Minnesota Vikings: 7 Players That Underperformed in 2011 and Need to Step Up

When talking about the 2011 season for the Minnesota Vikings it's very hard to find the proverbial silver lining.

From the 0-4 start with the three blown leads to the exorbitantly priced meaningless win over the   Redskins, last season capped an amazing free-fall for a team that played for the NFC Championship just 26 months ago. And while much Vikings chatter of late has centered around "Bountygate" and the re-opening of the old "oh, what could have been" wounds suffered two Januaries ago, for many that's simply been a distraction from the huge rebuilding job staring the team in the face.

There are no convenient excuses available for the 2011 squad. The Vikings finished 3-13 and their record was absolutely indicative of the product they put on the field. Yes, they had a first-year head coach, a rookie quarterback and a rash of injuries. Welcome to the NFL, it happens.

As Vikings fans watch the offseason unfold, there is a giant sense of unease among the ranks as they view the machinations (or lack thereof) of newly appointed GM Rick Spielman and head coach Leslie Frazier. Minnesota faithful feel like they're getting a completely new face, but not at the hands of some Beverly Hills expert; instead, they're at the mercy of some kid who just finished medical school and placed an ad on Craigslist. 

Although the bandages will remain on and the Vikings won't be able to see what they look like until next fall, it's clear to everyone an overhaul was needed. No matter who's doing the operating, there will be many new faces out at Winter Park next season. For those who are returning, everyone not named Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin and Jared Allen will have to bring a helluva lot more to the table than they did last year. Such is the state of a 3-13 team.

With that in mind, here are seven Vikings that absolutely have to step it up heading into the 2012 season.

Leslie Frazier, Head Coach

Leslie Frazier was given every benefit of the doubt heading into the 2011 season.

His hiring was cheered by the Vikings faithful in January of last year, and Frazier seemed to be the steady hand that was needed after the volatile ending of the Brad Childress era.

The honeymoon didn't last long.

The football world gasped when Minnesota selected Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder with the 12th pick in the 2011 draft. Experts screamed "reach" and Vikings fans wondered why the team didn't at least trade down to take a guy whom so many deemed a second-round talent. 

Oh well, they needed a quarterback and if the "triangle of authority" calling the shots for the Vikings thought Ponder was the guy, so be it. Then Frazier hedged his bet. Feeling the team was good enough for a playoff push, he urged the signing of Donovan McNabb, whom Frazier felt could be the veteran leader to get the team to the playoffs and double as a mentor for the rookie quarterback.

That worked out about as well as John Carter has for Disney.

It was a rocky season for Frazier in almost every way. He seemed overmatched out of the gate, blowing big halftime leads and seemingly was never able to make in game adjustments while his counterparts were able to completely change the flow of games in the second half.

After the 0-4 start the season felt like a runaway train that wasn't going anywhere good. Frazier handled the losing with aplomb in the media, never making excuses and always vowing to work hard to get things better—but they never did. On the sidelines he had the look of a boxer who'd been knocked down twice in the first round and was just hanging on for dear life the rest of the way. He didn't look like a great motivator and his team certainly didn't look like it was being led by a great football mind. Both coach and team simply looked shell-shocked for the entire season.

Upon further review of the 2011 season, the truth is the Vikings had nowhere near a team that was good enough for a playoff push. Their personnel, beyond three stars and a handful of solid players, was dismal. The coaching was uninspired and mediocre at best.

Frazier and most of his staff will be back in 2012. With a year under his belt and a firsthand look at how not to do it at his disposal, Frazier has to take a huge leap forward in 2012. If there isn't a giant improvement from last year, there won't be a 2013.

Christian Ponder, Quarterback

I liked this picture of Christian Ponder to sum up his play from last year because whatever it is that he's doing, it's terrible. 

This is either a handoff or a ball fake, and on paper he's doing what he's supposed to be doing, he's just not doing it very well. We have no way of knowing if this is Ponder's fault or the running back's fault, but we do know that it's way out of sync. Ditto for Ponder's season.

Vikings fans took to Ponder early on—he was clearly a shot in the arm compared to the comatose play of Donovan McNabb. Ponder ran around like a 10-year-old on Mountain Dew and seemed to have a penchant for making things happen on third down.

However, like that kid on Mountain Dew, the sugar wore off and Ponder's play crashed and burned. Like the picture we have here, it was pretty hard to say how much of the blame was on Ponder and how much should be given to everyone around him.

It's pretty hard to grade a quarterback who seemed to be facing a jailbreak rush every time he dropped back and was throwing to a group of receivers that would make a CFL team blush. At the same time, it was hard not to shake your head at a quarterback who was taking a three-step drop and throwing what was supposed to be a quick out to his first option directly into the waiting arms of a corner.

After a 10-game sample set, Vikings fans don't know a whole lot more about Ponder's ability than they did when he was drafted, which should probably be a concern. It doesn't help the mood of most Vikings fans that two seemingly can't-miss rookie quarterbacks will be entering the league next fall either.

Hit or miss, GM Spielman and Coach Frazier have tied their fate and the short-term future of the franchise to Ponder. 

To be fair to Ponder, very few quarterbacks step into the NFL looking like world beaters. He'll now get a full offseason, complete with coaching and further immersion into the nuances of the game played at the highest level.

It's a quarterback league these days and Christian Ponder is the Vikings quarterback for better or worse next year. Here's hoping we have a little better picture to sum up his play after next season.

Phil Loadholt, Right Tackle

Phil Loadholt is probably lucky that only one Vikings offensive lineman had a satisfactory season last year. If not for that, Loadholt's year of regression would have spent a lot more time under the microscope than it ended up having to. 

Both the Vikings guards were old and injured last year, and while one of them might be bound for Canton one day and the other might never have had the talent to start in the NFL, both of their best days were in the rear-view mirror when 2011 started. 

Loadholt, on the other hand, was entering his third season in the league and Vikings coaches and fans were hoping to see an improvement that normally comes with a couple of years under the belt.

It didn't happen.

At 6'8", 330 pounds with athletic ability, on paper, Loadholt seems to be an ideal NFL tackle. In reality Loadholt was probably around 360 pounds last year and showed zero tenacity, which is really not a good thing for an offensive lineman.

Loadholt has to whip himself into better physical shape for the 2012 season. The Vikings staff should be riding him hard in the offseason, and with hardcore workouts should come not only a more fit body, but a more intense mindset that Loadholt clearly needs.

Very few men are blessed with the physical gifts Loadholt has been given, it would be a shame if he ended up as another NFL washout unwilling to pay the price to succeed.

Charlie Johnson, Guard

Charlie Johnson was flat out overmatched at left tackle last season. 

Equipped with neither the size or the athletic ability to take on elite pass-rushers, Johnson was put in position to fail by the Vikings and he certainly did.

Heading into the 2012 season the thinking is that Johnson will be moved to one of the vacant guard spots, which will be a much better fit for the 6'4", 305-pounder. Johnson is far better suited to both run block and pass protect from the middle of the line where he won't have to face the elite athletes matched up against left tackles.

Having said all that, Johnson has to prepare himself to be a starting guard for next year. He'll be heading into his seventh year in the league next season and nobody who isn't extremely gifted (he isn't) gets to play in this league that long without working their butt off. Johnson will not be handed a starting position next year. One of the guard spots will probably be his to lose, but he'll have to prove he's the man for the job all season long. 

Devin Aromashodu, WR

Six years after entering the league out of Auburn as a seventh-round draft pick, Devin Aromashadu signed a one-year deal with the Vikings last week that will bring him back to the club for the 2012 season. 

While six years is far longer than most all seventh-rounders last in the league, the hope that Aromashodu might yet have a "breakout" year is probably wishful thinking.

What the Vikings can expect from Aromashodu in 2012 is numbers similar to what he gave them last year: 26 catches for 468 yards and a touchdown with an impressive 18 yards per catch. Aromashodu will obviously hope to be a bigger part of the Vikings offense, but you have to think the team is hoping to draft a wideout that will step into the third or even second receiver role, which would keep Aromashodu as a depth player.

Aromashodu seems to be a good team guy (depth guys don't stay in the league this long if they're not) so it will be incumbent on him to help mentor whatever rookie wideout the Vikings bring in, even if it means fewer snaps for him.

The better the Vikings offense is, the more balls for everybody, so every receiver on the roster will hopefully have a role in the team's success.

Erin Henderson, OLB

Across the Internet there were varying takes on the value of free-agent linebacker Erin Henderson. Rated way too high on some and probably too low on others, Henderson ultimately re-signed with the Vikings last week to a one-year deal that basically says, "We want you back, but you need to prove you're worth the big pay day before we give it to you."

Fair enough.

Henderson played pretty well last season, making 91 tackles in 15 games, and at just 25 years old and with a very good head on his shoulders, the one year deal was a no-brainer for the Vikings. 

What Henderson now has to do is prove to the club that he's worth a multi-year deal by showing another level of improvement in the 2012 season. After getting a shot to start in 2011, Henderson gave every indication that he has the physical and mental ability to be a big-time player in the league. At 6'3" and 244 pounds, Henderson has just about the perfect physical traits for an outside linebacker and he's proved to be a willing student of the game, which bodes well for his football future.

He was a good player last year. The Vikings need him to be a great one in 2012.

7. Chad Greenway, OLB

I really wouldn't blame Chad Greenway if he got a little irked when he reads what most football experts say about him. The general consensus is that he's a steady player who makes a ton of tackles but just doesn't impact the game the way true superstar linebackers do.

Put me somewhere in the middle of that rating. It's kind of silly to say that a guy who's been near the league leaders in tackles the past two seasons is underperforming, but it's not a stretch to say that the Vikings need Greenway to be a little more impactful. 

His numbers are great on the football field, but his presence could be greater. Greenway has enough ability to be the type of player that can simply enforce his will on the other team. He can take his play up to another level where teams actually game plan away from him. Terrell Suggs had nowhere near as many tackles as Greenway, but he had seven forced fumbles and 14 sacks and was named the Defensive Player of the Year.

Greenway obviously plays a bit of a different role for the Vikings than Suggs does for the Ravens, but nobody would watch the two play even a half a football game and say Suggs didn't stand out more.

Greenway is a great player, but he can get better and the Vikings need him to.