In full disclosure, this writer pegged the Minnesota Vikings as a four or five win team in the preseason, and that's before everything went down with the Adrian Peterson situation. Instead, the Vikings came very close to going .500, finishing at 7-9, with four of those losses being legitimate scares thrown into the Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, and Buffalo Bills on the road as well as the Green Bay Packers at home.

First year head coach Mike Zimmer certainly seems to have quickly changed the culture in Minnesota and had the team believing it could win early on. The story of the Vikings in 2014 has to be the fact that they seem to have found their franchise quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater. That he was acquired via the draft is surprisingly unusual for franchise that has had its share of top-flight signal callers, though few have been homegrown and none since the great Fran Tarkenton have stayed a while.

There did seem to be some friction with Zimmer and some of the players. Zimmer's no nonsense attitude and direct manner were well known, if not the reason the accomplished coordinator had not gotten a head coaching gig until this one, and it played out with his calling out certain players for being late to team meetings as well as the overall effort in the aftermath of the first Detroit loss. The hardcore approach and calling out players in the media is certainly standard fare in the NFL, rightly or wrongly, but it doesn't always get players to respond. It seemed to for the Vikings this year and the entire organization should take a bow for the way the team performed in light of the off field Peterson saga.

As for their rookie signal caller, its probably too early for Minnesota to feel 100% that they have their franchise quarterback of the present and future in Bridgewater, yet. (Remember, they felt pretty good about Christian Ponder after his rookie season, too.) But, his first year performance was inspiring and has to have Minnesota believing they got the best of a decent 2014 rookie quarterback class. Additionally, considering that they did not have Peterson and did not know they would not have him until late in the Preseason, the Vikings were respectable running the football, finishing in the middle of the pack with 112 yards per game.

Matt Asiata is certainly no Peterson (almost no one is), but Minnesota was able to establish a semblance of a power running game. Also, remember the Vikings played a good bit of the season without tight end Kyle Rudolph, whom this writer feels has Pro Bowl talent and is certainly an important piece of the evolving offense. Surprisingly, the player that most thought would be a breakout star for the Vikings, Cordarelle Patterson, had a disappointing year. Minnesota's 2015 plans have to include getting Patterson back on his 2013 trajectory as well as giving Bridgewater more weapons to play with as he develops.

On the defensive side of the ball, linebacker Anthony Barr was every bit the equivalent of Bridgewater in terms of a first-year player showing a potential path to greatness with his play making ability. Many, such as yours truly, thought Minnesota overpaid last spring to sign defensive end Everson Griffen in the wake of losing Jared Allen to the division rival Bears, but Griffen certainly justified his contract in 2014 by notching 12.5 sacks. Defensively, one thinks they will always be sound as Zimmer's background is on that side of the ball.

The key question in the off-season, from this view point, will be what the Vikings do with Adrian Peterson once he is reinstated in April. He is due 12.5 million in salary and will be 30 years old, usually the line of demarcation for a running back's effectiveness in the NFL, at the start of next season. If there is a 30 year old back coming off a missed season who deserves that money, Peterson certainly fits the bill. On the other hand, one could easily see the Vikings deciding to move on from him and getting a nice haul in exchange for him in a trade as there would be no shortage of suitors. Additionally, this seems to be a fairly deep draft class at the running back position so the Vikings could certainly augment that position with a good prospect in the middle rounds.

With another solid draft class, there is no reason why Minnesota cannot potentially surpass Detroit as the primary threat to the Packers in the division. Not predicting that will happen, but it does seem possible, and how many of us would have thought that six short months ago ?

GRADE: B+

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