NFL Outsider Season Preview 2009: Minnesota Vikings

NFL Outsider is hosting a season preview of all 32 teams. The NFL regular season begins on September 10; in the meantime follow the best NFL bloggers as they analyze their teams in this 2009 season preview.

Dan Zinski from TheVikingAge.com gives insight into what to expect from this year’s Minnesota Vikings. Check in on other teams here.

If recent reports are to be believed, the Minnesota Vikings will go into the 2009 season with former arch-enemy Brett Favre at quarterback. Adding a signal-caller of Favre’s caliber clearly changes things for the Vikings - but will it change them enough to make them Super Bowl contenders?

Yes, quarterback was a big question mark, even after the trade to acquire Sage Rosenfels, an experienced veteran who figured to  compete with Tarvaris Jackson for the starting job (pre-Favre). But it was certainly not the only question mark.

Equally pressing were the team’s issues on the offensive line. Matt Birk left a huge hole at center when he departed for Baltimore. And the demotion of right tackle Ryan Cook aka the Human False Start resulted in another major void.

The Vikings addressed the right tackle situation by drafting Phil Loadholt, the most physically imposing man they’ve had there since the late Korey Stringer. Loadholt is raw though, and may not be ready to step in once the season starts. Another unknown quantity, second-year man John Sullivan, figures to move into the starting center spot.

If Favre is unsettled by what’s going on in front of him, at least he can look behind him and be reassured to see Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor. The Vikings sport the best running back corps Favre has ever worked with, which is good news for his ailing right arm. And if reports out of minicamp are any indication, that backfield will be lining up in all sorts of creative new ways, as the Vikings, with versatile first-round pick Percy Harvin in the mix, jump on the Wildcat bandwagon.

The receiver corps was underwhelming outside of Bernard Berrian last year, but Harvin gives it an infusion of talent not seen since Randy Moss, and with Favre delivering the ball, both Harvin and third-year-man Sidney Rice have a chance at becoming stars.

The defensive side of the ball would figure to offer fewer issues. The Brad Childress/Rick Spielman regime has done a marvelous job rebuilding a unit that became a laughingstock under Dennis Green and Mike Tice, and now, under Leslie Frazier, is once again  worthy of the Purple People Eaters name.

But even the defense isn’t free of nagging headaches, the biggest being the on-going Williams Wall controversy. Pat and Kevin, the O-line-destroying behemoths in the interior of one of the NFL’s best defensive lines, are still fighting in the courts to avoid a four-game suspension for using the banned diuretic StarCaps. Losing their All-World run-stuffers for a quarter of the season would be a major blow to a team that makes its living running the ball and stopping the other team from doing the same.

Of course, the Vikings hope that adding Favre will make them less dependent on their running backs and defense. If #4 stays healthy, and returns to the form he showed his last year in Green Bay, the Vikings will at least make the NFC title game.