Vikings/Chargers: Saturday Setup
By author
Well this is it. Will you be able to sleep tonight? We stand on the eve of the Vikings’ season opener vs. San Diego. Purple Nation has many questions and we will get some answers, not all, tomorrow afternoon.
What team will this be? The 2009 squad that went to the brink of a Super Bowl berth? Could it be last season’s squad that disappointed on almost every count?
It seemingly sounds like fans think last season is the true measure of who this team is and not that team that took the Saints to the 15th round of the heavyweight fight. But what has changed I ask you?
The Victor of Vicodin, the Commander of Codeine, the HOF, the gunslinger, Brett Favre is no longer the QB. No doubt a loss but is McNabb a decent replacement? Sidney thrived under said HOF QB’s being here but is he a dominant force? He won’t even suit up for the Seahawks in Week 1 (shoulder).
The point is this kids. Has the roster changed that much? The 2011 roster looks similar to the 2009 roster. Sure guys are a year longer in the tooth but they were also, to a man, embarrassed over last year’s effort. Jared Allen, said it repeatedly this camp; it’s practically the same team as 2009 and this year they have something to prove.
Were all of our hopes on 4 and 18? Two dynamic players that year, no question. Are they completely and totally irreplaceable? By no means. I roll the dice with McNabb and take my chances. He’s safer than Brett and will trust AP more. Have we replaced Rice? Again, save one season it’s not like the guy was Eighty Fo. Again, I roll the dice and take my chances with Percy, Jenkins, Berrian, Rudy, Shank, etc…
Not to mention that I’ll roll the dice with Musgrave’s offense as opposed to Chilly’s Vanilla-style pro offense. Will the players excel in this offense?
We have legitimate concerns on D. We need the Love Number Jared Allen to step up and rush the passer. We need BRob to step up. We’ll miss 93 for the first two to be sure. But the unit as a whole is a big question mark. We will see about this unit come tomorrow and especially Week 3 (when Williams returns). We have injuries, players recovering from injuries, and question marks in the secondary but again we will find out about this group.
I’m saying this, is this team as woeful and bad as the national media and some locals make them out to be? No way. We have playmakers at every level of offense and defense. This team, by and large, tasted the goodness of what winning is.
Can they return to their winning ways?
Good question.
Tomorrow we will get an answer.