For the second year in a row, his Giants lost a meaningless game in the regular-season finale. Last year, it was a heartbreaker to the Patriots, a game that many believe catapulted the Giants on a Super Bowl run despite the result. Yesterday, the Giants again couldn't cap the 16-game march to the playoffs with a win, losing to the Vikings, 20-19, on a 50-yard field goal by Ryan Longwell as time expired.

"I don't know how positive you are in a loss; I don't know what that really means," Toomer said. "Last year, I didn't feel like it was a positive. It ended up being that way. You never know."

However things turn out in the next month for the Giants (12-4), yesterday's game is unlikely to hold the place in team lore that last year's Patriots loss grips. Rather than show that the Giants could stand up to any team in the league, this loss exposed some of the areas that could hurt the Giants' attempt to defend their championship.

"Our team did a lot of good things, but certainly not enough," coach Tom Coughlin said, praising the effort but lamenting the team's red-zone offense (0-for-2) and the big-play gaps on defense.

The two Vikings touchdowns came on a 67-yard run by Adrian Peterson and a 54-yard pass to Bernard Berrian. The Giants have allowed 11 touchdowns in the last four games, and seven of them have been for at least 30 yards.

After picking up a first-and-goal at the 8, the Giants settled for a field goal from the 2 and went ahead 19-10 with 11:22 left. Less than two minutes later, Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson looked to his right and came back to his left to hit a wide-open Berrian. Rookie Terrell Thomas fell down in coverage, leaving Berrian wide open, and rookie Kenny Phillips missed a tackle at the 11.

"I don't know what happened, I just fell," Thomas said. "It's easy to score a touchdown when no one is covering you."

That made it 19-17. The Giants could have forced the Vikings to score a touchdown to win, but with 3:17 remaining, Pro Bowler John Carney missed a field goal for the first time this season, pushing a 48-yard attempt just to the right (his other two misses this year were blocks). Earlier, Carney made kicks from 20, 30, 42 and a season-best 51 yards.

So instead of being down 22-17, the Vikings needed only a field goal to win - although their confusion in the final moments made it unclear if they knew it - and Longwell's 50-yarder sneaked just inside the left upright as the clock hit zeros.

The win clinched the NFC North title for the Vikings (10-6), although with the Bears' loss in Houston, Minnesota would have clinched anyway. Tell that to the guy with his finger on the fireworks when Longwell's kick was good.

The Giants played the first half with most of their starters - running back Brandon Jacobs, tight end Kevin Boss, cornerback Aaron Ross and defensive tackle Barry Cofield all sat out with injuries - and rotated their backups into action early in the second half. Backup quarterback David Carr played the entire second half in place of Eli Manning, throwing a 23-yard touchdown pass to Domenik Hixon to cap his first drive.

Three Giants players were injured in the game, none of them starters: Sam Madison fractured an ankle, Michael Matthews rolled an ankle but returned, and Michael Johnson bruised a thigh.

Derrick Ward started in place of Jacobs and played into the third quarter, finishing with 77 rushing yards on 15 carries. That gave Ward 1,025 yards this season; he and Jacobs became the fourth running back combination to rush for 1,000 each in the same season. The team's 2,518 rushing yards this season also set a franchise mark.

The Giants also kept Peterson under control; take away his 67-yarder and he had 36 yards on 20 carries.

But there hardly were balloons and streamers in the locker room to celebrate those accomplishments. The Giants head into the playoffs the same way they came into the regular season: feeling angry, ignored, underrated and with something to prove.

"You think we're happy because we lost?" Antonio Pierce said of the team's somber postgame mood. "We're -- off. But that's over with. The regular season is over."

And for the next week, the Giants will rest, waiting to see whether they host the Cardinals, the Falcons or the Eagles Jan. 10 or 11. They could face the Vikings in the playoffs, but not until the NFC Championship Game.

"I think the team is looking forward to this week," Manning said of the first break in action since the bye at the end of September. "It's a great opportunity to rest the body and mind a little bit, but make sure that guys use that time to their advantage."

And maybe, like last year, find a way to use the loss a little bit, too.

Big plays vs. Big Blue

A major reason the Giants went 1-3 in their last four regular-season games was a defense that allowed seven scoring plays of at least 30 yards:

SCORING PLAY FINAL SCORE

WEEK 14 Westbrook 30-yard run Eagles 20, Giants 14

Westbrook 40-yard pass

WEEK 15 Crayton 34-yard pass Cowboys 20, Giants 8

Choice 38-yard run

WEEK 16 Williams 30-yard run Giants 34, Carolina 28

WEEK 17 Peterson 67-yard run Vikings 20, Giants 19

Berrian 54-yard pass

NFC PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

WILD-CARD PLAYOFFS

Saturday

Atlanta at Arizona, 4:30 p.m., Ch. 4

Sunday

Philadelphia at Minnesota, 4:30 p.m., Ch. 5

DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS

Saturday, Jan. 10

TBD at Carolina, 8:15 p.m., Ch. 5

Sunday, Jan. 11

TBD at Giants, 1 p.m., Ch. 5

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP

Sunday, Jan. 18, 3 p.m., Ch. 5

Sunday, Jan. 11

TBD at Giants

1 p.m.

TV: Ch. 5

Radio: WFAN (660)