ARE THE VIKINGS FOR REAL? 

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 07/27/2005

As season approaches, Vikings’ defense looks strong.

Good news bad news: The   Vikings are headed to Mankato this weekend. That means it’s time for NFL training camp. It also means that summer will be drawing to a close as we get closer to the regular season.

 

It’s been a hot summer in Minnesota already, 15 days with temperatures averaging in the 90s compared with only four days all of last summer. The Vikings have been a hot topic as well, with new ownership led by Zigi Wilf and the revamped Vikings team.

 

Last year, the Vikings finished 8-8 and qualified for the playoffs for the first time in three years. They also won a playoff game at Green Bay. The Vikings have reloaded for the 2005 season; they believe that they have a championship-caliber team.

 

Daunte Culpepper is the clear leader of this team. The veteran Pro Bowl star had a remarkable season last year, the best in franchise history. Culpepper threw 39 touchdown passes with only 11 interceptions for 4,717 yards. His combined yardage total of 5,123 included 406 yards rushing, smashing Dan Marino’s longstanding NFL record for combined yards.

 

Obviously, the heat will be on Culpepper to play like that again. Gone is the great Randy Moss — the record-setting receiver is now in Oakland. Also gone is leading rusher Onterrio Smith, suspended for the entire year by the NFL for violating the league’s substance abuse program.

 

The Vikings also lost their offensive coordinator; how big that loss is will soon be determined. Mike Tice returns as head coach in a make-or-break season after being fined $100,000 by the NFL for scalping Super Bowl tickets.

 

But this Vikings team has been spreading the “D” word. Not since the days of the legendary Purple People Eaters of Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall and Paul Krause have Vikings fans been this excited about a Vikings defense.

 

No NFL team has upgraded their defensive unit like the Vikings this off-season. They could have at least six new defensive starters: big nose tackle Pat Williams, linebackers Sam Cowart and Napoleon Harris (and Moss trade), rookie defensive end  Erasmus James, cornerback Fred Smoot, and safety Darren Sharper.

 

These new starters will team with All-Pro defensive tackle Kevin Williams, sack leader Lance Johnstone, Antoine Winfield and Corey Chavous. “From a players’ standpoint, we all play for the same goal, and that’s the Super Bowl,” said tight end Jermaine Wiggins, the team’s leading receiver last year with 71.

 

“That’s why we play this game and suit up and go through the hot training camps and train in the off season. It’s for that one goal, to play and win the Super Bowl. So hopefully, with the team we have and the changes we made, we’ll definitely have a shot at it,” Wiggins said.   

 

Training camp begins this weekend for the Vikings — it’s free of charge for fans. Their first pre-season game is Friday, August 12, 7 pm, at the Metrodome against the Kansas City Chiefs.