Minnesota Viking football

I don't know why, but the Vikings' history has been that of good offense/bad defense or bad offense/good defense. The 1970s Vikings came the closest to being good on both sides of the ball, and during the regular season they certainly were. But the Vikings went to 4 Super Bowls and never scored more than 14 points in any of them. The '80s featured a Doleman-Millard-Browner led defense and Wade Wilson on offense. The '90s were Carter-Moss-Smith-random QB and some subpar defenses. The early part of this decade was Moss and Culpepper scoring a lot of points, and some awful defenses. Then Moss and Culpepper were traded, offense naturally went south, and of course did so just as the defense was getting good again. So do the Vikings finally have good units on both sides of the ball?

I am a big disbeliever in Brett Favre. I will freely admit I'm biased here, but the man has done nothing to change my mind. He's old, his arm was dead at the end of last year, and he didn't play very well last year. Give me a reason to get excited here. And if he struggles like I imagine he will, the Vikings will once again come up short on offense while fielding a really good defense.

The tools are in place for the Vikings to go to the Super Bowl. The defense is top notch. I've always wanted a dominate defensive line, and the Vikings have it. The linebackers are rock solid, with the always underrated E.J. Henderson returning at middle linebacker. The secondary is a bit more questionable, with Cedric Griffin being a pretty average player and 2nd year player Tyrell Johnson taking over at strong safety. But Antoine Winfield is a really good player, and I've liked Madieu Williams since his Bengals days. Combine these guys with the Vikings' defensive line, and it all works out pretty well.

Offensively, the QB needs to bring it all together. The running game goes without saying. Peterson is the best runner in the league, and Chester Taylor could rush for 1200 yards if he got the carries. It's the passing game that has to improve. Points come out of the passing game, which explains how the Vikings can run the ball and stop the run, yet finish 8-8 and 10-6 the past two years. Berrian is the deep threat, Sidney Rice is a red zone target, Percey Harvin brings run-after-catch ability, and Bobby Wade can work the underneath routes and convert tough 3rd downs. Vishante Shiancoe had an underrated season at TE last year.

The pieces are all in place here. And the Vikings are wagering that a 40 year old QB who led the league in INTs thrown last year can bring it all together. I think it's a move that could potentially set the franchise back (what is the plan for after this year?), but hey what do I know? I never fetched coffee for Andy Reid while he called plays.