Another of the NFL’s most disappointing teams in 2012 was the Minnesota Vikings, who dropped to 5-10-1 after going in-depthto the playoffs as a wild card in 2012.

Adrian Peterson’s 2,000 yard 2012 season propelled that postseason run, but for everything that went right that season, more went wrong in 2013. Christian Ponder regressed, losing his job twice and ensuring he would be lucky to see the field regularly in 2014. And the defense was a mess, ranking last in the league in points allowed and second to last in yardage allowed.

The miserable season cost Leslie Frazier his job and certainly has General Manager Rick Spielman on notice that a repeat performance won’t be tolerable. But this team does have weapons, particularly on the offense, where Cordarrelle Patterson and Kyle Rudolph join Peterson as toys with which new offensive coordinator Norv Turner can tinker.

So what will this team look like in 2014? Much depends on what management can do at the quarterback position, says Jon Merckle, senior blogger with The Viking Age. He shared some thoughts with Zoneblitz.

Zoneblitz: After making the playoffs in 2012, the Vikings fell apart in 2013, going 5-10-1. What went wrong and is this team’s talent level closer to the 2012 or 2013 season?

Merckle: To some extent the 2012 season was an aberration with Adrian Peterson running for 2000 yards and walking away with the MVP award. A running back hitting the 2k mark has only been done 7 times before and 6 of those teams ended up making the playoffs. As special of a talent as Adrian is, you can’t rely on such a level of production and at the very minimum have to have a balanced offense in today’s game. Moving ahead to 2013 the three main things that went wrong were Adrian’s production dropping, the pass defense becoming the league’s 2nd worst and dismal quarterback play mostly from Christian Ponder. I’ll touch on each of those in the questions below.

Zoneblitz: What are your thoughts on the Leslie Frazier firing?

Merckle: I’m pretty sure the Vikings front office and fan base will agree with me that Leslie Frazier is a first-class human being and the kind of guy it’s impossible not to like. But when you boil it all down; Frazier finished his tenure with the Vikings having a 21-32-1 record, failed to find a quarterback he could latch onto and had the worst defense in team history in 2013. That’s simply not acceptable for someone that has a defensive background and it was time to make a change.

Zoneblitz: What did you think of the Mike Zimmer hire?

Merckle: So far, so good. After having a humanitarian or shall I say guidance counselor type of coach in Frazier, they needed to go with a no nonsense disciplinarian type of coach in Mike Zimmer. He won over the local media at his introductory presser saying “honesty is the best policy”, talked at length about how this is going to be a physical football team and also elaborated on his ability to get the most out of players. That being said, Zimmer has his work cut out for him right away. His Bengals defenses finished in the top ten 4 of the last 5 years and this is no easy division to play in with the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler and Matthew Stafford. Can he turn around an aging defense right away and stabilize the quarterback position bringing in Norv Turner as his offense coordinator? Time shall tell.

Zoneblitz: And what did you think of keeping Rick Spielman?

Merckle: After last season’s debacle, someone had to take the fall and it was obviously Frazier. Spielman has been in the NFL for almost 25 years and has spent the last seven seasons with the Vikings. The problem is he’s only been the general manager, having total control of which 53 players make the roster, since 2012. Those in Spielman’s corner will argue how he’s been with the organization for drafting Adrian Peterson, who went on to win rookie of the year; drafting Percy Harvin, who also won rookie of the year; trading for Jared Allen, signing Brett Favre and finding late round gems in center John Sullivan and kicker Blair Walsh.

Those in the opposite corner will point out how Spielman hasn’t drafted particularly well in the middle rounds of the draft and has failed to find a quarterback, including a $3 million swing and miss on Josh Freeman last year. For Spielman to avoid the hot seat chatter this year he will need significant production out of recent picks Sharrif Floyd, Xavier Rhodes, whomever he drafts this year and that quarterback position. Which leads us to…

Zoneblitz: Christian Ponder is the only QB currently under contract. What is that position going to look like in 2014?

Merckle: Ponder’s contract puts the Vikings in a pickle going into the 2014 season. According to Sportrac.com he’s due $3.2 million all of which is guaranteed, so cut him and it’s dead money into the 2014 cap. Perfect world some team that has an established quarterback is willing to send the Vikings a late round pick for Ponder while taking on that salary to be their backup, but they may not find a taker. I also don’t buy Rick Spielman’s chatter saying that Ponder will be on the Vikings roster in 2014, it’s simply posturing. All that’s known now the quarterback depth chart will either be: Veteran QB, Ponder, Young QB or a total housecleaning.

Zoneblitz: As bad as the QB position looks, the defense was bad in 2013 too. What direction would you look to go with the number eight pick?

Merckle: For whatever mock drafts are worth right now, it seems like there are 3 quarterbacks going in the top ten in Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater and Johnny Manziel. If one was to fall and the Vikings had them atop their board you pull the trigger and hand the youngster the car keys to the offense. On the other end of the spectrum the Vikings aren’t in need of one of the three left tackles (Greg Robinson, Jake Matthews and Taylor Lewan) and have much greater needs than a split end (Sammy Watkins and Mike Evans), so trading down from eight could present itself to pick up an extra pick or two. One could argue for any position on defense needing help outside of maybe safety, so an edge rusher like Kahlil Mack or a cornerback like Justin Gilbert could make sense if they just wanted to stay put.

Zoneblitz: The team has a lot of free agents in the defensive lines and backfield. What’s your assessment of what it will take to fix those holes?

Merckle: The only defensive free agent that fans are really banging the table re-sign is Everson Griffen. He just turned 26, can rush passer standing up and with hand in the ground, can defensive tackle on passing downs and also be a gunner on special teams. The man also has 17.5 career sacks, not bad when you figure he mostly playing as a backup to Jared Allen. Griffen’s market, if he hits free agency, will be an interesting one. Perfect world he stays with Vikings on a deal that makes sense for both sides.

Others hitting free agency are Jared Allen, who will most likely sign with a contender, and possibly for Kevin Williams and Chris Cook. Towards fixing the defense, it would make sense to spend 3 of their 4 picks in the first two days on that side of the ball, have an open competition for all but four positions (as of now, the only penciled in starters are Shariff Floyd, Brian Robison, Xavier Rhodes and Harrison Smith) and hope something formidable develops with Zimmer overseeing the whole crew.

Zoneblitz: This team does have Adrian Peterson, Cordarrelle Patterson, Kyle Rudolph and others on offense. How far is this team from turning around and being a playoff threat?

Merckle: On the offensive side of the ball, yes, there are a number of nice items in the cupboard. Beyond the folks who you mentioned, don’t forget about the line that is likely to return 4 of 5 starters. They also have two pass catchers in wide receiver Jarius Wright and tight end Chase Ford who have shown promise. Towards becoming a playoff threat, a lot of that goes back quarterback play. Could this team make the playoffs this year if they are somehow able to obtain above average quarterback play? Absolutely. Is getting that a tough thing to ask for? Most definitely.

Zoneblitz: What would you like to see Minnesota do in the draft and free agency?

Merckle: Like previously stated, this team must address the quarterback position in either the draft or free agency. If the team does not spend its first round pick on a quarterback, perhaps bringing Matt Cassel back on a short-term deal and drafting a quarterback in rounds 2-4 to groom could make sense. The team also needs a ton of help on the defensive side of the ball. It seems like every new GM says they plan on building through the draft, so why should I write a blog post on spending big in free agency? That being side, the team does have close to $30 million in cap space, so perhaps spending a lot of that on defensive end Michael Johnson or cornerback Alterraun Verner is possible provided they hit the market.

Zoneblitz: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Merckle: Last year I wrote this post saying this team was 2-3 things away from being among the league’s best coming off of a 10-6 season and also 2-3 things away from being one of the leagues 10 worst. Well, the latter of the two happened and here we are. Honestly, regardless of what the draft and free agency brings this team has a new head coach and will be playing outdoors at the University of Minnesota for the next two years. Expectations going into 2014 should be tempered; nonetheless as we’ve seen in the NFC West a quick turnaround is feasible for all of us.

Follow Jon Merckle on Twitter at: @thevikingpig
Follow The Viking Age on Twitter at: @TheVikingAge
Follow Zoneblitz.com on Twitter at: @ZoneblitzCom

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