The Minnesota Vikings have a myriad of concerns heading into the 2012 NFL season, and it all starts with the offense. Christian Ponder and Joe Webb might be in for a quarterback battle and running back Adrian Peterson suffered a very significant injury that might sideline him into next season. One of the only consolations is the fact that they've now got a very high draft pick, and can get one of the best young players for next season. It also means they're one of the worst teams in the league, and the final rankings reflect that.
CBS Sports keeps the Vikings as one of their three worst teams in the league in their final power rankings:
30. Is it Joe Webb or Christian Ponder who leads this team next year? They have to fix the offensive line.
A win over the Chicago Bears would have likely bumped them up a couple spots, but despite Jared Allen getting a ton of sacks, they ultimately lost that game. Is this where Vikings fans expected to be at the start of the season? No, not with Peterson on the team, but Donovan McNabb certainly didn't inspire much confidence.
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The Minnesota Vikings have some pressing things on the agenda, especially regarding their star running back, Adrian Peterson. His status for the beginning of next season is up in the air, and the organization will have to deal with that on top of a busy offseason in which the team has one of the top selections in the 2012 NFL Draft. Their 2011 was filled with all kinds of issues, the least of which was not their quarterback position. Christian Ponder is the guy moving forward and that's a positive, though it didn't help the Vikings win in Week 17.
30. Biggest free agent to retain is keeping the Vikings in Minnesota. (Clayton)
That is to say, they're not dropping them because there's only two spots below them, and they're occupied by the St. Louis Rams and Indianapolis Colts. The Vikings were really hoping that the team could string together some wins with Ponder at quarterback after benching Donovan McNabb, but it just didn't happen. As such, they're one of the bottom three teams in the league, at least according to most.
