Where They Are Now: Minnesota Vikings

We have faced all three teams we could face in the first round of the playoffs, which I would say is an advantage. We also played all three away (and Atlanta once at home). Saying they will have to come into our house for the divisional round, I definitely think is a definite advantage. Since we faced Minnesota so long ago I want to review them first.

When we first saw Minnesota we didn't see Tarvaris Jackson but newly named starter Gus Frerotte, as Jackson was only leading the team in one direction, down. Now, Jackson has been given the reigns yet again after Frerotte was sidelined due to injuries. This time however, his play has changed and Minnesota is sticking with the hot hand through the playoffs. He's taken those reigns and won 3 of their last four games . They started the season off a little slow at 4-4, yet only lost two more during the second half of the season to finish 10-6 and winning the NFC North. They finished the season ranked 17th in overall offense, 25th in passing and 5th in rushing. Yet I don't put a lot of weight into those stats. Changing QB would be the first reason, but the second would be those rankings are just based on yards per game; short fields, turnovers, scoring field goals, etc. all affect those stats; and second, at the end of the day they are 10-6 and in the playoffs. They did something right.

Yet despite their low ranking in the passing game, their running game is solid. Adrian Peterson is a force and can change the game on a single play. He's had ball control issues through the season which is definitely a liability. He walked around with a football all last week because of this.

Not taking anything from their offense, but their defense is a big reason they got to this point, specifically their rush defense. They allowed a league "low" of 76.9 yard per game on the ground. Only five teams had over 100 yards and in turn didn't allow a 100 yard rusher all season. The pass defense is ranked 18th, but compare it to our 16th ranked pass defense. I believe our secondary is our defensive strength and we are only ranked 16th. Yet because their rush defense is so good they don't have to stack the box leaving their secondary to cover as they see fit (something we don't have the luxury of doing).

Yet when we faced them last, our offense wasn't playing to their current level. Our O-line was without, I believe, two starters. It was also Steve Smith's first game of the season, Delhomme was sacked a total of five times during the game and we all remember the sack/fumble and returned for TD right before the half. That pretty much closed the door on that win. Yet, once our O-line became healthy in the second half of the season the offense took off. In additional Steve Smith has become Steve Smith again. Hard to cover and still makes the plays even when double/tripled team.

Taking this all into account, if we face the Vikings in our first game, I feel pretty confident we should win. Our running game is on fire and Steve Smith is making key plays. Of course you can't forget about Moose, he's had several decent games the last few weeks and has always been a big part of the running game. The defense does worry me some, but provided we get everyone healthy enough to play, then we should be back to our bend but don't break ways.