Minnesota Vikings Need Offseason More Than Most to Avoid Transition Year in 2011

The old man may, and I stress the word may, have hung up his helmet at the end of last season in Minnesota, but Brett Favre wasn't the only aging piece on the Vikings' roster in 2010.

It may not be a wide spread belief just yet, but the Vikings don't look like conquering anyone next season and a large part of that is the team's aging stars.

The team is old in pivotal positions and could seriously struggle now that there are even more question marks over the quarterback position (by the way, how is it possible that when you remove Brett Favre from an equation that equation becomes even more of a contentious issue?).

Face it Vikings fans, Favre is NOT coming back...who am I kidding, Favre could be coming back. Who knows. One thing for certain, the Vikings shouldn't care if he calls, the Grandfather of the NFL (he is the only one isn't he?) isn't capable of carrying the hopes of football fans in Minnesota anymore.

Joe Webb is not the Vikings' Steve Young, even if he can run like him, nor is Tarvaris Jackson, who is also a free agent, so a trade to try to find the team's next Hall of Fame quarterback could lead them to Washington.

Donovan McNabb has still got plenty left in the tank, at least in the opinion of this lowly writer, but at what cost is he viable for the Vikings? A first round draft pick? No. A second? No. A third? Wait a minute, that one was already donated to that draft hungry charity in Boston, The New England something-or-others.

Realistically it is very tough for this team to part ways with draft picks. They have holes spread across the roster where they need to either get younger or upgrade the level of talent.

Sidney Rice's determination to test the free agent market is not a good sign for the chances of him returning.

He reportedly turned down a multi-year contract from the Vikings, which suggests he is searching for a huge payday, something many teams will be more than willing to give him.

Rice will leave the Vikings with a gaping hole at receiver. Percy Harvin is very talented but constantly struggles with migraines and minor nagging injuries that don't seem to be going away, while Bernard Berrian has had a Joey Galloway type of disappearance from the player he once was in Chicago.

Harvin certainly can be the team's number one, but pass him on the depth chart, and Greg Camarillo is the only receiver of note under contract for the coming year, not counting Berrian's ghost.

Two talented running backs remain in Minnesota as Toby Gerhart enters his second season behind the most violent runner in the league, Adrian Peterson.

Peterson may find things tough next year though, as things stand, the team has no passing threat, with question marks littered across the offensive line.

Steve Hutchinson is only 32. I say only because it is a hard thing to believe after the drop off in play he suffered last year. His play dropped from an all-pro level to that of an average player.

Phil Loadholt looks more and more like a bust as each game goes by, he could be suited to playing guard, as his feet aren't the best, while Bryant McKinnie remains a solid, if underwhelming left tackle.

Throw in Anthony Herrera and John Sullivan to make for an altogether average and aging offensive line.

That's OK, the Vikings have always relied on their defense for the past few years anyway.

It's true that the Vikings are used to not having a stellar offense; last season the team ranked 29th in the league, but they no longer have that top five defense to win them football games.

Last year, the Vikings gave up over 20 points per game ranking them 18th in the league.

The most hardened fan in Minnesota will obviously point to the fact the team was ranked in the top 10 in each of the yardage categories...barely.

They were 10th against the pass and unbelievably, for a team that was consistently one of the best in the league, ninth at stopping the run.

The Vikings are lacking an identity defensively as much as they are on the other side of the ball. 

The state of the defensive line; one of the team's staples in recent years, is facing definitely the heaviest loss, as huge run stuffing defensive tackle Pat Williams is 37 years old and a free agent.

He was even considering retirement before last season, so it could be on the cards this year.

Defensive end Ray Edwards is looking for greener pastures, while his supposed heir, Everson Griffen, is looking for a lawyer rather than a football helmet.

Jared Allen and the other half of the Williams wall, Kevin, remain but with precious others of note in the front seven.

Chad Greenway has been franchise tagged by the team in order to prevent them from losing a second of their starting linebackers (Ben Leber being the other) from hitting free agency.

The team may believe in Jasper Brinkley's ability to play outside linebacker, but that is yet to be determined by any means.

Brinkley at best has shown that he is a reliable player, however possibly the Vikings biggest troubles come in the secondary, as the team could really do with upgrades across the board.

They have solid players at every position but no real standouts. Antoine Winfield used to be that guy but at 33 he no longer looks to be able to play at NFL speed.

Madieu Williams and Husain Abdullah make for a solid safety pairing, but Williams is 29, so it's doubtful that he can vastly improve any further.

Abdullah may be the key to the future of the secondary, as he is only 25 years of age and showed flashes of play making ability during last season.

He and 23 year old corner-back Asher Allen will be looked to by Vikings fans to improve the team's secondary next season.

One thing is certain, Frank Walker and Lito Sheppard don't have the potential to be starting corner-backs anymore.

The Vikings finished last in the division in 2010, with more pieces than they enter the 2011 off season with. The unfortunate thing for them is that the NFC North is a division on the rise.

The reigning Superbowl champion Packers have more talented youngsters than a Brazilian soccer team. If the Chicago Bears find a tackle or two to protect Jay Cutler, they could easily retain the division crown while the Detroit Lions arrow is definitely pointed upwards with the potential return of Matthew Stafford this year.

Inexperienced Head Coach Leslie Frazier is facing a tough task during his first off season in charge of the Vikings.

The team looks certain to select a quarterback in the first round, should they not trade for a veteran. Fixing the quarterback quandary can be a fatal flaw for even the most talented of teams, just look at the Carolina Panthers fall from grace since the 12-4 finish of 2008.

One thing that does work in the Vikings favor is, as Pat Yasinskas of ESPN reports (previous to the tagging of Greenway), the Vikings should have some formidable cap space for the coming season as they ranked third in the NFC North at that time.

The biggest hole in Minnesota may no longer be the gaping hole atop the Metrodome, but there are certainly other gaps for the Vikings to be filling.