You may remember The Big Lead as the site that Colin Cowherd directed his listeners to flood with hits so their server crashed a few months back. Then again, you may not remember The Big Lead at all. But the site has thrown their hat into the ring to talk about the beloved Purple, so let's take a look at what they have to say.
Before you jump to a conclusion, kindly check out the depth chart. Once you are done laughing - the receivers are dreadful, the quarterbacks moreso - think about a healthy Cleveland team, Houston with a decent quarterback and Ahman Green trying not to fumble, and Arizona with a professional coaching staff. Yes, Oakland will be horrible, and Tampa probably won't sniff .500, but really ... did you really look at the Vikings depth chart?
You know the "great analysis" I mentioned in the title up there? Well, to borrow a line from Tony Kornheiser. . .THAT'S IT! THAT'S THE ANALYSIS!
Breathtaking, ain't it? I don't even know where I can begin to dispute an argument as well thought out and well expressed as "have you seen the depth chart," but let me give it a try anyway.
We've expressed, ad nauseum, that based on production the Vikings' QBs and WRs don't inspire fear in anyone. Frankly, they shouldn't. But based on the fact that the Vikings have a depth chart filled with outstanding running backs and the best left side of the OL in the league (with the potential to be an outstanding line overall), and coupled with Tarvaris Jackson's potential, and the odds of the Vikings' passing game being dramatically better in '07 than it was in '06 are very good. Even if it's not, as Pacifist Viking pointed out in the comments of the thread there at the Big Lead, Jamal Lewis ran for 2,000+ yards a few years ago with something named Kyle Boller at quarterback, so the "teams will stack 8 in the box" argument doesn't automatically mean that the Vikings' running game will be even remotely shut down.
And, as we've said on numerous occasions, can the passing game possibly get worse? No, honestly, it can't.
The fact that the defense is completely ignored isn't surprising, either. Never mind the fact that the best DT tandem in the NFC (and probably the entire NFL) still resides in Minnesota. Never mind that said defense suffered no major losses, only additions. . .to include the return of a healthy Chad Greenway, a healthy Erasmus James, a healthy Tank Williams, and so forth.
So as far as whether or not the Vikings are the worst team in the NFL, the intelligent answer seems to be glaringly obvious. The Vikings won't even be the worst team in the division this year, never mind the worst team in the league.
These are the perils of people running their yaps on matters of which they know little. Maybe we could call it "Peter King Syndrome" or something to put a face on this terrible problem.