The Minnesota Vikings Will Win the NFC North

In a hotly contested 2009 campaign, the Minnesota Vikings will survive to become the NFC North champions. Minnesota will finish the season with a mark of 9-7 lifting them just beyond the reach of Chicago and Green Bay.

Close at the heels of the Vikings will be the Chicago Bears followed by the Green Bay Packers.  The Detroit Lions will improve this season, but still finish a distant last.

The North has talent this season, but each team is somewhat flawed.

Minnesota is mostly flawed in the most important position. Sage Rosenfels is expected to lead the team this season at quarterback.  While, Rosenfels is an improvement over incumbent Tarvaris Jackson, he lacks experience as a starter, having filled in for the injured Matt Schaub in Houston.  

However, if Rosenfels proves to be the answer at quarterback, Minnesota could exceed the 9-7 mark and contest for a bye week in the playoffs.  

Currently, there are rumors about the return of Brett Favre to football, and if he were to return that he would become a Viking.  An aging Brett Favre with a bum shoulder could still prove to be better than anyone currently on the Vikings roster, simply because he knows the offensive system and he’s studied opposing defenses so long that he can read them in his sleep in Mississippi.  

That being said, Favre does have a shoulder problem that limited him at the end of the 2008 campaign. Fortunately, the Vikings play eleven games inside this season and only two in cold-weather cities (Green Bay, Nov. 1 and Chicago, Dec. 27) where the weather could hamper his throws.  

This favorable schedule would be a welcome change for the aging Favre, seeing that he spent his whole career in the bitter cold of Green Bay, and last season in the winds of the New Jersey Meadowlands.  Whether the team is quarterbacked by Brett Favre or Sage Rosenfels, Minnesota should be looking forward to a solid season offensively.

Minnesota’s skill position players hold the team’s success and failure in their hands.  Adrian Peterson leads the way as the Vikings stud running back.  Last season, Peterson followed up an incredible rookie campaign with a 1,760 yard, 10-touchdown sophomore season in which he was THE focal point for all defenses.  

The Minnesota passing game is weak, but the team is built to run first and second, and then think about passing after that.  Peterson is the young stud that gets the job done behind one of the game’s best offensive lines.  However, if Peterson goes down to injury, look out.

Nothing could derail the Vikings faster this season than an injury to Peterson.  Chester Taylor backs Peterson up in the backfield.  Taylor provides excellent support for the young stud, but make no mistake—Taylor is getting a little older himself and is not capable of shouldering the load by himself for too long.

Bernard Berrian leads the wide receiving corps.  He is a fast receiver with some questionable hands and the propensity to drop critical passes.  However, Berrian has had Jackson and Rex Grossman (Chicago Bears) throwing to him for the past three seasons, so he has not seen too many incredibly accurate throws.  

That being said, he has done little to help out his quarterbacks.  Bobby Wade and Sidney Rice will be battling to start opposite Berrian.  Wade had a nice season when he finally got playing time due to an early-season knee injury suffered by Rice last year  He made 53 grabs for 645 yards and two TDs last season coming off the bench and eventually replacing Rice.  

Rice, meanwhile, sustained his knee injury, then damaged the knee again after a short return to active duty.  He has the size and speed to be a solid possession receiver in the NFL, but he has to show that he can stay healthy.  The change in quarterback will be felt most profoundly by Berrian, Wade, and Rice as they should all post better numbers this season.  

Make no mistake though: This team is run first, and none of the three wide receivers are a real threat for the Pro Bowl.

Visanthe Shiancoe and Jim Kleinsasser are the tight ends in this offense.  Both have proven useful weapons as bail-out options for the quarterback, but they see few touches in the red zone owing to the strength of the running game.  They both are solid blockers and serve the team well.

The defensive unit for the Minnesota Vikings could be what makes this team rise to the level of Super Bowl contender or fall to the level of first-round cannon fodder.  Head coach Brad Childress has implemented one of the strongest run defenses in the NFL.  They have spent the last two seasons at or near the top in rushing defense for the entire league.  

However, the team’s secondary has fallen prey to a number of quarterbacks over the past couple seasons.  Just ask Peyton Manning how he was able to go from an 0-15 deficit to an 18-15 win in 25 game minutes. Teams that have beaten the Vikings have done it through the air.

If Minnesota has adequately addressed their secondary needs, it will flourish.  However, if the secondary gets injured or underperforms, the Vikings will flounder around .500 for the season.             

The special teams unit received the biggest boost this offseason with the addition of Percy Harvin, a wide receiver out of Florida.  Harvin is a speed guy that will instantly improve their return game.  Eventually, Harvin should work his way on to the field as a slot wide receiver and combination player in the mold of Reggie Bush.  However, he will replace Chester Taylor as the team’s returner, and should be able to provide a field position upgrade from last season’s efforts.          

Given the strong running game and running defense combined with the upgrades to the quarterback position, the Minnesota Vikings will go at least 9-7 and win the NFC North.  If their defense plays better than expected, they could reach 13-3 and contend for the top seed in the NFC playoffs and possibly a berth in the Super Bowl.  

However, the team is just a pulled hamstring of Adrian Peterson away from competing with Detroit for the basement of the division.  Buckle up—it’s going to be a wild ride.