2008 Team Capsule: Minnesota Vikings
Viking coach Brad Childress needs to put his faith in Purple Jesus.
What Went Right
Purple Jesus! Adrian Peterson lived up to all the hype, for the most part. About the only person who didn’t realize it was Brad Childress. Childress only managed to get Peterson 238 carries to Chester Taylor’s 157. Anyway, Purple Jesus showed quite a nose for the endzone, scoring 12 times on the ground.
What Went Wrong
Besides an injury to Peterson late in the season, Tavaris Jackson’s topsy-turvy play troubled the Viking offense down the stretch. While Minnesota’s rush game ranked first in the NFL, the Vikings finished 28th in passing (averaging 171 yards per game). Besides Jackson’s struggles, the lack of a big play threat downfield contributed to this as well (no Vikings receiver eclipsed 1,000 yards or had more than four touchdown receptions). Defensively, Minnesota’s secondary could not stop anyone through the air…again, finishing last in the league against the pass. It’s not that the Vikings have a terrible secondary; sadly it’s due to how great their rush defense has been. Over the past two seasons, no team has been better at stopping the run than the Vikings.
Off-season Outlook
With Childress at the helm for Minnesota, the team doesn’t worry about such things as sex boat cruises and disgruntled players. Instead, the Vikes can actually focus on football and giving Bernard Berrian $42 million over six years. I guess Minnesota brass figures that if Berrian can be successful with Chicago’s Rex Grossman, that Jackson is on par with him. The Vikings still need more help at the skill spots on offense to aid Peterson, something which would be extremely wise so that he doesn’t get overused early in his career. The Minny defense is solid in the front seven, but could use some depth via the draft in the secondary.
Draft Outlook
If we were grading the Viking wide out corps on the 1-10 scale, with 10 being the best, we’d give them a 1.5. Before they signed Berrian, they were closer to 1.4 out of 10. For those not keeping score at home, Berrian is a one-dimensional non-entity. He might be good for some long bombs, but that won’t change the overall passing offense. Of course, if they brought in a Devin Thomas or Malcolm Kelly in the draft, then we might be on to something.
State of the Team
Quarterbacks – In 12 starts with Minnesota, Jackson threw nine touchdown passes to 12 interceptions with the run-heavy Vikings. As evidenced by the Super Bowl, a team doesn’t necessarily need a big name, but merely someone who can just manage the game without committing the devastating mistake. Jackson has not reached that level yet. Bringing in Berrian can only matter for fantasy owners if Jackson evolves in his second season as the team’s starter. Another nine-touchdown pass season by Jackson will put Minnesota’s post-season hopes on ice again.
Running Backs – We hope Peterson gets somewhere between 300-315 carries. This would be made possible by Childress completely trusting him, which didn’t happen last season, and Peterson staying healthy, which also didn’t happen last season. We love Purple Jesus’s skill and overall running back attributes, but he’s not a sure-fire top three pick.
Wide Receivers – Yeah, they got nothing. Berrian might be a decent third wide out, but putting him alone out there is football suicide. Seriously, we’re not sure he’d make our top 30 wide receivers right now.
Tight Ends – Visanthe Shiancoe stands to get the lion’s share of passes that go to the tight ends. And our mothers taught us that if we don’t have anything nice to say, we shouldn’t say anything. And for some reason, we just remembered that now.
Defense/Special Teams – This is a bizarre unit. The defense does not make a ton of big plays. Minny’s rush defense is superior and the best unit in the league statistically. However, the team’s inability to stop the pass and offer a spark in special teams makes it a middle of the road group.
The Vikings’ defense led the league in TDs scored last year and was near the top in INTs. I think that counts as “making big plays.” They’re also got a better safety in Madieu Williams and are probably going to get Jared Allen. Also, Bernard Berrian had over 70 receptions for almost 1000 yards last year on a terrible Bears offense, none of which were over 60 yards. How does that make him a one-trick pony who only catches bombs? You also forgot about Sidney Rice, last year’s second round choice who demonstrated great hands and had the second most TDs for a rookie last year (4) in 14 games. They have Bobby Wade too, who is actually a good slot receiver. He had 3 TDs and 700 yards last year. Replacing Troy Williamson, who had 200 yards last year, with Bernard Berrian, who had 1000, and getting Sidney Rice back healthy only improves your WR corps by .1 out of 10? The Vikings aren’t even going to draft a WR at all. They already have 5 who have a definite spot on the roster.
And you don’t want AD to get 315 carries. All around the NFL teams are utilizing two RBs more and more. The Vikings don’t want to shorten AD’s career, and Chester Taylor deserves a few carries himself. I would recommend that you educate yourself a little bit about the Vikings and get a lot of them in fantasy because they are going to be great next year.
you a bag of douche and you dont know shit, nice names of Devin Johnson and Malcolm Wilson, good one
You hit it right on with the Brad Childress comment about using Adrian Peterson. When they had to win their last two games AP only got 9 and 11 carries respectively. I think you were a little harsh on the wide out’s but not much. Jackson is one of the worst QB’s in the league and Childress is going to play him no matter what. RESULT! AP faces 8 and 9 man fronts.
MF – My bashing of Berrian is certainly in order, especially when his price tag is taken into account. He had one 100 yard game and only 10 over 50. Having actually watched Bears games, they constantly ran him on out patterns. His role was to stretch the field. He’s not a #1 wide out, and they are paying him like one. It was a bad signing and the offense is no better than it was last year.
I will say I agree with you about Rice. The silver lining to the Berrian signing was that it could open up holes for Rice. Four TD’s (!!!) aside, Rice has plenty to prove, but I’m anxious to see him make a jump.
No one has talked more about the workload toll on RB’s than I have. I’m a student of FFO’s studies on the subject. You want to avoid getting your RB 370 or more carries. I like to see my RB’s hit 300-325. I’m all for resting and spelling backs when it’s appropriate. But you need AP to get his game going. He should be looking at 20 carries a game.
Daw – Ack. Dyslexia. It’s bad. Sorry about that. Fixed now. At least I didn’t say Al Gore was running for the Niners. I’m still better than Gumbel…that’s what matters.
Doug – I think AP can beat the 8, 9 and 10 man boxes. He is that good. Just needs to stay healthy.
PurplePride.org Fans – Hey guys. You seem nice.
[...] [...]