Minnesota Vikings: Mid-Term Grades for Every Unit

The Minnesota Vikings have reached the halfway point of the season.

No one should be too surprised over the results. With a new coaching staff, a new quarterback to open the season, and another new quarterback taking over in Week 7, it takes time to develop chemistry. In the 51-year history of the Vikings, no first-year coach has ever led the team to the playoffs, and among the seven coaches to take over the Vikings, only two were able to improve the team's record from the previous season.

While the record has been disappointing, there have been some extremely good individual accomplishments.

Adrian Peterson has been a beast running the ball, and Jared Allen is on pace to break the single-season sack record.

Finishing the first half of the season with a win over the Carolina Panthers, and heading into the bye week, Vikings fans are getting excited with the Christian Ponder-led Vikings. Granted, veteran quarterback Donovan McNabb had not set the bar very high before being benched.

In an over-hyped matchup of rookie quarterbacks, Ponder did just enough to lead the Vikings to a 24-21 win. He finished 18-of-28, throwing for 236 yards and a touchdown. Cam Newton finished with 290 passing yards and three touchdowns, but it was his two lost fumbles that led to 14 points for the Vikings.

The Vikings next get their second shot at the Packers in a Monday night game at Lambeau Field.

Here are the grades for every unit at the midpoint of the season.

Wide Receivers

One of the weakest positions for the Vikings, things may be looking up with the release of Bernard Berrian and the emergence of Michael Jenkins, who leads the team's receivers with only three touchdowns in eight games.

Percy Harvin is the most talented of the group, but without a receiving touchdown yet in the season he needs to step up and become a scoring threat on offense.

The Vikings still need a deep threat, and the Vikings appear to want Devin Aromashodu to step up and accept this role.

Grade: C-

Tight Ends

Just when is seemed that Visanthe Shiancoe was developing some rapport with Donovan McNabb, the Vikings changed quarterbacks. Shiancoe is currently third on the team in receptions and has two touchdowns. He has a ways to go to catch up to his career best in receptions (56) and touchdowns (11) from two seasons ago.

Rookie and second-round draft pick Kyle Rudolph has yet produced as expected. In eight games Rudolph has only 11 catches, and no touchdowns.

Grade: C

Offensive Line

When head coach Leslie Frazier released Pro Bowl left tackle Bryant McKinnie before the season, it left a gaping hole in the offensive line.

While the Vikings have been successful running the ball, they have allowed the seventh most sacks in the league. Part of the blame falls on the receivers' inability to get open, or the lack of mobility of Donovan McNabb to avoid a sack, but the offensive linemen need to take some of the blame.

With a mobile Christian Ponder behind them, the line may appear to be playing better as the season proceeds.

Grade: B-

Running Backs

The Vikings are leading the NFC in rushing yards, and the bulk of that comes from Adrian Peterson.

Peterson leads the league in rushing with 798 yards and nine touchdowns. Currently averaging 4.8 yards per carry, Peterson is a sure bet to surpass Robert Smith as the Vikings' all-time leading rusher.

If you include the effectiveness when the Vikings hand the ball to Percy Harvin or Toby Gerhart, the results get even better. Harvin, who scored his first offensive touchdown against the Panthers on a 10-yard touchdown run is averaging 9.6 yards per carry, and on 17 carries, Gerhart is averaging 5.9 yards.

Grade: A+

Quarterbacks

The experiment that was Donovan McNabb at quarterback was finally called a failure after six-and-a-half games.

Since taking over for McNabb against the Bears, Ponder has looked decent.

With a current passer rating of 77.5, Ponder's statistics are no more impressive than McNabb's, but in games against the Packers and Panthers, Ponder was able to convert some key 3rd downs, extending drives for the offense.

Excluding the Bears game, when McNabb and Ponder split duties, the Vikings offense with Ponder at quarterback is averaging three more points per game than with McNabb.

The grade will improve, especially if the Vikings can keep winning.

Grade: C

Defensive Line

If I'm grading the performance of Jared Allen alone, it's easily an A+, leading the NFL with 12.5 sacks.

Include Brian Robison and the grade barely slips. Robison has stepped into the starting lineup and produced, delivering 4.5 sacks from the left defensive end.

Once we throw in Kevin Williams and Remi Ayodele, the results fall off steeply.

Grade: B-

Linebackers

Chad Greenway is being paid to be a difference maker on defense. While he continues to lead the Vikings in tackles, there has not been that game-changing, or game-saving play that the Vikings desperately need from one of their linebackers.

Grade: C+

Defensive Backfield

The defensive backfield is the weakest link of the Vikings defense.

Antoine Winfield has missed four straight games due to a neck injury, and Chris Cook has been indefinitely suspended following felony domestic assault charges.

Cedric Griffin, coming off major knee surgeries to both knees over the past two seasons, is not the shutdown corner the Vikings desperately need when facing the likes of Aaron Rodgers of the Packers, or Calvin Johnson of the Lions.

Asher Allen and Marcus Sherels have been thrust into expanded roles on defense, something neither are prepared to handle.

Jamarca Sanford and Husain Abdullah have looked lost at times, and woefully overmatched. The duo has combined for three of the six interceptions for the Vikings.

Grade: C-

Special Teams

The Vikings' special teams have been exciting to watch.

Percy Harvin opened the season with a 103-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the Chargers. Harvin is averaging 31.1 yards per return.

Splitting duty with Harvin has been Lorenzo Booker, who is averaging 26.2 yards per kickoff return.

Marcus Sherels, who, with the shortage of cornerbacks has seen some time on defense, made the roster as the punt returner.

With Booker hurting, Sherels took the opening kickoff against the Panthers 78 yards.

Punter Chris Kluwe is having a decent season with ten punts downed inside the 20-yard line, and only one touchback.

One area of concern might be in the field goal department. The usually reliable Ryan Longwell has missed three of 16 field goal attempts so far this season. His 81.2 percentage is his lowest since joining the Vikings in 2006.

Grade: B

Coaching Staff

After taking so long to finally get a head coaching job, Leslie Frazier could be in jeopardy of losing it.

If Frazier doesn't turn things around quickly, he could join Les Steckel as the only coach to last only a single season with the Vikings.

Steckel took over an 8-8 team from Bud Grant in 1984. His military style did not work well and he was let go after leading the Vikings to a 3-13 record.

With two wins under his belt and eight games left in the season, Frazier should have a pretty good chance of surpassing Steckel, and hopefully hold onto his job.

With two lost challenges in the game against the Panthers, Frazier has yet to out-coach anyone. 

The problem may be that Frazier, as a rookie head coach in the NFL, appointed first-time coordinators in Fred Pagac on defense and Bill Musgrave on offense.

Grade: C+

Overall Grade

With hopefully the worst behind them, and a boat load of hope in Christian Ponder, Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin and Jared Allen, things are starting to look better.

With a 2-6 record in the first half, I see the Vikings improving in the second half. They could surprise a few teams and go 5-3 in their final eight games and finish 7-9—a one game improvement over last season.

The frustrating thing about the Vikings is they have too much talent to be only 2-6.

Grade for the fist half: C