What/Who will make the Vikings a better team next year?

[Jim Uran]

Let's keep this postive .....

[BRULEDRIFTER]

tjack

[Outfitter17]

Farve, another good DB, a good replacement for Mckinney, and a new coach.........

[Cooter]

Is this a trick question?

I'd say coaching and secondary. You've got all the pieces of the puzzle, depending on Favre, just need a little fine tuning.

[walleyes12]

Favre first! Without him or decent qb this team will go nowhere.

Second, we need help at the safety position, and depending on Griffin's knee we might might need a db. I think with some experience Asher Allen or Benny Sapp could step in the position.

third get rid of McKinney, get a decent replacement.

Fourth sign Chester Taylor, Hes to valuable!

[Catfish_Nuggets]

Maybe a rule allowing 12 men in the huddle? And maybe a clause added to McKinnies contract to keep him out of nightclubs so he can focus on his job.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

[Hitman54]

I will agree with Walleyes12 comments and also add a right guard to the mix. The Vikes run blocking was very poor for most of the season and their pass protection was horrible vs the Saints!

[lawdog]

safeties are priority #1 if Brett comes back. QB is priority number one, two, three, four and five if he doesn't. Phat Pat's decision might require some added D-line depth too and EJ's injury status is a question mark maker for linebacker.

We are a few plays from the superbowl, no need to make radical changes, just some slight improvements here and there.

[Rick]

I would say our O-line is our primary need. Hutch is old (likely retiring soon) and McKinnie looks like he's starting to go downhill. Our other O-lineman are young and have yet to prove they are high quality O-linemen themselves.

[Jim Uran]

I agree, the o-line needs some work, that should be out primary concern as well as a decent fullback!!!

[kitchy]

Never been a fan of McKinnie. A speedy DE or blitzing LB/DB will eat his lunch almost every time. Need to help him or cut him.

Of course QB will be the biggest hole if Favre retires.

Question...do you think the pass protection would've been much better with Mr. Harvard in there with his ability to recognize defenses and call protection schemes? Not disrespecting Sully but it might have made the differnece this year. Just a hunch.

[lawdog]

That's a good question Kitchy. Although I think Sully is a top notch up and comer, its hard to beat that experience we had with Birk, plus when he's healthy he's a beast. I personally think though that most of the perceived line problems are schematic as opposed to personnel. Even at that we had a top five ranked offense in an offensive minded league...

[solbes]

Someone here talked about moving Winfield to safety. I think that makes sense. The guy can flat out play, but he's not getting any younger trying to cover these speed guys. Safety position would use his tackling skills more and he'd be a good one. Of course that leaves a hole at CB, which may become two holes with Griffin's ACL/MCL injury.

MLB will be interesting next year. Jasper didn't play poorly, but he wasn't always in position. I would think some coaching and experience will help that. If EJ came back strong, all the better.

We're stacked at receiver, and I think the O-line needs some fresh running schemes. Maybe look to draft a player there for left side. I agree about McKinnie, not exactly the quickest LT out there.

Other than that Brad Childress needs to give #4 a break, and then just start showing up at his doorstep every morning come Mermorial Day. With flowers and chocolates.

[OIF_Veteran_21B]

They need to alter their logo and/or colors a little, and maybe even their name. Some of the teams that have done this in the past fifteen years or so have made the Super Bowl and even won it: (Titans (1st time), Rams (1st SB Win), Buccaneers (1st time & 1st SB Win), Broncos (1st SB Win), Ravens (1st time & 1st SB Win), Patriots (1st, 2nd, 3rd SB Win), Falcons (1st SB), NY Giants (SB Win).

If the Bucs, Saints, Cardinals & Ravens (old Cleveland Browns) can make it to the SB, the Vikings have been a better franchise over the last 3 decades and have only been able to muster NFC Championship game losses.

Minnesota Mud Ducks, team color black and white?

[SledNeck]

Getting rid of that scrub Madookie Williams and getting a premier safety

[croixflats]

Secondary! Secondary ! If the offense can manage 17 to 21 points a game if Favre does not come back we will be fine if we shore up the secondary and line backers. There should be no reason to have be scored on us 4 times with points over 30 and five more games over 23 to 30. Its sad when the Vikes play a good, some bad, team they have to score more than 30 points and some times 36,they lost that one, to win.

[zepman]

I would say our O-line is our primary need. Hutch is old (likely retiring soon) and McKinnie looks like he's starting to go downhill. Our other O-lineman are young and have yet to prove they are high quality O-linemen themselves.

Right on Rick. We need to keep plugging away at our o-line AND d-line...too many good players getting old to go any other way this off-season. Our o-line needs the most help...I just don't think they are as good as advertised.

While our safeties suck(ed)...they are relatively young and as we've seen, are capable of playing good football on occasion. They should keep getting better. Sanford is the sleeper of the bunch. Our safeties just aren't asked to do a whole bunch in Fraziers scheme. I look for Winfield to transition to a "hybrid" type player next year anyway.

If Favre doesn't return then...well...all bets are off!! Can you imagine how AP is going to get killed next year with no threat in the passing game.....OUCH!!! Get him some young, gnarly o-linemen who won't give up on their run blocks.

[FutbolGuru]

A safety who can tackle with the instincts of Madieu and the athletecism of Tyrell. Madieu knows what he's doing but doesn't exactly have the speed/strenght of a good safety, and is therefore ineffective. Tyrell is genetically gifted, but consistently makes the wrong reads on the field. It's awfully tough to defend the pass in a cover-2 without 2 capable safties. If we could improve here, we'd be awesome.

This is assuming of course we resign Chester, Favre comes back, and teams continue to leave Sidney in single coverage (hasn't anyone figured out this kid is good).