Minnesota Vikings Season Preview

This week’s season preview comes courtesy of Matt Kroll, a writer in the Divisionaries Chicago office.

Residents of Minnesota have plenty to get excited about every year. They have a lot of lakes; as a whole, they rate amongst the healthiest people in the country; and they have Duluth, the home of that bridge that lights up, once and for all proving that electricity is finally catching on in the state. But there’s something more that the people of Minnesota want beyond electricity and way too much fresh water; they want their Vikings to bring home a Super Bowl win.

On paper, the Vikings are a formidable team. There’s no argument that Adrian Peterson is one of the best running backs in the league. Last year, he led the all running backs with 1,760 rushing yards, and undoubtedly the Vikings will be riding him harder this season — I predict the team won’t be satisfied unless he rushes for one billion yards this year.

The secret to Adrian Peterson’s success? The common handshake.

Receiver Bernard Berrian is obviously going to be another big player when it comes to picking up yards. Plus, first-round draft pick Percy Harvin will allow the Vikings to expand their offensive options. Harvin is not only a threat as a receiver, he’s also a danger as a tailback. This will allow him to line up all over the place, even allowing for the ever-spooky Wildcat formation. With him on board, the Vikings might also be the first team to make successful use of the new “Alley Cat” formation, which I just made up.

On the defensive side the Vikings are just as stable as last year. The team managed to basically retain their entire defense, with the exception of Darren Sharper. This wealth of experience will be a big help because the Vikings can start deeper in the defensive playbook rather than having to wait for newly acquired players to catch up. Plus, this will help the Vikes avoid suffering from what I like to call “The Hester Delay.” This is when you need to re-explain the basic fundamentals of football during every game to a player, usually to no avail.

Defensive end Jared Allen is known to cause mayhem for quarterbacks with his pass rush and sailor’s mouth; last year, he led the team in sacks and hurries. If tackles Kevin and Pat Williams are added to the mix, the line will be a huge obstacle to any offense. Of course, this whole suspension business needs to be taken into consideration. If it goes through, then the two powerhouses will be missing the beginning of the season. In the backfield, teams will also have to be weary of middle linebacker E.J. Henderson, who is returning this season from surgery, and omnipresent cornerback Antoine Winfield. Last year, Winfield forced four fumbles, had two fumble recoveries, two interceptions, and one sandwich eaten.

I feel like I’m forgetting something important that happened with the Vikings recently, something about someone coming out of retirement to play again. Did Warren Moon come back?

Wait, I remember now. That Favre guy came back — what’s the deal with him? I guess pulling on a pair of Wranglers and tossing around the old pigskin with his buds just wasn’t cutting it. No, he needed to wear purple. Would purple Wranglers have worked? I can only wonder.

Vikings fans, this is your mascot. (Photo by Amy Mingo)

It’s going to be interesting to see how much good comes out of this situation. On one hand, the Vikings are probably relieved they don’t have to rely on Tavaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels, both of whom seem to be hit or miss. Jackson played well this preseason against Kansas City, but not so well against Indianapolis. Rosenfels already managed to hurt his ankle.

On the other hand, the Vikings picked up a quarterback still trying to live out his glory days. (Insert Bruce Springsteen joke here). Farve was a fantastic quarterback in the past. Now he’s mediocre and a punch line to countless jokes. But maybe everyone is being too harsh. In his preseason debut against the Chiefs, he did manage to go one for four and pick up an astounding four yards. All kidding aside, he obviously needs more practice with the team and will probably be fairly decent this season once he gets going. The offense is there — he just needs to utilize it.

He should also throw to his own team. Although one would think it almost impossible to miss a bunch of Grimaces running around out there, Farve has been known to toss to the wrong people quite frequently. On the upside, if he just can’t cut it as QB anymore they can always add him to special teams. It could only help considering how putrid last year’s performance was.

There are a lot of factors that the Vikings need to take into consideration this year, especially if they expect a shot at the championship. If everything goes well they’re certainly contenders. But how often does everything really go the way it’s supposed to? Remember, the season still hasn’t started, so Favre still has plenty of time to re-retire.

Prediction: 11-5, with a 60% chance of a Purple Wranglers promotion by week 12

Up Next Week: Sweet Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears

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