Performance Tuning The Vikings Offense

The 2010 Minnesota Vikings Offense started the season with the same aspirations of the previous year, but then clonked out 30 feet off the line. The fine-tuned high-performance engine that is the Minnesota passing game is seriously misfiring on a few key cylinders.

Minnesota's offense was forced to roll their high performance machine out of the garage, missing parts and having its cylinders improperly wired. The main blow to that passing system has been the loss of  their No. 1 wide out, Sidney Rice. Without this key component, Favre’s ability to throw the deep ball and add any sort of depth to the passing game is virtually taken away from him.

The attempt to fill that No. 1 slot with Bernard Berrian, has been a catastrophic blunder. Berrian looks like rookie fourth-string cornerback, fading away from the ball, being pushed aside while being overpowered for the ball. This lack of fight out of a No. 1 wide out has resulted in multiple unnecessary turnovers for the Vikings.

Aside from an underachieving No. 1 wide out,  another major change has negatively affected Minnesota’s passing game. By moving the explosive Percy Harvin from his play-making position as a slot receiver and putting him into the No. 2 slot, we see him and Favre now struggling to make the adjustment to this. Harvin now is no longer available for that across the middle route quick release route. The pieces are simply out of place.

But the light has shone through the end of the tunnel. The man shining that light is Randy Moss.

Identical in style to Rice, only he was the man to invent that style. A fast, jump-ball No. 1 wide out with the potential to back off coverage and re-open the slot routes underneath. By having Randy Moss fill that No. 1 spot, Berrian and Harvin can return to their natural positions, re-wiring Minnesota’s passing game to what we saw last season.

It has been a duo that has been long anticipated for the last decade. The Hall of Fame quarterback paired up with the Hall of Fame receiver. Both have expressed their respect and admiration for each other over the years. Both have voiced their desire to play together. Both are arguably the best at their position, in the history of the National Football League. We can only speculate at the extreme potential this combination will produce.

With the return of Sidney Rice in late October or early November, we see the potential of this offense increase exponentially. Having two deep threats with an explosive slot receiver will make the Minnesota Vikings passing game the most dangerous in the NFL.

Randy Moss, Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin, Adrian Peterson, and Visanthe Shiancoe with Brett Favre at the helm, seems like an unstoppable force. Time will tell if they can get this machine firing on all cylinders. But the potential alone caused an incident in Green Bay...Ted Thomson just “Shat” himself.