PRESEASON POWER RANKINGS

NO. 30

MINNESOTA VIKINGS

The biggest lingering question we have regarding the 2006 season is how in the hell did this team win six games?

Yes, they had a great run defense.  But there was no need to try to run the ball against the team's minnow net masquerading as a pass defense.

They actually were off to a strong start on both sides of the ball until a Monday night game at home against the Patriots resulted in a complete shredding of the secondary, providing a blueprint for every other team on the schedule.  The New England game started a 2-8 slide that got worse and worse as the season progressed.

As a result, unproven second-year quarterback Tarvaris Jackson is now thrust into the spotlight, at least a year before he'd otherwise be ready.  The receivers are a far cry from the "Three Deep" crew of the late 1990s.  More accurately, we're not sure any of the receivers on the team's 2007 roster would have even made the final cut in 1998.

The defense took a major hit when coordinator Mike Tomlin became the head coach of the Steelers.  Tomlin had more of an impact on the Vikings' defense than anyone since Tony Dungy in the early 1990s, and now they'll start from scratch with a Dungy disciple who doesn't have all that great of a track record of his own.

Even in a conference where pretty much every team has a chance to get hot and make it to the postseason, this has all the makings of one of the worst Vikings teams in franchise history -- and it's a proud history that has featured precious few crappy teams in more than 45 years of football.

But there's still some hope.  If the team shortens games with a heavy dose of the run game and a simplified passing attack with plenty of throws to the halfbacks and gradually builds the confidence of Jackson, the Vikings could get off to a good start again . . . and hopefully not collapse as they did a year ago.

Key departures:  WR Travis Taylor, CB Fred Smoot, LB Napoleon Harris.

Key arrivals:  WR Bobby Wade, TE Visanthe Shiancoe, LB Vinny Ciurciu, S Mike Doss.

Draft pick most likely to make an impact:  RB Adrian Peterson.

Coach's current job security:  Two years max.  A 4-12 record or worse could get the plug pulled three years early on the Brad Childress era.