Team Profile: Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings won their first NFC North title in 2008, and their first division title since the 2000 Central Division title. The Vikings had been the “sexy” pick to win the division for a couple years, and it finally came true this past season. They unfortunately ran into a hot Eagles team in the Wild Card round, ending their season sooner than expected.

The Vikings have 7 draft picks in 2009, with no pick in the 6th round (went to Eagles for Kelly Holcomb), and an additional 7th round pick (from Washington for Erasmus James). See the chart on the right to see all the picks. The Vikings did not pick until pick 43 last year, trading away their first rounder, as well as a couple 3rd rounders, in the Jared Allen trade. I’d say the Vikings did quite nicely in that deal.

I’ve combined rankings for the Vikings based on game stats, and from Football Outsiders. Here’s how the Vikings stacked up this season:

The Vikings, for the third straight year, were the #1 rush defense, in terms of yards in the NFL. Obviously having Williams x 2, along with Jared Allen in your front 4 will cause the great numbers. They also seemed to give up a lot of passing yards, but FO says they had the 5th best Pass defense in the league. Why? See my Bears profile, as I’m sure these are the same reasons for the Vikings. Overall, I’d say their defense is very good, and the main reason they had such a successful season.

The Offense, however, did not fare so well. While piling up loads of yards on the ground, FO does not like the Vikings rush attack. Biggest reason? DVOA rewards consistency over “Boom or Bust”. Adrian Peterson is the ultimate “boom or bust” running back. He certainly can take off for 50 yards on every play. However, he has a lot of 0, 1, or 2 yard gains, probably too many for a RB of his caliber. He also fumbles a lot (9 times on 384 touches, or 42.7 touches/fumble), which causes the DVOA to go down as well.

The biggest surprise to me was being dead last in Special Teams. They gave up the most punt return yards in the league (including 4 TDs), and were 4th worst in both Net Punting Average and Percentage of Touchbacks on Kickoffs. Luckily for the Vikings, Special Teams Coordinator Paul Ferraro decided to take another job as the LB Coach with the Rams. The Vikings promoted Brian Murphy, former Special Teams Assistant, to the Coordinator position. Let’s hope, for Vikings fans sake, that he didn’t learn the bad things from his predecessor. Gonzo, head writer over at the Daily Norseman, had this to say about the change in coaches:

So, here’s hoping that Murphy can help the Vikings’ special teams in 2009 and beyond. As we’ve discussed ad nauseum here for the past couple of months, the special teams really can’t get a whole lot worse than they were in 2008, but here’s hoping that we hit an upswing now rather than sitting in a valley.

There were no other major coaching changes, which is good news for the continuity of the team. Defensive Coordinator Leslie Frazier did interview for a few jobs, but did not get any offers (which is a travesty in my opinion). The lack of change should really help out the offense, and Tarvaris Jackson in particular.

Speaking of Jackson, I think the biggest question with the Vikings going into Free Agency and the draft will be “Will they take a QB in the draft, sign one in Free Agency, or stick with Jackson?”. Those guys over at the Daily Norseman have their opinions, and most of them think Jackson is not the answer. I don’t see much talk about drafting one, however, which I agree with. The defense is ready to win now, and elite RBs don’t last forever (See Tomlinson, LaDainian). They need a guy who can win games for them in 2009, not in 2011 or 2012. Garcia is a good candidate, as would Kerry Collins. We’ll see what happens.

The Vikings had a successful 2008 season, but have the talent to go much deeper in the playoffs than they did this season. With the right additions, they can be a very good team once again, challenging for the Super Bowl.