A Season To Remember for Vikings Fans: Will It Continue?

Brett Favre has beaten all 32 NFL teams. The Vikings are 5-0 for the first time since 2003. The defense still has yet to allow a single 100-yard rusher (that’s now 28 straight games, for those counting) not to mention a rushing touchdown this season.

The Vikes won their 400th franchise victory in Week Five, and Baltimore basically comes limping to the barn in an attempt to put a stop to the Vikings' success.

And to think, it’s only Week Six.

Minnesota has very quietly been putting together one of its best seasons thus far that I can remember, not only with milestone after milestone being achieved, but taking care of business on both sides of the ball—a familiarity Vikings’ fans are not used to having.

For the Vikings and their fans, it has always been one or the other.

Whether it was a great rushing attack but horrible passing, great run defense but terrible coverage, all of the loose ends have come together in a nifty little package that has Vikings fans racing to the couch every Sunday and thinking deep postseason run or even—dare I say it—Super Bowl!

So here we are, near the halfway point, and on the horizon is the Baltimore Ravens—a team once known for their own dominant defense and currently known for their newfound offensive prowess, much like the Vikings; the similarity is eerie.

But there are a couple of key separations, aren’t there?

Not to take anything away from Joe Flacco, but he is no Favre. Not to take anything away from the Ravens’ backfield, but they aren’t the gruesome two-some of Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor—remember him, Baltimore?

Not to say the Ravens wide receivers are underproducing, but they surely aren’t up to the level of Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian, and Visanthe Shiancoe.

But with all this said, the true mark of a Championship team is, well, quite frankly, to ignore such things. It is far easier to ride the wave of emotion that is synonymous with a 5-0 start; it is even easier to fall victim to overconfidence when you're king of the NFC mountain (or, in this case, splitting a time share with New York and New Orleans).

Championship teams turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to such frivolities, and the Vikings would be wise to do the same, and I think they will.

This team looks different, it acts different, it plays with a purpose, and it plays well. The Vikings are beginning to show themselves—and, vicariously through themselves, their fans—that they have finally grown up, that they have maturated into a quality team bound for greatness this year and not “down the road.”

But it’s been a long time coming for Vikings fans.

Since 2003—even as far back as 1998, some would say—the Vikings organization, and its loyal fan base, has been waiting to see the ascent of a team superior to the previous ones that found their way into the postseason only to come up short.

Gone are the days of Leroy Hoard, Robert Smith, Cris Carter, Jake Reed, John Randal, Randal McDaniel, and Randal Cunningham; here are the days of new thanks to Adrian Peterson, Chester Taylor, Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian, Ray Edwards, Jared Allen, and Brett Favre.

You decide which team is better, or just wait until the end of the season.

But, as I said before, there is something that is just different about this group of guys in comparison to any other team in the past.

Is it the magic of Favre at the helm? Is it the imposing and often unstoppable Adrian Peterson? Is it the unrelenting motor of the defensive line? Is it the record upon record being shattered as the season progresses?

No, it’s none of these things.

This team posses that one extra little factor that we as football fans just simply know exists. You don’t speak of it in definition, you probably can’t explain it, but you know it to be truth. It’s that little something extra you feel in your bones when you watch your team play week in and week out.

Peterson has been shut down, but he keeps on coming; Favre was sacked nine times in the first three games, but the O-line has seemingly fixed that; the defense has been soft in covering when blitzing, but has made up for it in the pass rush—no matter how many guys you have blocking, they still get to the quarterback.

But this will all be for naught if the Vikes can’t continue their newfound success.

The Vikings are on a path of change and enlightenment, one that shows what they are capable of doing with a little glimpse into what can be.

They have all the right weapons, they have all the proper ethic and technique, they have Pro Bowl players all over the place, and everything is wrapped up nicely in a little package with a little extra something inside that, in time, will be the deciding factor between a great team and greatness!

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Check out Vikings Vindication for a full game preview of the upcoming Ravens matchup and show some love!