Vikings '06

As I've said before, I am not exactly counting down the minutes to the Vikings season opener. In fact, I'll probably watch more of the Twins game on Monday night than I will the Vikings.
But I'm still a Vikings fan dammit, and as soon as the Twins season ends I'm sure I'll dive in head first.
Unless of course they're 1-6 by then.

It's funny, but the whole idea behind hiring Brad Childress as Vikings head coach was supposedly to bring stability to the organization, but I'm not so sure that that's happened.
Guys are still getting arrested left and right, and Childress seems more interested in surrounding himself with former Philadelphia Eagles and Wisconsin Badgers than he does building this team for the Super Bowl.
Having said that, I'm not going to bury a guy before the season starts. He's a detail-oriented guy, and I like that. That's the one good thing about football coaches. They're smart guys who study alot, whereas managers in baseball are usually dumb ex-players who use their 'gut' over statistics, research and data (see Gardenhire, Ron).
The team:
QB: Brad Johnson had an excellent preseason, and if he's healthy, will not only not lose games, he will win games. If he starts all 16 games, I envision him completing about 65 percent of his passes, for about 3,300 yards, 20-25 TDs, and less than 10 INT, which would put his QB rating over 90.
Brooks Bollinger is a solid backup - lightyears better than Mike McMahon. Tarvaris Jackson had a good preseason, but being able to move him back to the No. 3 spot is preferable.
RB: Chester Taylor was totally unimpressive in preseason. Some of the 'experts' have touted him as a big sleeper (SI's Peter King predicts over 1,500 yds), while others say the Vikings are making a mistake in committing to him. My guess is that with the O-line the Vikings have, he'll be able to make some plays, the question may be if he can carry the ball 300 times over the course of the season.
Mewelde Moore is the same as he ever was. Good player, hurt again. He's a backup.
To me, Ciatrick Fason is just a guy.
FB: Tony Richardson was an underrated pickup. He might be able to help Taylor become something back there. It would've been nice to have Joey Goodspeed (lost to an ACL in mincamp) for depth.
WR: The Vikings don't even have a No. 2, let alone a No. 1, at WR.
Troy Williamson has speed, and the pressure is on him to deliver.
Marcus Robinson is still useful in the red zone, but his days of 1,400 yard seasons are long, long gone.
Travis Taylor is an ideal No. 3. Nothing more, nothing less.
Todd Pinkston is terrible, and the only reason he's on this team is because Brad Childress knows him.
TE: Jermaine Wiggins and Jim Kleinsasser make an excellent receiver/blocker combo.
OL: The left side is the best in the league. The right side appears solid with Artis Hicks and Marcus Johnson. If these guys play to their potential, BJ should be healthy, the running game should be sound, and the Viking offense will be able to limit turnovers, control the clock, and pick up first downs. It's cliche, but lineplay decides football games.
DL: Has the potential to be strong, with Erasmus James and Keneche Udeze on the cusp of maybe being stars. Kevin Williams has to have a comeback season, and if he does, this could be a deadly front 4 with big Pat Williams in the middle as well. He was the best interior Dlineman in the NFL last year.
LB: Even though he was just a rookie, the Vikings will miss Chad Greenway. His injury seriously depletes the depth. EJ Henderson had a great camp, but he'll have to prove it in gams that count. Ben Leber has been barely better than average so far in his career, while Napolean Harris needs to have a big season in the middle. If he doesn't, he might be out of the league. With Greenway out, the backups are Donatarrius Thomas, Jason Glenn and Heath Farwell.
S: Tank Williams will also be missed. Dwight Smith steps in to a starters role, and while he's a big hitter, he can't cover. Darren Sharper is one of the best centerfielders in football, and just a flat-out great football player. But he's not getting any younger.
CB: Fred Smoot was a great cover corner at Washington, hopefully he can shake off all that happened last year and resume that role. Antoine Winfield is the best tackling corner in the NFL, but according to NFL stats, he gave up one of the highest competion percentages on passes thrown his way last year. His effectiveness in the passing game has been highly overrated thus far.
K: Ryan Longwell will be a very good kicker. Chris Kluwe should be a better than average punter.

It's almost impossible to tell whats gonna happen.
They were 9-7 last year, and it would be hard to argue that they haven't improved since then.
Then again, that 9-7 is misleading. The Bears didn't even try in the season finale (they had already clinched), and the Vikes clearly had no business winning a couple of those games (the Giants game leaps to mind).
Predicition: 9-7

2006 NFC North
Vikings 9-7
Bears 8-8
Lions 8-8
Packers 6-10