Going into the game that will mark the midway point of the Minnesota Vikings' season, the roster is a mess due to some of the injuries and other issues currently happening to the team. . .not something you want to see with a team as talented as the Chargers coming to town.
On the offensive side of the ball, the wide receiver depth chart tomorrow is going to be interesting, to say the least. Troy Williamson is going to remain with his family in South Carolina, so he's out, and there's a very good chance that Bobby Wade won't play. . .and if he does play, he won't be anywhere near 100%. So as of now, the only active, relatively healthy receivers the Vikings have are Sidney Rice, Robert Ferguson, and Aundrae Allison. . .two rookies and a guy that was signed halfway through the pre-season.
Yikes.
My guess, if I were to make one, is that one of the Vikings' two practice squad receivers. . .either Martin Nance (who I like a lot) or Joel Filani (who I honestly don't know a heck of a lot about). . .will be brought up to the active roster to fill the void at wide receiver. As of now, about 24 hours before game time, no announcement of any sort has been made yet.
With the absence of Williamson, the possible absence of Wade, and the fact that Tarvaris Jackson doesn't seem to realize that Visanthe Shiancoe even exists, what was already probably going to be a long day for the Minnesota passing game stands to get even longer.
Williamson's absence means that the Vikings will also be without their primary kick returner. One solution. . .that I hope to heck does NOT happen. . .would be to stick Adrian Peterson back there on every single return. The better solution, in my opinion, would be to let Aundrae Allison (if he's learned his lesson after the gaffe he made in Kansas City) or Mewelde Moore (if he's still alive) handle the kick return duties. Adrian Peterson is NOT expendable. . .we sure as heck don't need to stick him back there on every kickoff return.
On the defensive side of the ball, the big question mark is hovering right over Antoine Winfield. Winfield is listed as questionable on the official injury report, and will be a game-time decision. Winfield's absence would leave the Vikings with Cedric Griffin and some combination of Marcus McCauley/Charles Gordon at CB. That. . .well, that's not good. Granted, the big target in San Diego's passing game is going to be Antonio Gates, who Winfield would rarely be matched up against anyway, but as we've seen thus far this year, if any secondary is capable of making another team's wide receivers look like a million bucks, it's ours.
I think there's a chance that it's going to get ugly tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen. Stranger things have happened, but I'm not seeing a lot of silver lining here.