Fixing the Vikings

I'm still numb after last night's soul crushing 47-7 loss to the Green Bay Packers. I've never watched a game this bad. If not for a fumbled punt by Randall Cobb, this would have been a shutout and, officially, the worst loss in franchise history. Instead, this was just the second worse loss by the numbers, made all the worse by the opponent.

First thing's first, I want to see Aaron Rodgers' birth certificate. I don't care where he was born, just that he was. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that the dude is actually a robot designed to be the perfect quarterback, and that's just not fair. For the sake of everybody else's self esteem, he should not be allowed to suit up and step on that field.

On a more serious note, though, this is simply proof positive that the Vikings have an incredibly amount of rebuilding to do after fielding a Super Bowl caliber team just two years ago. It's time to take a good solid look at just what needs to be done, unit by unit (ignoring the looming fact that we're franchise free agents come February and God knows what will happen with the stadium issues).

Quarterback
I still have hopes for Ponder, but yesterday is going to make people question the things they've been praising him most for. For the last two games, we've been celebrating his poise and his ability to make plays on third down and in the fourth quarter. Yesterday, he struggled all night against constant pressure and couldn't get much of anything going. I'm going to hopefully insist that he wasn't the big problem there, but we're going to need to see some more flashes of life from him in the rest of the schedule. For now, though, we hope to be set at the most important position.

Running Backs
We still have Adrian Peterson, and he's still a force to be reckoned with. He doesn't seem to get battered the way most RBs do, so there's a chance we may still have 4 more years of serious production from him -- enough time to make this team competitive again and take another run or two at things. On the backup side, I'm higher on Lorenzo Booker than Toby Gerhart. Gerhart is a hard, between the tackles runner, but Booker is shifty in space and strikes me as the superior 3rd down option. We're not going to give up on Gerhart after trading back into the second round to grab him two years ago, but his best position may be at Full Back if he can improve his blocking (where he's already better than most of our skill players). Again, we seem to be set here and shouldn't make any major moves unless something falls into our lap.

Tight End and Full Back
I predict Shiancoe and Kleinsasser leaving after the season. They're both still productive players, but Kleinsasser is lagging this season after being one of the best blocking TEs in the game for most of his career, and Shiancoe almost certainly wants to put his athleticism to use on a team that can compete in the couple of legitimate years he has left. We do have hope, however, in Kyle Rudolph, last year's second round pick. The kid has fantastic hands, a great work ethic, and a solid relationship with Ponder. We also have a kid named Allan Reisner on the practice squad who everybody loved coming out of camp and who could be a real option with a full off-season of development. We could stand to grab a solid blocking TE late for depth, but Rudolph and Reisner will hopefully be enough to fill the position from a receiving standpoint. I see us running a lot of detached TEs next year.

On the FB side, Ryan D'Imperio has been next to worthless since we promoted him off the practice squad. He let Matthews run by completely unblocked for his first sack last night and has struggled leading downfield in all but a handful of opportunities. As I said earlier, I'd like to see if Gerhart can make the transition more fully (he plays a fair number of F snaps as it is), but I'm a big fan of two tight sets and would be fine with leaving the position unfilled officially. We managed that way for the first chunk of the season, and we were actually competitive in those games.

Receivers
A well documented area of major need on the offense. Right now we've got Percy Harvin and...that's it. I think that Greg Camarillo could do more for us than he's been allowed to do, but we don't need him fighting with Harvin over the slot. Aromashodu and Jenkins have both been competent, but neither of them are a real answer as number one or even number two receivers. Both can walk once their one-year contracts expire. Stephen Burton has reportedly impressed after a rough training camp that was hindered by unreported injuries, but he's only played a handful of snaps after being activated from the practice squad a couple of weeks ago. It would be fantastic if he develops into a real option for next year.

We could also see a bit of help if we can work yet another miraculous conversion: backup QB Joe Webb. The kid claims he can catch fine and that he did plenty of receiver work at UAB, but word is that his hands are awful. He pulled down a 9-yard toss yesterday, though, and if he can play the position, his athleticism would be a real gift for us. He could still occasionally line up in the Wildcat with the option to pass, and we could get a veteran backup for Ponder who isn't a former star and makes sense in the role. This isn't a RB to FB or Center to Guard conversion, though. It's not likely, and I see us making a big move at this position in the offseason -- either with a second or third round pick or a significant move in free agency.

Offensive Line:
Wow, this is a mess. They proved yesterday that they're incompetent against pressure (Ponder had to deal with unblocked rushers all night long), and they've been inconsistent in the run blocking game all season. We don't have a true left tackle, and I'll bet you money right now that this is where our top draft pick will go. Charlie Johnson hasn't been as bad as people feared following the preseason, but "not awful" isn't going to cut it at such an important position, especially with some very strong prospects in the pipeline.

Phil Loadholt is turning into another Bryant McKinnie, a guy with all of the physical tools to succeed at his position but none of the motivation. Anthony Herrera is never going to come back 100% after all of his injuries, and Steve Hutchinson is no longer a dominant force at Left Guard. He can still play at a better than average level, but he and Herrera are both on the wrong side of 30. It's time to find their successors soon here. On the brighter side, John Sullivan has been acquitting himself fairly well at Center, but he's undersized and will always struggle against the bigger Nose Tackles in the game no matter how good his technique.

We have a couple of young guys in the wings who have shown well in limited opportunities and could still develop into viable starters, notably backup center Brandon Fusco and OT Demarcus Love -- who projects better at guard. If we can find a way to make Loadholt get himself into gear and shuffle the interior of the line a bit, we might be able to make this a passable unit with just one high draft pick and a lucky hit late. That would be a miracle.

Offense Overall
It's a mess, but there's mild hope. If we have the guts to show people the door and make a couple of major investments, this could be viable again as soon as next year. When you have AP and Harvin and players with the potential Ponder and Rudolph have shown, that's always going to be the case. Development is essential, though, and the position conversions that could seal the deal are unlikely. With a bit of luck along the line, we're a year away from competency, two years away from real success.

Defensive Line
Jared Allen leads the league in sacks this season and still has the match-ups left on the schedule to challenge for the single season record. I'd say he's still got a number of productive seasons left. Brian Robison has largely disappeared on the Left End after a very promising start, but showed enough early that I'm still hopeful. Everson Griffen has proven on special teams that he has a motor that doesn't stop and has managed to provide his share of pressure in a reasonable number of snaps at End.

It's the interior where we have a bit more concern. Kevin Williams is showing age, and Remi Ayodele has done nothing but take up space this season. Christian Ballard, a rookie out of Iowa, has shown some good things, especially against the pass, and actually played Nose for most of yesterday. Letroy Guion showed promise against the run in the preseason, but hasn't done a whole lot this year. Both could potentially be options for next season, but we're going to be a long way off from the Williams Wall at its prime. Still, our run game has been stout this season, so I'm not too worried about the line as a whole.

Linebackers
E.J. Henderson is showing plenty of wear from his reconstructed knee and the titanium rod in his leg. There are worse linebackers starting in the NFL, but his time may have come. His brother Erin, on the other hand, is making an alright case for himself. Chad Greenway has dipped some since last season, but he's still a rock solid OLB, leading the team in tackles, and just got a significant contract extension. In an ideal world, he'd be better than consistent and would turn into a real play maker, but this soft Cover 2 defense doesn't give him many opportunities for it.

The rest of these guys are career special teams sorts, so we really need a lift at the position. There was talk for awhile of moving Everson Griffen into a stand-up role at least part time, which could be exciting to see, but would leave us short staffed at DE. It's easier to get deals on linebackers than on DEs in free agency. Just look at the improvement the Lions have had in the position this year. I'm guessing we make mid level move at the position in the offseason and possibly try to find value with a 5th or 6th round pick.

Defensive Backs
We have two legitimate players in our secondary right now. One is 34 and just broke his clavicle. The other is currently undergoing investigation and trial for felony domestic assault. This is why we're so far away from truly contending on defense -- especially in a division where we play six games annually against Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, and Jay Cutler.

Cedric Griffin has shown that he won't fully come back from a pair of knee reconstructions; Asher Allen is never going to be better than a dime guy; Husain Abdullah is spotty and does his best work against the run; and our Strong Safety rotation of Jamarca Sanford and Tyrell Johnson is going nowhere. We have two young players in Marcus Sherels, at CB, and Mistral Raymond, at FS, who have shown they might be able to play. But Sherels will likely never be better than a slot guy in the nickel, and Raymond hasn't been good enough this year for the coaching staff to be comfortable playing him regularly.

Our only hope at this position is that Cook turns out to be innocent of the awful things he's accused of and Cedric Griffin can resurrect his career at Safety, where he was projected to be best suited in the NFL, anyway. No matter the case, though, this is where our second round pick almost certainly needs to go. And maybe a third. And a fourth. We really just need to find as many kids with potential as we can and have a battle royale for the starting jobs in our secondary. Starting quality DBs generally don't hit the free market, and if they do, they go to teams that are championship contenders for a price tag we can't afford.

Defense Overall
Our line, while still strong, isn't what it used to be, and that means we won't be able to get away with the wishy washy secondary we've been fielding for years. Our linebackers are adequate but could use a boost. The secondary is a nightmare, though. Depending on how things pan out, we could be two years away from being merely competent in that department. It will take a minor miracle for us to be competitive again next year. Two to three years away.

Special Teams
Ryan Longwell is slumping after years of being rock solid. I won't blame last night's 52 yarder into the wind on him. It was right on target but simply died in the air. That doesn't change the fact that he's missed more field goals this season already than all of last season. It might be time to test new blood.

People who know me know that I love Chris Kluwe, so I may be a bit biased, but I'd still call him top 5 in the league. I've only seen one real botched punt all season, and the big returns have been the result of spotty coverage, not placement.

Spotty, by the way, is about the only way to describe our coverage. We're capable of making fantastic special teams stops, but the serious return guys in the league -- Hester, Cobb -- give us as much trouble as they do anybody else. Our return game, on the other hand, is strong. We've had 60+ yard kickoff returns from three different guys (Harvin, Booker, and Sherels), including Harvin's TD on the opening kick of the season. Sherels has made some poor decisions on both fair catches and returns in the punt game, but he's also made some big plays there.

Coaching
We've seen a handful of interesting things from Bill Musgrave on the offensive side. End-arounds, double reverses, even a poorly executed flea flicker last night. Especially with Ponder driving instead of McNabb, we're starting to get an idea of what this offense is supposed to look like, and it could be good. It's very West Coast, but seems to emphasize the intermediate slightly over the short. With better blocking and more talent at receiver (and more time for Ponder), it could be all right. The play calling in the first few weeks was iffy, but it's getting better. I'll wait to pass judgement until we see how things go next year.

On the defensive side, we're just too married to Cover 2. We're sitting in an era of amazing quarterback play, and that means constant zone coverage is just going to get carved up. We tried some more Cover 1 man last night, but we don't have the personnel for it in the secondary. Frazier needs to let Fred Pagac unleash things. If our secondary is going to get carved up no matter what we do, I see no reason to not get more creative and aggressive with the blitz. We don't have a whole lot left to play for this season, so let's see how much havoc we can cause if we let the dogs loose. We're already top 5 in sacks because of Allen's efforts. Let's give him some help.

Summary
We're a long way off, but things can turn around quickly in the NFL if you hit at the right spots. I don't have great hope for next year. Our holes in three separate units are just too big. We could still elevate ourselves back to a .500 team, though, instead of the 4-12 we'll be likely to get to this year. If we get incredibly lucky with development of this year's rookies -- who didn't get real training last year -- and some unlikely position changes, we could even be better than .500 next year. We play in the strongest division in football, though, and better than .500 won't be enough. In two years, maybe, we'll be able to win a game against the Packers again.