DCPurple did a hell of a lot of research for this post, from the looks of things. It deserves to be noticed. - Chris

I've wanted to take a closer look at Rick Spielman's actual record with the Vikings, so I ran the figures and thought you folks might be interested in what I've found. He may not be fully responsible, but as Personnel Director, he certainly had a piece of it.

I've looked at it before but only for something specific, and as you all know, when you look for something, you're probably going to find it. This time, I'm trying to look over the whole thing. The data is primarily drawn from www.wikipedia.org, www.vikings.com, and www.nfl.com . Some of it was, frankly, a surprise to me. It's probably not 100% complete, either, there's some gaps that I can see and it doesn't cover walk-on talent at all. Spielman probably had some input even with the walk-ons, and with re-signings, and the few trades, because if nothing else, as ‘Personnel Director', he had to be involved with figuring out salary offerings, just as I expect that all of the coaches had some input or recommendations on draft choices. I understand why they tried to do this ‘by committee', but having an ultimately accountable person is critical for any organization.

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Edit--I was three paragraphs in to writing a post about the Erhardt offense, and luckily I came back over here to see that DC purple had already done it, and done it very well.  Welcome to the front page, DC--Ted

First, mega-kudos to Ted and the DN over getting that great interview with Musgrave. Very informative and we've needed some real Viking news like the desert needs the rain. This post is going to springboard off a key point we learned from our new OC.

Bill Musgrave said that the Vikings will be using the Erhardt system and though it pains me to admit this, I know pretty much jack and squat about Erhardt (and T-Jack left town :) ). Since there might be some other folks in the same boat, I figured I'd shared my research with you.

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EDIT: Well, we have Frazier talking about non-QB issues, so let's hear him talk about the quarterback issue. Plus, it links to the Jamestown Sun, which is always alright by me. - Chris

I found an interesting article in the news today, Frazier talking about the QB situation;

Frazier talked extensively about the quarterback position at the breakfast. He made it clear that his desire would be to draft someone and plug him in as the starter.

“Ideally, [the goal] would be to get a young guy that could say, ‘OK, we’re going to ride with this guy. He’s our guy. He’s our [Joe] Flacco, he’s our [Mark] Sanchez, he’s our Matt Ryan,’” Frazier said. “He would step in as our starter. That would be the ideal situation. You know you’re going to go through your lumps early on but in the long term you just know you’ve got the right guy, that’s he’s just going to get better and better and better and we build around him.

“There’s no question that would be the way to go and it’s probably been a while since that’s happened in Minnesota. You’d love to have that in your organization. Chicago has that now with [Jay] Cutler, Green Bay has that now with [Aaron] Rodgers, Detroit has that now with [Matthew] Stafford. We want to join that club. We want people to say, ‘Minnesota has their guy.’”

Jamestown Sun

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I'm not a Bears fan, not by any means. In fact, I detest the Bears more than I do the Packers, always have. But there's a bit of a firestorm going on in that neck of the woods that is marginally related to the Vikings because Cutler could have ended up in Purple. Twice.

Reading this article on yahoo today brought it to my attention; that Jay Cutler is being absolutely pilloried by OTHER NFL PLAYERS because he sat out the second half due to injury. Apparently other players feel that Cutler is a wimp and a cry baby for not getting back out there and playing on an injured knee/leg.

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We've been talking about the draft QBs that the Vikings can look at, but there's also the Free Agency market. Last year our hands were tied in FA, but this year, everyone knows the Vikings are on life-support when it comes to the most critical position on the team. 

More after the jump.

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Bernard Berrian feels like some people are making him the scapegoat... from the coaches to the fans.

That's the word from NBC's Pro Football Talk and other sources. The question is, do you think it's fair for him to take so much heat for the Vikings been 0-2?

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I was going to save this for later on this week, but after this Sunday's game against the 'Phins, maybe this will help put things into perspective.

There's a brand new DVD out, entitled 'The History of the Minnesota Vikings'. I pre-ordered it thru Amazon and I just got it a few days ago. 50 Years of Purple and Gold!For those who don't want to read through SOME of my pitiful highlights, I'll give you the upshot now. Buy This DVD Set. Now.

There's two DVDs in a single box form-factor, and personally I appreciate the space savings. Each DVD has about 3 hours of rockin' Viking footage!

The first DVD covers the history of the Minnesota Vikings from the first draft of the first year, through today. 50 years of Purple Excellence!

The second DVD has the following special features;

• America's Game - 1969 Vikings
• America's Game - 1969 Vikings
• Bud Grant - The Quiet Leader
• The Stars and Robert Smith
• Peterson and Bienemy - The Odd Couple

A review of a small sample of it follows the jump :)

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The DVR was smoking today as I went over the Vikings v Broncos, jumping back and forth. To be honest, none of it is really that critical since we're talking 2nd and 3rd stringers, but hey, it's Vikings ball and I do love it so :)

Anyway, this is what seemed worth noting.

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There's a lot of talk about the Vikings getting old (yeah, I'm looking at you, Grime! :) ) and I thought I'd offer another measuring stick that might give us an idea of what age we might expect is a reasonable time to look at getting a replacement player in a given position.

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Pretty negative approach, but that's what this all about; digging out all the negatives that the Vikings need to look at and address if possible. No smoke being blown up the patootie, this is a no-excuses critique looking at the worst possible scenario of every part of the team. Again, not saying that the Vikings are terrible in any of these assessments, but I'm looking for issues and want to drag them all out. 

What isn't the best that it can be, going into 2010? What needs to be improved?

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Anyone else out there watching the NFL Combine?

Other than me, and the coaches and staff of most of the NFL teams, of course :) . I even saw Chilly & Co up in a box, and Bienemy down on the field helping out by putting the running backs through their paces. Good stuff.

Since there's no other thread started on this, I figured it was time. For me, this was my first chance to get a good look at some of the marquee college players and best of all, I got to see them performing in a direct comparison. Very illuminating. This thread is just for any thoughts and observations on the Combine, what folks saw that they want to comment on or share or complain about.

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According to this article in USA Today, Ray Edwards is more than a little bit unhappy with the Free Agency system, this year's contract situation, and Goodell!

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The morning after.

I feel like I have a nasty hangover, and it takes a lot to give me a hangover. 

This was a really, really tough loss to swallow, there was no question which team had more ability and talent on that field. But it goes to show that ability, and talent, aren't enough.

Congrats to the New Orleans Saints! In the battle of Monsters of the Mississippi, one at the north end and one at the south end, it was the boys from the delta who pulled off it. Well done, you guys were clutch. 

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We've hashed over the issue of the Vikings and a new stadium a lot, but I came across this article which seems to have a bit more hard info on what's happening on the Los Angeles side of the question.

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The Strib link <a href="http://www.startribune.com/sports/#" target="new">Reusse vs. Souhan</a> demonstrates a pretty clear contempt for both the Vikings and Vikings fans. While I can commiserate with being tired of listening to people whine and moan every time the Vikings lose a game, or come up short of the Lombardi, both Reusse and Souhan sound like anything but Vikings fans themselves. Can the Strib find some pro-Viking reporters for the NFL team, and let these two has-beens go back to covering amateur sports?

Also in the Strib, Judd and Chip sound like they've read the DN, summarized what they found here, and regurgitated it. Nice summary, but maybe they could have added some new insights, what with their press access to key Viking personnel? What, snow-bound this week? Or just lazy? I suppose that would be ok, not everyone reads the DN so Judd and Chip are doing something of a service to the <em>incognoscenti</em>. But for both them to pick the Bears this weekend puts them into the camp that their colleagues, Reusse and Sohan, are whining about. Is there really a lot of value in two of them standing on the same cynical opinion, or would it have actually offered something for the readership to think about if they had taken opposing positions? I know, shocking notion, but there really is another way of looking at tomorrow's game.

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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?