The Vikings and their Awful QBs

I'm guessing the guest post won't revolve around football, so I figured I better get this out there. In case I haven't mentioned this, I take a certain, twisted delight in the mismanagement of the Vikings, and how it appears that their best intentions are driving the team into the ground. The season hasn't started yet, but recently, we've had our first quantifiable evidence that the Vikings are going to be dreadful this year.

Both Sports Illustrated and Fox have issued their quarterback rankings, and the thing they agreed on was that the Colts were in good shape in the quarterback department, and that the Vikings were going to be absolutely awful.

There are four quarterbacks on the roster this year going into camp. The Vikes are likely to go with Tavaris Jackson at the helm. If they didn't have a running game and had some decent route running receivers, this might be a viable option, since Jackson has a cannon arm that I wouldn't trust over 10 yards down field, and his legs are his most viable asset. Of course, he's unpolished, they do have a running game, and there are no good Vikings receivers. You could certainly try to improve Jackson's skills, but they don't really have a veteran to mentor him. Daunte Culpepper would have been perfect. Too bad Minnesota let him go. The whole Love Boat fiasco probably set the team back 10 years. Jackson, whom coach Brad Childress seems to love, hasn't made the transition from 1-AA to the NFL in one season quite as smoothly as expected. I mean, he HAS made the transition exactly as smoothly as expected.

Next on the depth chart is Brooks Bollinger. I'm sure the Jets would love to recount some of there favorite Brooks Bollinger memories. When I saw the Vikings in person and the quarterbacks were warming up, I honestly thought that Brad Johnson was warming up with the punter. I was wrong. The punter is actually bigger than Bollinger. Sure, small quarterbacks have worked in the past, like with Doug Flutie, but really, he didn't put together a full career, so much as a good highlight and a miraculous season or two. Even that is the exception to the norm. And as much space on the interwebs that I have wasted bashing Bollinger, he's probably the most viable option at the position heading into camp.

Drew Henson had a stellar career at Michigan. Then he went to baseball and had a failed career and never sniffed the bigs before he was signed by the Cowboys and never made the cut as a starter. He's taken a couple of unfortunate wrong turns in his career, and will likely never pan out in any sport, despite his physical ability he possesses. Sadly, he's probably the biggest name on the roster at QB.

Fox mentioned that the Vikes will take a long look at Tyler Thigpen in camp. This is a seemingly innocuous statement that portends to a longm brutal winter in a land where long winters are barely noticed. Thigpen is another rookie who was drafted in the seventh round. Read that again. The Vikings may consider a rookie taken after 216 other players to come in and lead the team. Now, in most environs, if your quarterback situation is so awful that you take a look at a rookie at the position, you don't want that rook to be a 7th rounder. Especially one whom the draft analysts suspected would be used at wide receiver (another problem, of course. The receivers are so bad Minnesota may use a quarterback there). If you are to be a successful 7th rounder, then you need to bide your time and get tutored by a vet like Drew Bledsoe, as was the case with Tom Brady. Additionally, it's usually bad news if your alma mater's uniform relied heavily on teal.

Such is the sad state of the Minnesota Vikings quarterback position. The scary thing is, the best quarterback in town may be a receiver. And not the football type. Expect a call from the Purple and Gold, Joe Mauer.