Fran Tarkenton. The first QB of the Minnesota Vikings, the first drafted QB of the Vikings, the longest tenured QB of the Vikings, the man who captained the Vikings to 3 Super Bowls, the man who was a 9-time Pro Bowler, 6-time All-Pro, won numerous NFL awards and accolaides, retired owning almost every NFL passing record, is the reason that you will NEVER again see the #10 worn by anyone else in Purple, and, oh yes, by the way, is also enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, was asked to do an interview last week.

True, Tark is 'yesterdays news', an old-timer, and these days, Favre is the favored flavor... but some of us remember who Francis Asbury Tarkenton is and what he achieved with the Minnesota Vikings, and think that he might know what he's talking about when it comes to football, the NFL, and perhaps even playing the position of QB. If there is such a thing as an 'expert' in the field of 'NFL Quarterbacks', Tarkenton is definitely qualified as one.

Before all the complaining spin was put on it, the interview looked something like this on ESPN;

 Fran Tarkenton admits he hasn't seen much of Jay Cutler, but he saw enough Thursday night to render an opinion on the embattled Chicago Bears quarterback.

"I really question whether he can play," Tarkenton, the Hall of Fame quarterback and former Minnesota Viking, said Friday on "The Waddle and Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. "Quarterbacks need to make their team better. If it's a bad team, they can even make a bad team better. Somebody may say well, even Peyton Manning couldn't help the Bears. Yes, he could. Tom Brady could, too. They might not win the championship or get to the playoffs, but they would make that team better. Those wide receivers who are struggling would be better because they would make them better."

Cutler threw five interceptions, including one in the end zone in the final seconds of the Bears' 10-6 loss Thursday to the San Francisco 49ers.

Tarkenton, who led the Vikings to three Super Bowls in the 1970s, disputed the notion that Cutler's mechanics needed work. It's a lot simpler than that, he said.

"Great quarterbacks, good quarterbacks, make plays," Tarkenton said on "The Waddle and Silvy Show." "Mechanics is overwrought. Whether they're strong-armed, weak-armed, throw sidearm, throw overhead, they're fast, they're quick, I don't care. I just want someone to make plays. Peyton Manning doesn't look beautiful back there.

"Jay Cutler had every opportunity to make plays for his team last night and every opportunity he didn't. That's how I judge a quarterback: Either you make plays or you don't. I don't even want to talk about mechanics."

What advice would Tarkenton give Cutler?

"If Jay Cutler is not comfortable with the offense or the way they are calling the plays, he ought to go in there and tell that coach [expletive]," Tarkenton said during radio interview. "Dan Fouts came into the league and for the first couple of years he was struggling. He said, 'What do you do?' I said, 'Dan, if you're not willing to go tell your head coach or your coordinator to kiss off, then you can't play quarterback in this league.'

"I don't think that will solve the problems of the Chicago Bears. The Chicago Bears need to start over. But for Jay Cutler to be a quarterback and make plays, he's got to take charge."

 Tarkenton on ESPN

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We all know we'll be drooling on the TV to see whether Favre looks good or bad (no matter which camp you're in), and to a lesser degree, we'll be especially interested to see what our other 3 QBs look like. Sage will be of particular interest, since he'll be going up against his former team. 

But what else will you be looking for during Monday's game?

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We've been mostly focused on the high-profile question-marks in yesterday's game against the Chiefs, guys like Favre, Jackson, and Harvin... but there's was a lot of other play worth mentioning. Other play, and other interactions that I just really enjoyed. Here's some of the things I noticed that seem worth mentioning;

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How important is Favre to the Vikings... really? I personally think the Vikings are a 10-6 to 12-4 team this year, with Sage at the helm. I think we're headed to the playoffs even without Favre.

We're doing a lot of wrangling over whether or not Favre can throw, will his INT rate be too high, will he last through the season, can all the fans get over the old hatreds enough to get behind the team. But there's something that keeps rising in the back of my mind, the bigger, longer lasting impact on the Vikings... the impact that's going to last for years after Favre's gone.

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According to the Purple Press, on August 4th, yet another Viking great, Randall McDaniel enters the Hall of Fame in Canton.

An excerpt from his bio, for anyone who might not remember Big Mac's road-grading ways;

Selected in first round, 19th overall, 1988. . .Earned all-rookie honors. . .Started 202 consecutive games. . .Started 13 straight playoff games for Vikings. . .Blocked for six 1,000-yard rushers and five 3,000-yard passers during career. . .Anchored offensive line of explosive Vikings team that scored then-record 556 points, 1998. . .Named All-Pro nine consecutive times (1990-98). . . Selected to play in a record 12 consecutive AFC-NFC Pro Bowls (1990-2001). . .Born December 19, 1964 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Randall McDaniel is truly deserving of this honor and it does my heart good to see him get it :)

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We saw some really ugly Vikings special teams play in 2008, especially on the punting team and it's return-coverage. Almost set a new NFL record of the sort you don't get to live down for decades. Granted, Farwell was out, but one man does not an entire coverage team make. Childress pointed the dirty finger at Kluwe, and while I think Childress was excessive in his public display of anger, I think he's right on target with who is responsible for the problem.

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I was reading an article in Pioneer Press (http://www.twincities.com/vikings/ci_11471528) that speculates on the possibility of the Vikings moving to L.A. when their stadium contract runs out in 2011. It seems to be the perennial worry, but this time there's an LA billionaire backing the project and the Vikings are on his short-list of teams to lure down there with a new stadium.

What got my attention this time wasn't the article, but the 93 comments on the article. I took the time to read them and was shocked to count that fully half the comments were from people who didn't care if the Vikings left Minnesota, or not. And that makes it a majority of commentors, because there's a bunch of fluff comments in the pack as well. Then I remembered, Minnesota is the state that lost the Lakers, and the North Stars, and re-voted and re-voted and re-voted until they put a comedian in the Senate, and I begin to wonder if the Vikings have any chance to actually stay in Minnesota. 

Maybe it's all about the money; the NFL doesn't want to ante up for a stadium but wants the revenues to continue to bloat it's pockets and tax payers aren't in the mood to make the NFL any richer than it already is. The sportsmanship angle with it's attendant considerations of team loyalty long dead and swept beneath the corporate carpet. 

My poll question is; if the Vikings leave for wamer, more (theoretically) lucrative grounds, how many folks would remain die-hard Vikings fans? What would folks do?

Yeah yeah, I know, we're beating the hell out of this one, but that's because we know this is the single most critical issue the Vikes need to fix, and none of the previous posts has reached anything remotely like a consensus for decent options. Came across an article in the Pioneer Press that did the same run-down, only more complete;

http://www.twincities.com/ci_11407058?source=most_emailed

Most of names have distinct negatives attached to them and we've covered those, but there's 3 names that seem to stand out as the best possibilities for 2009;

66.5 - Derek Anderson

80.2 - Matt Leinart

79.5 - Sage Rosenfels

What do you think of those three? The Vikes didn't want to spring for Rosenfels last year, maybe they'll change their mind...

On a slightly different note, just a bit of angst of what we could have had if the Vikes had put JDB on the waiver list instead of Thigpen.... Hey, how 'bout that Thigpen?!? He's doing alright for a rook playing 1st string.... So much for Chilly's vaunted QB judgement.

One QB who will probably be available this spring that might be just what the Vikings need, is Michael Vick. If his ability has survived a year and a half in prison, he could be a very capable and available quarterback next year.

But his past may be too much for folks to accept. Serving a prison term for animal abuse may not be enough punishment in the hearts and minds of many dog-lovers around the country.

What do folks here think about the idea of the Vikings picking up Vick?