Everything seems to be in place for the Minnesota Vikings to finally return to the Super Bowl – well, everything seems to be in place except for possibly at the most important position: quarterback.
Yes, the weight of the franchise is on third-year QB Tarvaris Jackson
After all, the Vikings have arguably the best running tandem in the league in Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor, they added Bernard Berrian from the NFC North rival Bears to provide a deep threat, and Minnesota traded for pass-rushing stud Jared Allen and added safety Madieu Williams to put on a defense that already was awesome against the run.
Vikes coach Brad Childress points to last season’s finale as to how much potential Jackson has.
"I'd go back to the last five or seven minutes of the Denver game," Childress says, "when we were down 16 points, and we go into a no-huddle, and he kind of wills us down the field — by moving, by scrambling, by hitting people, by stepping up in the pocket and putting one up on the flag, by running for (32) yards. Just the best of Tarvaris Jackson. How good can he be? He can be this good."The Vikings lost, but in that stretch Jackson passed for 175 yards, two scores and a pair of two-point conversions. An optimist like Childress sees nice momentum heading into the offseason. A pessimist might say that Jackson had the fewest TD passes of any quarterback in the league (9) and threw 12 interceptions, completing a little more than 58 percent of his throws.
With defenses stacking up to slow Peterson and Taylor, Jackson will need to hit the deep ball and not turn the ball over. Basically, do enough not to lose the game.
"Knowing when to let go of that deep ball and give a guy a one-on-one opportunity, or when it is better to bring it down and go to a 4-yard check-down," Childress said of making sound decisions.
But did Minnesota make a sound decision in not bringing in a backup better than Gus Frerotte in case Jackson struggles?
“People are going to say what they want to say. It's their job to analyze things and to give their opinion of our team," Jackson said. "My job is to go out there and prove them wrong. That's how I look at it. It's just extra motivation. That's all it is. Things like that kind of help me out, get me over the top."
Bet on Vikings futures at WagerWeb.com this season in the Twin Cities as the Vikes look to end a 32-year conference championship drought.
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