Real Salt Lake's Will Johnson, left, gets sent flying by Bojan Stepanovic during second half action of the Real Salt Lake versus Chivas soccer game in August. (Steve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune )

While much of Utah turned its attention to football the past two weeks, Real Salt Lake went to pigskin country hoping to replicate last season's late-season surge to the playoffs.

What happened instead were two of the most embarrassing performances of the Jason Kreis era.

It's not just the losses to Houston (3-2) and FC Dallas (3-0) that stung -- but how that RSL was twice outplayed from the opening whistle and out of contention before the first quarter hour.

And while the team is still mathematically in the hunt for a playoff berth, RSL all but sealed its own fate for 2009. It's time to start the obituary on a season that started with so much potential.

First, the Houston debacle.

RSL had

Steve Pastorino
the opening kickoff, which Pablo Campos touched to Andy Williams. Williams passed the ball backward to Robbie Russell, who launched a long ball up field. Apparently intended to stretch the Houston defense, the ball sailed uselessly out of bounds.

Harmless turnover? Hardly.

With just seven seconds elapsed on the clock, Houston left back Mike Chabala found RSL nemesis Brian Ching with a 40-yard throw-in. Ching absorbed a blow from Nat Borchers, and calmly chipped a ball to Brad Davis. Will Johnson did his best to stop the Dynamo's momentum by fouling Davis 35 yards from goal.

On the ensuing free kick, Davis, the league's best left-footer, lofted a ball to Ching's feet at the top of the 6-yard box. Ching

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outmaneuvered Borchers and slotted a goal past a flat-footed Nick Rimando.

Three minutes later, by the way, RSL surrendered a second goal off of a Davis left-footed ball, this time off a corner kick. This night was over after three hundred seconds.

Fast-forward to Dallas.

Less than four minutes into the game Saturday, Dallas goalie Dario Sala launched a pedestrian goal kick.

Harmless goal kick? Hardly.

No one from RSL challenged Dallas midfielder Dax McCarty (generously listed as 5-foot-9) for the ball. He headed it to former RSL man Atiba Harris who returned it toward McCarty.

McCarty quickly slotted a ball through to David Ferreira, who crossed a ball from the top of the RSL penalty area toward Dave van de Bergh. The lanky lefty touched it to Jeff Cunningham, who spun and fired with his left foot stunning Rimando and RSL.

Less than five minutes after departing the locker room, RSL trailed yet again.

Worse, it took only four minutes for Dallas to double its lead. Salt Lake's Javier Morales was a culprit, weakly offering a lazy pass in the middle of the field on his own half. Ugo Ihemelu intercepted it. Four touches later (McCarty to van den Bergh to Ferreira), it was 2-0.

On back-to-back games, RSL was sloppy from the outset and gift-wrapped opportunities for its opponents by leaving massive gaps in its own half.

A team that prides itself on possessing the ball has failed to find a midfield identity and surrendered two critical games and, most likely, the season.

Due to a scheduling quirk, RSL has 18 days to ponder their plight before playing their last three league games in a 10-day span.

After not showing up in Texas, the games probably won't matter.

STEVE PASTORINO is the former general manager for Real Salt Lake and an occasional contributor to The Tribune on soccer. He welcomes your comments at pasto.ink@ comcast.net .