For Favre, it means that the curtain has finally closed on his career. It was a long show with many ups and downs, plot twists and faux endings. He really has single-handedly provided much of the league’s drama, especially as he neared the end. At this point, it is truly over. If he does not play for the Vikings this year, there is no way he comes back after a year off.

For the Vikings, it means that they are back to where they were before all this Favre drama began - pitting newly acquired Sage Rosenfels against incumbant Tarvaris Jackson for the starting quarterback position on a very good football team, with John David Booty as the understudy.

While their is no denying that it is a bit of a disappointment from a fans perspective not to add Favre, it really may end up being better for the team. It would have been quite the spectacle watching Favre play against his old time twice, but this would only be a one year fix with no guarantees. Sage and Tarvaris both still represent hope as possible franchise QBs of the future. Tarvaris really only has this year left to prove that he can put it together. Sage has been around a while, but never in a starting role. It could be argued that he has just not yet been in the right situation to emerge.

Both are still question marks, and I can see why most fans would have preferred the Vikings go with a more established player when they have such a great team assembled. The handling of the quarterback position could haunt coach Childress in more ways than one. First, he, was supposed to be a QB development guru. If he can’t make it work with any of the players that have been in and out of here over the past three seasons, it could fall on his head. Also, there is no denying the expectations for this team after they made the playoffs last year. The Vikings boast the best running attack in the league, one of the best defenses, and they have added a few tantalizing weapons in the passing attack over the past few years (Berrian, Harvin, Rice, Shiancoe). Even Packer fans admit that we are a QB away from being scary good. Management sees it, and they undoubtedly have expectations that they expect to see met by Childress.

Anyhow, the drama of the offseason is over, and it’s time to begin the drama of camp and the 2009 season!

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Check out the video here.

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That said, we are now in one of those black hole time periods for NFL news. So, instead of making news where there is none, here is some entertainment for the sporting fan.

This video is a very… creative compilation of some of the funniest outtakes in sport history. Nod to Rob Vance for sending this my way.

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How lucky are we to have this guy on our team?!

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They predict the Vikings will finish 11-5, and had this to say about our team:

Brett Favre is not on the Minnesota Vikings. It doesn’t matter. The Vikings win the division by three games and are favored in all but one game. The Vikings average 25.3 points per game (#2 in the NFL) and allow 18.6 points (#7) against a schedule featuring five games against teams who made the playoffs in 2008.
 

They love Percy Harvin almost as much as we do, and they think our running game is so good that it hardly matters who lines up under center.  Click here for the full write up, complete with projected fantasy stats, a look at each game of the season, and a deliciously horrible outlook for the cheeseheads. 

To get a feel for just how dominate they think we will be, pay particular attention to the % of times they say we win if we played each opponent 100 times.  You will dig it.

Based on these predictions, how much better do you think we would be with Brett Favre instead of T-Jack or Sage?

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Thankfully, the Sporting News put together a list of the projected Top 25 players in the NFL for the 2009-10 season.  Considering there are 32 teams, most teams would be happy to have one player on this list.  The Vikings?  We have FOUR! 

Now, keeping in mind that this is only a projection, it still does carry some weight being that it was written by a group of former NFL scouts.  I think this is one of the best illustrations for just how good this Vikings team is – and just how badly we need a quarterback to drive it.  

Here are the four players who are considered by this group to be the elite of the elite, starting with, to nobody’s surprise, Mr. Adrian Peterson:

2. Adrian Peterson, RB, Vikings. He already is the NFL’s best runner, and coaches say they’ll finally throw him the ball this year.

14. Jared Allen, DE, Vikings. He is an elite pass rusher and also is a force against the run who never gives up on a play. He is tough, playing through knee and shoulder injuries in ‘08.

22. Steve Hutchinson, G, Vikings. Peterson should be thankful for Hutchinson, one of the most physical and dominant run blockers in the game.

24. Kevin Williams, DT, Vikings. The potential for a four-game suspension hurts his ranking, but he is one of the few players who can’t be blocked one-on-one. He regularly beats double-teams and is an absolute force inside.

I hope we as Vikings fans can appreciate the team we get to watch week in and week out.  Granted, the Metrodome is perhaps the worst stadium in the NFL, but it still shocks me that we have a hard time selling the place out when we have as many great players as we do. 

Final note on the list:  For some reason, this group of scouts expects Urlacher to come back to his dominant form this year.  Maybe we watched different games, but he didn’t even look like he was in the top 15 players at his position, let alone the top 25 players in the game.  He was the only other player in the NFC North to make the list, much to the dismay of our rivals. 

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But is he willing? Did he even get his arm repaired?  Would the Vikings even make room for him on the roster?  Only time will tell.  But the mere possibility is something that our NFC rivals can’t be thrilled with.  This article in the Chicago Tribune pretty well sums up just how much controversy Brett stills stirs up here in the Black and Blue division.  And this one captures the excitement the potential marriage creates in fans. 

But not everyone loves the idea.  What do you think Vikings fans?

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So what do you think of him now? Worth the 22 pick in the draft?

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This could have something to do with the fact that Peterson has been trying to avoid all the work involved with his extracurricular promo activities, things he admitted took a lot out of him after his first season.  Being on the cover of Madden would certainly involve more than just getting your photo taken.

I for one am happy that Peterson is focusing on football… and dodging the curse.  But what do you think? Would you rather be able to enjoy your favorite Viking as the feature player on this years’ Madden game?  Are you not afraid of the curse?!

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After not having a first round pick last year (we traded it away for Jared Allen), all Vikings’ fans can seem to think about lately is the draft. So who will the Vikings pick?

The popular notion is that the Vikings’ primary needs are at Quarterback, Right Tackle, Corner, and Wide Receiver. While the QB is certainly important, it is highly unlikely that Childress will grab one in the first round this year. We sent out fourth round pick to the Texans to bring in Sage Rosenfelds, and he will battle with T-Jack for the starting position. JD Booty will be the #3 developmental guy.

Tackle, Receiver and Corner all remain viable options at the 22nd pick, but it completely depends on what players get picked and who falls to us. Personally, I don’t feel that the top corners will be there for us, and after that no one is worth taking until the second round.

The Tackle that most people keep conneting to the Vikings is Eben Britton from Arizona State. Certainly he  stands a good chance of wearing purple if he is still there at pick 22. Something tells me that he won’t be, though. Offensive lineman are relatively safe picks in the first round, an attractive feature considering how much money teams have to pay these unproven rookies. Additionally, rookie salary structures stand a good chance of being reformed as a part of the new labor agreement, whenever that gets inked. So in my mind, teams are going to be playing it as safe as they can this draft, prefering to take gambles on higher bust-factor positions in the future when they (hopefully) won’t have to pay them as much.

Percy Harvin the WR that is generating a lot of buzz for the Vikes at pick 22. I don’t see it at all. He reportedly tested positive for pot at the NFL combine, meaning he is:

A. Extreamly stupid

B. One puff away from a 4 game suspention

C. Two puffs away from a year-long suspention

Any team taking him will have to see a lot of potential and get him at a great value. Such value for Harvin will be in the second round, not the first.

This is a tough call this year, and I am not sure which way the Vikes will go, but I have to take a stab at it anyway. My call is Kenny Britt, WR out of Rutgers. I think ideally the Vikes get best value by trading back toward the end of the 1st round, and picking up Britt, but I doubt they find a trade partner. Britt is 6′4″, 215 pounds, so he is a horse. The one thing the Vikings WR core lacks is a big, physical guy to go across the middle and cause match up problems with smaller defensive backs. That is why the Vikes went after TJ Hoozyamama. Since TJ chose poorly and went to Seattle instead, the Vikings may try to get a similar rookie wide receiver.

Like I said, this is a tough year to figure our which direction the Vikings’ War Room will go, but I can’t wait to find out this Saturday!

Who do you think the Vikes will pick? Leave a comment to put your best guess on the books…

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