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December 30, 2009

Vikings coming back down to earth

By Jim Rueda

The question on many sports fans’ minds these days seems to be what’s wrong with the Minnesota Vikings?

It’s certainly an area of concern for Minnesota fans but perhaps people are asking the wrong question. Maybe, just maybe, when the Vikings got off to a 6-0 or 10-1 start, fans should have been asking: “Why are the Vikings playing so well?”

The obvious answer to the second question was the addition of Brett Favre behind center. But still, isn’t it possible the franchise was playing over its head and taking advantage of a fairly soft schedule?

Few will deny that the arrival of Favre was an upgrade over what the Vikings had at quarterback when the team broke training camp, but the team still had some serious question marks in other areas heading into the season.

The offensive line, for example, had to be rebuilt. Veteran center Matt Birk fled to Baltimore and was replaced by unproven second-year player John Sullivan. The right tackle position is being manned by rookie Phil Loadholt and the starting right guard, Anthony Herrera, was a career back-up before becoming a starter last season.

Favre’s play may have been able to mask the inconsistent effort of the O-line for the first two-thirds of the season, but his performance has dropped the last month. Now, some of the team’s weaknesses are being exposed.

There have been problems on defense from Day 1, too. Nose tackle Pat Williams is playing a lot less this season due to his age. And while Tyrell Johnson may be a promising safety, you just don’t hear his name called very often during games.

Darren Sharper may have been past his prime but there’s no denying he had a nose for the football. His loss to free agency left a void that the team has yet to fill.

A season-ending injury to middle linebacker E.J. Henderson has significantly handicapped the defense, and opposing teams are taking advantage of rookie Jasper Brinkley. Corner Antoine Winfield has missed a large chunk of time, as well, and still does not appear fully recovered from his knee and ankle injuries.

All those factors mean there are holes in Minnesota’s defense. Ben Roethlisberger found them. So did Kurt Warner, Matt Moore and Jay Cutler.

In addition, there’s no side-stepping the fact that the team’s premier running back is a fumbler. Until Adrian Peterson’s fumbling gets bad enough to warrant his benching, it’s an issue the Vikings will have to live and die with.

Maybe the real question isn’t what’s wrong with the Vikings? Maybe it’s this: Now that the team is playing at its natural level, can we expect improvement?

Unfortunately for Vikings fans, the answer probably won’t come this Sunday. Beating a New York Giants’ team that is struggling and has nothing to play for, won’t carry much weight.

A loss to those same Giants, however, would seriously damage the team’s postseason outlook.



Jim Rueda is the Free Press sports editor. To contact him, call 344-6381 or e-mail him at jrueda@mankatofreepress.com.

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