in the 1997 NFC championship game, Favre has gone an ugly 3-7 in the playoffs. His passer rating over his past 12 playoff games is a less-than-sterling 77.8.

Since 1998, Favre has thrown 16 TDs compared to 18 picks and has a 3-6 playoff record, and over his last three divisional playoff games — which is where you are now, Minnesota — he is 1-2 with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions.

And included in all those inglorious numbers are those two overtime picks — two of the worst throws you’ll ever see — that eliminated the Packers from the 2003 playoffs in Philadelphia and led to a loss to the Giants in the 2008 NFC Championship, his final game in Green Bay.

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You can throw out his 4,000-plus yards this season, his 107 rating, his 33-7 TD to interception ratio; none of that matters.

What does is Favre has melted down in the playoffs for more than a decade. Great things are expected of him, and he talked about those pressures when in Green Bay, but far more often than not he has failed to live up to those expectations.

Diagnose as it as you wish, but in talking with a long-time Packers official after his trade to the Jets, the subject of his playoff failures was broached. I told him I hated to bring up the “C’’ word, but was there another realistic explanation?

“I’m afraid you may be right,’’ he said.

Maybe the color purple will make a difference this time around for Favre, and perhaps the urgency of the playoffs will lead Peterson to squeeze the pumpkin a little bit tighter.

But if you’re part of the Vikings organization, deep down, you understand the likelihood is this party is probably going to be a bust.

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