NFL

THE ICE MANN

It looks as if Eli Manning cares, but not enough to quell the rage of the many fans appalled by the way he played in a desultory 41-17 loss to the Vikings and disgusted with the way the Giants quarterback sounded and reacted following a truly dreadful individual performance.

Manning following his four-interception horror show – three were run back for Minnesota touchdowns and another set up a short scoring run – offered up his usual bland analysis, appearing unhappy but far from distraught and certainly not castigating himself with an “it was all my fault” mea culpa. There’s a feeling that if he is going to make the paying customers so miserable, the least Manning could do is show he’s feeling as pained as they do.

“It’s not like I leave here and all my worries are gone and the game doesn’t come back in my mind,” Manning said yesterday.

The day after is never eventful with Manning, not even when he hands the Vikings 28 points to single-handedly cost his team a shot at victory. Never one to hide, he stood at his locker for more than 30 minutes, patiently fielding question after question probing into his failings on the field and his lack of fire off it. It was as if Manning realized this was his penance.

“You treat it like any other loss,” Manning said. “You look at it, you learn from it. We’re not down, we’re not disappointed, you look at where we stand now in the NFC, we’re right where we want to be. We’re in great position, we’re in control of our own destiny, we’ve got the lead for the wild card, we just got to handle our business the next five weeks and we’ll be in good shape.”

At 7-4 heading into Sunday’s game in Chicago, the Giants indeed are firmly in the wild card picture, but that picture can become fuzzy in a hurry if Manning doesn’t snap out of it. The entire offense has been in a funk for more than four games, but it is Manning as the man in charge who must prove he is not in one of his customary second-half swoons.

“My wholehearted support goes to Eli,” Tom Coughlin said. “I think he’ll respond well. He was very forceful in talking to me, telling me he was OK.”

Asked about Manning’s calm exterior, Coughlin added, “That’s him and that’s good enough for me.”

Manning was asked to defend his postgame comportment.

“I’m just trying to answer the questions,” he said. “I took responsibility for the loss. It was my deal.”

Why not, after one of those ghastly interceptions, at least offer up an outward display of anger?

“That doesn’t fix anything,” he said. “If you go in a tantrum it doesn’t make anything better, it doesn’t correct the last play that happened. I figure if I start going crazy and getting wild it’s just going to make everybody else go into a tantrum. I’m trying to keep everybody calm.”

With big brother Peyton watching from a luxury suite at Giants Stadium, Eli endured his worst game since his rookie season.

“I talked to Peyton, he knows what it’s like,” Manning said. “He had a game a few weeks ago where he threw six interceptions. You see games where quarterbacks have thrown five interceptions, six, four, it’s not like I’m the first person to have ever done it. It just happens.

“The ball goes the wrong way, you get one tipped, you make some bad decisions or a bad throw. You never want it to, you don’t plan for it to, you hate when it happens afterwards. Since I’ve been here I’ve done a better job of not trying to take it so hard, let it affect my personality.”

As for his reaction after the fact, Manning said, “The postgame press conference isn’t the problem. It’s what’s happening on the field that needs to be corrected. I don’t get to watch my film of my postgame press conference. I guess I’ll start doing that now also.”

Asked if he realized blaming himself with an emotional display would at least appease the fans and media, Manning finally showed some attitude.

“I don’t want to give you that glory,” he cracked.

paul.schwartz@nypost.com