I've been writing a lot of FanPosts lately. I wonder if it's some sort of Freudian call for attention. Of course, Mr. Gates totally one upped me on my post regarding Zygi Wilf's decision to be an awesome owner and all-around good guy, but at least he gave me a shout out so my urge was satisfied.

Or maybe because it's the offseason and there's nothing else to do, and I'm desperately trying to fill the time and awkward silences so as to numb the pain of not having my beloved Vikings around to watch play. (Then again, perhaps this is better than watching them play in 2010...)

One or the other. Regardless, here we go.

Last offseason, the Vikings had a simple task- get the band back together and go win a Super Bowl. It was as ridiculously simple as that. It didn't go quite as smooth as it should have- for some reason, Chester Taylor was deemed useless and Brett Favre decided to... well, be Brett Favre about the whole thing. But for the most part it was mission accomplished come NFL opener against our foes the NO Saints- heck, we had even drafted a CB to help out our only weakness, the secondary (because CB was what we needed, not FS or SS) and we had replaced that Chester guy with this Gerhart guy, who was obviously going to be even better. Sure, Sydney Rice was out for a bit, but heck, we had Bernard Berrian and had even added Greg Camarillo, so it wasn't like the WR corps was going to be all that bent outta shape. I mean, we had Favre the Great throwing the ball around. What could go wrong?

Well, everything went according to plan. The Vikings ended the season with their first Super Bowl victory, Pat Williams fulfilled his promise to strip dance for the fans (and many children cried), and on top of it, we one-upped the Miami Dolphins AND the New England Patriots by going 19-0 in the process. Take THAT, AFC East! Oh, and we even picked up Randy Moss again for a 7th round draft pick, immediately signing him to a contract extension, after which he was a model citizen and caught 100 TDs the rest of the season. Did I forget that Zygi Wilf fired Childress in the preseason, realizing the contract extension in 2009 was a mistake and Leslie Frazier coached the crap outta of us the entire time? And that we celebrated the Super Bowl afterwards in our new stadium?

OK, that was fun, back to reality. Well, regardless of whether or not what I just wrote was in fact just a dream, we're in quite a different position this offseason to make our 2011-12 Super Bowl run. We have quite a few FAs, and besides that, numerous- NUMEROUS- needs all over the place.

I wanted to write this FanPost and get everyone's opinions on their list of needs, in order of priority. Ignore draft prospects and FA for right now- we've got lots of discussions floating all over the place about who we should draft where, who we should get in FA, etc. so that will be a bit redundant. I'm just curious how you all feel about which need ranks where. I would imagine the top 3-6 will be mostly the same for majority of us, but exactly which of those falls where in that list will undoubtedly vary. I'm really interested in going beyond that though- top priority all the way down to bottom. Feel free to use ties if you want (I will). And if you like, you can always consider making two lists- one presuming certain re-signings happen, one if they don't. (For example, I imagine WR will change dramatically on that list for us depending on whether Rice is resigned or not.)

Here's my list, with a complex version and a simpler version. I'm going to make two presumptions for it, one I (hope) is reasonable and the other being a rather big assumption (much more hope in this case)- we will resign both Sydney Rice as well as Ray Edwards.

#1- Offensive Guard
#2- Quarterback
#3- Offensive Tackle
#4- Free Safety
#5- Center
#6- Cornerback
#7- Strong Safety
#8- Tight End
#9 (tie)- Defensive Tackle
#9 (tie)- Outside Linebacker
#10- Punt Returner (it's not really a full position per se, but I'd like to see us upgrade here somehow)
#11 (tie)- Wide Reciever
#11 (tie)- Defensive End
#11 (tie)- Fullback (because I really don't think we actually need one)
#11 (tie)- Inside Linebacker
#12 (tie)- Long Snapper
#12 (tie)- Running Back
#12 (tie)- Punter
#12 (tie)- Kicker
#12 (tie)- Kick Returner (since I included punt returner above)

Of course, that's my 'complex' list, if you want to do it simpler, here's another version:

#1- O-line
#2- QB
#3- Secondary
#4- Tight End
#5- LB/ DT/ PR
#6- DE/ WR/ FB
#7- KR/ P/ K/ LS/ RB

OK, your turn. Let's keep it civil here- we're all going to disagree on some level, so let's therefore just agree to disagree in advance. Debates are good and that's why I'm posting it but let's keep the heat at 'simmering'. Sound off, Viking faithful.

....is anyone paying attention to me yet?