Favre is gone, let’s go out and play

The Minnesota Vikings simply have the scariest defense in the league. Kevin Williams and Pat Williams are the stout defensive tackles and Jared Allen is the pass rushing specialists. Ray Edwards is not bad by any means, but when added to those names he can get drowned out the conversation. The front line is tremendous and has old time Vikings fans remembering the Purple People Eaters back in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

That is the kind of line that can take a team to the Super Bowl, but is more likely to just have a few Pro Bowl tickets at the season’s end. The linebackers are good, but not great with E.J. Henderson leading the group. The secondary has a couple of hard hitters in cornerback Antoine Winfield and Darren Sharper and a good cover man in Cedric Griffin.

For the fans at the Metrodome, games will decided by how effective that line is. The offensive line is important too. They need to make big enough holes for super back Adrian Peterson to run through, but the team has a weak passing game so the defense has to keep the contests low scoring.

Minneapolis sports fans are simply happy to have a team that is in contention for the NFC Central division title. Viking tickets were an excuse to see the rookie Peterson last season, but this season the fans want a playoff appearance.

That could happen with the topsy-turvy nature of the division. The Lions and the Bears are still trying to find out what kind of teams they have, leaving only the Packers in the way between a guaranteed shot at the Super Bowl. The Pack have a good young defense, but also have a young quarterback who has a couple seasons worth of mistakes to make.

The offense has to find some kind of consistency at quarterback. Tarvaris Jackson has flashes of possibility, but Gus Frerotte has the experience to make things happen, even with just Bernard Berrian and Sidney Rice running the routes. The receivers are not exactly Hall of Fame bound. The fact that the best receiver Zygi Wilf could find on the market was Berrian is a statement to the lack of talent outside of the draft at the position.

The Vikings are going to have to rely on that front four on defense until Brad Childress can figure something out on offense to move the ball in long chunks other than just a Peterson counter.