Chris Doleman has his bust in Canton alongside the other greats of NFL history, including his Vikings teammates John Randle and Randall McDaniel. Chris was introduced at Canton Saturday night by his son Evan and went on to give a heartfelt speech, thanking numerous people and institutions including Zygi Wilf and the current Vikings organization. He also took a moment to remember former GM Mike Lynn who recently passed away. A full transcript of Doleman’s speech can be found here. Video here.

After a stellar career at Pitt, Doleman was drafted by the Vikings with the 4th overall pick in 1985. He was installed as a pass rushing OLB in the Vikings’ 3-4 scheme, recording his first half-sack against the Packers on November 10th, 1985. When the Vikes went 4-3 Doleman was moved to defensive end…and the rest is history. Chris grew into one of the great sack artists in NFL history, finishing his career with 150 1/2, including 21 in 1989. Doleman made his first Pro Bowl in 1987 and would return 7 more times, the last in 1997 as a member of the 49ers. He would be selected to 3 All-Pro teams and would be named a member of the NFL’s official all-decade team for the ’90s.

The Vikings had two periods of dominance on the defensive line, first with Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall and the Purple People Eater gang, then again in the late ’80s and early ’90s with Doleman, Keith Millard, Henry Thomas and a little later John Randle. If you’re a Viking fan who grew to love the team in either of those eras, you love defensive line play and you love sack artists like Chris Doleman. Defensive line IS the identity of the Minnesota Vikings as a franchise and Doleman is one of the men who forged that identity. He was, quite simply, a bad-ass crusher of quarterbacks.

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Nov 20, 2011; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf attends the game against the Oakland Raiders at the Mall of America Field. The Raiders defeated the Vikings 27-21. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Most football prognosticators have the Vikings finishing at the bottom of the brutally tough NFC North division. Rebuilding team trying to compete with three potential Super Bowl contenders? Roster full of rookies and low-end free agents with a smattering of expensive veterans? Best offensive player possibly on the shelf to start the season? Unproven quarterback? Holes all over the secondary? Better luck next year purple crew.

But Zygi Wilf,  he doesn’t care about prognosticators. He said during Tuesday’s afternoon training camp session:

I expect to be (NFC North) division champs. I want to be able to fight for the division, as we always did every year, and get better for years to come. That’s always been our goal and it’s been the goal since the first day I came here.

So that means Zygi is totally delusional right? The Vikings have no shot and everyone with a clue knows they have no shot. Well, of course Zygi is not delusional and he’s not a moron. He also knows the Vikings have no shot, and if you gave him truth serum he would admit that. But Zygi’s not in the truthful sports prognostication business, he’s in the football business, and to thrive in that business you have to sell tickets. Owners looking to sell tickets don’t stand in front of microphones and say the team stinks and is rebuilding so there’s no reason for fans to bother coming to games. They say stuff just like what Zygi said.

The Vikings are doing what they have to do with their various statements about the state of the team. On the one hand, they’re selling the long-term plan. On the other hand, they’re denying that it’s a rebuilding effort. It’s semantics of course. The truth is, the Vikings will be lucky to crack 5 wins this year let alone contend for the playoffs. But I think most non-delusional fans realize this and aren’t too bothered. They’re just hoping for improvement. It’s probably going to be a long year, but maybe there will be bright spots. But playoffs? No. No one thinks that, including Zygi Wilf. Not really.

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Jun 19, 2012; Eden Prairie, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman watches Vikings minicamp at Winter Park. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-US PRESSWIRE

The Vikings are surely acting like the “issues” between them and Percy Harvin are no big deal, even though those issues reportedly prompted Harvin to ask the team for a trade. GM Rick Spielman spoke on Wednesday from Winter Park and assured everyone that Harvin will not be traded, despite his request, and that things will be worked out.

“From our standpoint, the Minnesota Vikings, we have no interest at all in trading Percy Harvin,” Spielman said. “We drafted Percy Harvin here, he’s a key part of our organization and a key part of our football team. Any issues that are out there or are reported, we always handle those internally and will continue to handle those internally.”

“It’s part of the NFL,” Spielman continued. “There’s always going to be some players where you have to deal with specific issues and you have to deal with them internally, get them resolved and move forward.” Spielman said he expects Harvin to report for training camp like “all our players that are under contract.”

Your move, Percy Harvin. And what will that next move be? I wouldn’t even care to predict. Harvin’s “issues” appeared completely out of the blue and for all I know may evaporate just as suddenly. Harvin did show up for minicamp this morning but sat out of the walkthrough, instead spending his time on the sidelines watching. He left without speaking to the media as you would expect.

Harvin’s silence and Spielman’s necessary circumspection force us into pure speculation mode as regards Harvin’s issues. The favorite theory is that Harvin wants his contract redone, but that’s sort of boring and straight-forward. We want juicy conspiracy theories. The best one so far has been put forth by Mike Florio: He believes Randy Moss might be behind this whole thing. He thinks Moss might be whispering in his buddy Harvin’s ear, goading him into forcing a trade so San Francisco can swoop in and nab him. Is Brett Favre in on this too or is he too old now?

That’s fun. But a more likely explanation is that Harvin got told some stuff this week that he didn’t want to hear and went all Drama Queen on it. Gosh only knows what the team could’ve told Harvin that set him off. Supposedly it’s not an issue with his role in the offense, because according to Bill Musgrave, Percy is fine with the offense and fine with him and fine with everything. Maybe they informed him he would be required to show up for practice more than once a week, migraines or no migraines?

I’m starting to suspect Percy Harvin is just a tad mercurial. Let’s hope Rick Spielman and company know how to handle this situation without it blowing up. I suspect that, in the end, the “issues” will be smoothed over the same way such issues normally are: By the guy with the issues getting a bunch more money. But that won’t happen until after this season most likely, when Harvin’s final market value has been better established. Two years out from the end of a rookie deal for a guy who still has question marks hanging over his head is too soon to make a commitment one way or the other. For both sides, this thing needs to play out a lot more. Percy just needs to settle down, shut his yap and play football. And let the chips fall where they may when it comes to his future.

And if Randy Moss calls, don’t answer the phone.

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