Minnesota Vikings' Identity Takes Shape

The 2011 NFL season begins on September 11. After four meaningless games for preparation's sake, the Vikings will be playing for real in San Diego.

These four meaningless games have shown us the identity of the 2011 Vikings.

On offense it is apparent that Donovan McNabb, acquired via trade with the Washington Redskins, has found his confidence. He seems to be very reserved and at ease with his new teammates and the organization.

But for that matter, the entire organization and its players seem to have a calm confidence about them, reflective of their new head coach Leslie Frazier's personality.

After seven years that spanned the "Love Boat" scandal to the midseason firing last year of former head coach Brad Childress, it is very assuring to have a team that appears level headed enough to handle adversity.

And adversity is what they will face early and often as the Vikings appear to have one of the toughest, if not the toughest, regular season schedule of 2011.

So whatever frustration the team feels as they lose early will probably not show its ugly head in the public eye.

With that said, how will the team fare?

Offensively we've learned that new coordinator Bill Musgrave's offense has a combination of many different schemes.

His mantra is to build the scheme around his players, and from the preseason it would appear he has been successful. Not merely in teaching his players but in gaining their confidence and admiration.

Veterans remain on the offense and the determination to run the ball appears to be taking shape, or at least it showed promise during Week 3 against the Dallas Cowboys.

So if the unit can minimize turnovers and penalties, as an experienced group of players ought to, the offense at the very least won't lose games single-handedly this year.

The defense is the area that concerns me personally. A group that once was the dominant force in the NFL at stopping the run, and was feared for their pass rushing ability is now slightly better than average at both.

Unfortunately slightly better than average is not good enough to cover for a secondary that is more than slightly below average.

Unless the unit can show better pass rush with the return of Kevin Williams I fear the secondary will leave the Vikings in early holes. Which will take away that ground and pound mentality the team wants to have on offense.

The identity therefore, in a nutshell? The team is composed, poised and built to succeed. They know what they have and what they can do.

The offense has the ability to control the football. The defense must regain its push along the front four or the whole house of cards falls.