It is the most exciting time of the 2011 season for Vikings fans -- it's 2012 and the hurt is over. Except for our injuried players (too many to list them all) but obviously on the list we've got Adrian Peterson, Toby Gerhart, Christian Ponder, and many, many more.

It is time to put up a new calendar, and with it a new year full of promise and hope. To review, we have ownership that loves and believes in the team, a good head coach who is learning and getting better and getting his men to believe in him and play hard, and lots of talent and players and staff that other team would die for.

So let's list some New Year's resolutions, really just a list of to-do items for the Vikings.

1. Take the next step toward solving the stadium crisis. Offer to rent the Metrodome for a another year, resolving the potential legal fight over the contract language, and demonstrating to Minnesota that the Vikings are in their last year in Minnesota without a new stadium deal. Get it done.

2. Hire a GM. Some would say promote Rick Spielman while keeping Rob Brzezinski. Another possibility would be promoting Rob Brzezinski, elevating Scott Studwell to personnel director, and letting Spielman go. In any case, it is time for a GM.

3. The new GM obviously needs to keep Coach Frazier. This isn't even a discussion.

4. The Rams are going to fire Steve Spagnuolo, and he's a great defensive coordinator who did great work with the Giants 4-3 defense, so the Vikings should hire him as our defensive coordinator. Keep the 4-3 as our best defensive players, Jared Allen, Kevin Williams, and Chad Greenway are 4-3 players and we aren't far away from returning to a great defense. Obviously the Vikings will work in more man coverage techniques in the secondary, as they already have been doing.

5. Move DC Pagac back to linebackers coach, or let him go.

6. Let LB coach Singletary go. Sad, but our linebackers were a lot worse this year.

7. It is time to let DB coach Joe Woods go. It is just time.

8. Keep the entire offensive staff and special teams coach.

9. Sign a deep threat WR in free agency. Bring back all our veterans who are under contract and all our young players who were with the team this year and bring everyone into camp. It is time to sadly let Shiancoe and Hutchinson go, however. Keep Ponder and Webb, and start whoever proves better in training camp.

9. Draft the best LT in the country in the first round.

10. Bring in a punter to challenge Kluwe.

11. Install the offensive philosophy of a balanced attack on offense, running and passing. We need some deep threats in the receiver corps and more protection from the offensive line so that we can add more vertical passes. Install the defensive philosophy of do not give any inch of ground willingly. Dial "bend but don't break" way down. Everybody is responsible for doing their job, and if they don't do it, they keep working at it until they get it right. All for one, and one for all. Never give up! Never surrender!

12. Work with the whole team to install the new systems for offense and defense. It will seem like a luxury compared to last offseason, but the Vikings have eight whole months to finish installing the new systems. Most importantly, get all our players healed up and back to 100%. We'll all be thinking of Adrian Peterson because let's face it in a league of special players and athletes he is special himself. The main thing though is to get AD back to 100% and not worry about pushing it before then. Remember the amazing recovery of Terry Allen, and how Cedric Griffin is doing the same thing now! Nice interception, Griff! We've got Gerhart to carry the load until Peterson. can return. Let's not forget all of our injured and hurt Vikings. Guys from Percy Harvin to Husain Abdullah to Jasper Brinkley to Cullen Loeffler to Antoine Winfield. Thanks to all our Vikings for your service and to Vikings on the mend we wish you all a speedy and full recovery. You are all in our thoughts and prayers.

Here's to great football! Here's to a great 2012! Here's to the Vikings!

Owners - Zygil Wilf and the Wilf family. I hope they keep the Vikings forever.

Stadium - Metrodome until the Arden Hills stadium is built.

Front Office -

General Manager - Scott Studwell (promotion)

Capologist - Rob Brezinski (keep on staff)

Coaching staff - Personally I would keep everybody, except maybe a few assistants, as I think Frazier had no chance to get everything pulled together this year with the short offseason. Benny Sapp showed up and said the DBs need to start buying into what the coaches are telling them. In other words, they haven't been buying in. Maybe we need to get a new DB coach.

QB - Christian Ponder. We all knew he could throw most of the routes, and do everything else, or learn to. They questioned his accuracy. In the Falcons game, he completed 70% of his passes. They questioned his arm strength and his ability to throw the deep ball. He stood on the 50-yard line and threw a low-flying line drive that screamed to the back of the end zone, putting it exactly on target for Percy Harvin, a few inches above the defenders, If Ponder can throw like that without the benefit of years of NFL experience, he has all the arm that he will ever need in the NFL. The argument is absolutely over. Ponder is a franchise quarterback and he is going to be our starter for years to come. We hit the jackpot when we drafted him. So far he has thrown only 100 passes in the NFL, and it takes about 1,000 to get truly comfortable. Stay with him through the thick and thin. He needs to throw a lot of footballs in the NFL before he achieves his potential.

Backup QB - Joe Webb. We must not underestimate the importance of the backup quarterback position. With Joe Webb, we know we have a winner. The Vikings should give him an extension and keep him for the long term. Joe Webb is a quarterback, not a WR or DB. Just keep him at quarterback and we will have the best quarterback tandem in the league for years to come. 

RB - Adrian Peterson

We need to make a decision. Are we going to run the ball 35 times a game? If so, keep Gerhart and give it to him 10 to 15 times a game. If not, trade Gerhart for value. Keeping Gerhart for just two carries and one screen pass per game is crazy.

WR, slot - Percy Harvin. His strength is as a possession receiver, except that he can also burn the defense deep. We need a true #1 receiver who can do it all, and a #2 receiver, a burner or a possession guy, like a Jake Reed type.

TE - Rudolph, Kleinsasser, Reisner, and Shuler.

Release or trade Shiancoe as he can't block. He is the one who failed to block the blitzing DB on 4th and goal from the 1 against the Falcons. If we get that block made, Gerhart scores and we have a legitimate chance to win.

Offensive line: Re-evaluate everyone. Draft Riley Rieff and protect the blindside for years to come.

Defensive line: Release Ayodele. He just hasn't been able to compete out there really well this year. Trade Robison. 3-4 teams would love him. We have Everson Griffen just waiting to take over.

LB's: We need to take a hard, honest look at EJ Henderson's pass coverage abilities in the here and now. Can he do the job? That is the question. He plays with the heart of a warrior born. Ryan D'Imperio played LB in college. He has been bad at FB, but when he plays special teams coverage units he makes incredible plays tackling and forcing fumbles. Give him a shot at LB for next year.

DBs: Wait for Chris Cook's trial to take place. If he is guilty, then part ways. At this point, he may be offering a defense, which could result in a change in how we look at him. He is presumed innocent. Part of being a team is sticking up for your teammates, especially when the chips are down. We need to stick with Chris Cook through the final judgment in his case.

With Antoine Winfield, we should build a statue to him or something. He is great. He has been a true Viking and a great football player. We all love him. Sadly, he might not be part of the future in Minnesota because of his tragic injury.

Keep all of the other guys for sure and do all we can to bring them into training camp. We have real talent there with the likes of Asher Allen, Marcus Sherels. and the rest. They just need to be coached right (See above).

We are not in total rebuilding mode. We have lots of pieces and we need lots of pieces.

We should build through the draft.

The biggest challenge the Vikings have is finding a way to train up young football players. If the current coaching staff is incapable of teaching NFL-level football skills to today's young men, then we need a different coaching group, not different players. We need to build through the draft.

Major draft needs: OL, WR, DT, LB, DB

Yes, the offense has not set the world on fire this season. This FanPost will show why everything is OK, and we need to stick with Bill Musgrave and Leslie Frazier's plan for our offense.

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We have a good coach and good players.

I don't believe the Vikings are as bad as their 0-2 record says. They were in both games until the end. Executing better, coaching better, and playing better will put the Vikings over the top. Let's put them on the ground at the beginning, and put our boots on their necks for the entire game, down to the last second of each quarter and of the whole 60 minute game itself!

The Lions are better this year, but they are like any other football team: beatable by the Vikings. We can beat them in every phase of the game!

Let's go Vikings! Play like Champions!

The Eagles have high hopes this year. After building their "dream team" they cruised to victory over the Rams. They were leading the Falcons yesterday when Michael Vick had to leave the game with a neck injury or concussion.I personally like the new Michael Vick.  I hope he is OK. Sometimes players miss extended time due to concussions. I hope he doesn't miss much time.

Mike Kafka filled in OK as the Eagles' backup quarterback, but he couldn't match Matt Ryan point for point and the Falcons' offense.Vince Young was on the bench in street clothes.

Realistically, Kafka and Young are a long way off from filling in for Michael Vick well enough to lead them to a Super Bowl victory.

Donovan McNabb never had the weapons and complements around him that the Eagles have around Michael Vick. Yet, McNabb and the Eagles went to five NFC championship games together and one Super Bowl. McNabb is signed to a reasonable salary this year.

McNabb has done a good job for the Vikings. He isn't in the same league as Brett Favre, but who is? He is a wiley vet who gives us a chance to win. He had bad numbers against the Chargers but the o-line was a sieve and the receivers could not get open. He looked better against the Bucs.

The Eagles still run the same offense that McNabb ran for years. If anyone in the entire league can swoop in and pick up the position for the Eagles, it is McNabb (or Kevin Kolb who isn't available).

If the Vikings had the opportunity to trade McNabb to the Eagles for a first-round pick, would we do it? We would probably have Joe Webb start for a few games and slowly give Ponder some reps. We could sign a third quarterback.

This is the only scenario I can think of where we would trade McNabb. Donovoan McNabb is just too valuable to the Vikings right now to consider letting him go for anything less. With McNabb at least we have a chance to win, and he gives our young quarterbacks a chance to learn the game before they expose themselves to the NFL behind our questionable line.

Hopefully this this is just idle talk and Michael Vick can make a speedy recovery.

This is not the best of times. This is the worst of times. The destruction of the Twins in the playoffs last season never stopped. It has continued into this season. It went through April like a hurricane, and now it's starting on May.

We don't have time for being nice anymore. It is now time to tell the truth, even though it is brutal, even though it is stone cold and cruel.

The 2011 season has been utterly sickening. The Twins are 9-18. This is a team that was supposed to compete for the division crown. With losses piling up to the likes of the A's and the Royals, a complete inability to compete against the Yankees and Rays, and now a long losing streak, the Twins have sputtered out and entered into oblivion. Under the brilliant leadership of Obi-Wan Gardenhire, they have mutated into a pack of baseball mutants who still resemble a baseball team, but can't hit the baseball, can't pitch to anyone, and can't even make routine plays. The Twins would have a losing record in AAA ball right now. To cap it off, the Twins are swept by the hapless Royals by a combined score of 25-8.

The first thing in a long list that needs to happen is that the Pohlads need to hire a new general manager.

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With the looming labor disagreement, it appears that players will not be working with their team organizations as they would normally this offseason. In fact, they might not be working with them at all.

This could be a year where the regular season is less than 16 games. The advantage would go to the teams that hit the ground running.

The year 2011 might be kind of like the year 1987, when the unheralded Vikings fought all the way to the last second of the NFC Championship game. Except this time, there is a stronger collection of talent and role players on the Vikings roster.

The labor disagreement might turn into a lockout, or a strike. Nothing would prevent the Vikings players from working out together on their own as players, without the team, however. Now it looks like that some Vikings have made plans to do just that. Joe Webb wants to get together with his receivers to go over what they know about the playbook from Musgrave, in the event of a work stoppage. Veteran Shiancoe supports it. If the Vikings work and practice as a team while the other teams separate and don't spend their time together, the Vikings will own a huge advantage going into the season.

Now, looking over to another issue, the offensive system, there is another interesting development. If we needed any more confirmation that the new offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave appears to be a great hire by Coach Frazier, Phil Loadholt has mentioned that the Vikings will run a mix of zone and man blocking next year. Furthermore, Musgrave will retain elements of the West Coast Offense and add to it. The perfect decisions for our team and our offense.

Go VIkings!

There is a labor dispute brewing that could result in a major disruption in pro football. There could be a lockout, a decertification, or other major event. The question is: how can this dispute be turned into a positive?

The owners want an 18 game schedule. They want more than one game a year played in foreign markets. They want to expand revenue, and players would financially benefit.

The players don't want more than a 16 game schedule, as the injuries that players suffer are already bad enough. What are already short careers would be made shorter. Without the players and their sacrifices, there would be no game. 

Fans want their teams to have seasoned players who don't need to learn their position. A lot of players come out of the college game who just need time to groom, and then could be great. Under the current system, most of them don't have any shot. For the most part, NFL teams don't have time to groom young players. Additionally, fans would like to see the records based on 16-game schedules to be preserved. If a star wide receiver plays 18 regular season games, he might catch 150 passes and score 29 touchdowns, shattering both records, when the same level of play would not have broken records in a 16-game schedule.

Here is the proposal.

1. Expand the regular season to 18 games.

2. No player can play more than 16 regular season games. Limit the number of regular season games that any player can be active for to 16 games.

3. Create 32 minor league football teams, and associate each with one NFL team. Each will have a 45 man roster. Transfer all practice squad players to the minor league affiliate. They will play a schedule in the spring and early summer. Each NFL team can develop players in the minor league affiliate, and call them up as needed.

This proposal would mean greater revenue, better quality play in the NFL, more jobs for players, and more money for players, while not asking players to play more than 16 NFL games per year. This would also create intriguing strategic implications for teams in who they play in what game. This would add drama and excitement to the game.

The Vikings offensive philosophy must start with practical concerns. It should be based around the talents of the players that the Vikings have. The best talent should be on the field for as long as possible, and given the most opportunities to make plays in the best possible situations. The schemes should complement the talent. Some of the top Vikings players on offense will include Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin, and Steve Hutchinson. Sidney Rice might be added to the list as well. Leslie Frazier's vision is that the Vikings' have a mission of running the ball, and stopping opposing teams from running when they have the ball. This fits with the talent we have. Adrian Peterson's abilities are well-known, and Percy Harvin is also capable of running the ball well out of the backfield.

Another item of note is that the Vikings will become a cold-weather team again.

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