The Viking Ship

Tonight the Vikings will take the field for their final preseason match-up of the year when they face the Denver Broncos at 7:00 PM at Mall of America Field.

Will We See The Starters?

Usually head coach Brad Childress, like most NFL coaches these days, sits his starters for the fourth preseason game.  This year, though, there have been rumblings that the offensive starters might play a few series.

The big reason for this would be because with Brett Favre coming late to the team, and two of the probable receivers that will end up on the final depth chart not showing up until after the 2nd preseason game, our offense hasn’t had a whole lot of time to click.  Giving them a few plays when they don’t matter might not be a bad idea.

That being said, I personally doubt that many of the starters will play tonight.  I think the new receivers Camarillo and Walker will play, but technically they probably won’t be “starters” anyway (the top two guys should be Berrian and Harvin), but I don’t expect Favre, Peterson, Berrian, or Shiancoe to play.  I guess Harvin could be a possibility since he missed so much practice time.

I wouldn’t be completely shocked if I was wrong about any of that, though.  So far I haven’t been able to find an official statement from the Vikings.

The Defensive Starters Probably Won’t Play

I think our starting defense is just fine, and I don’t think we’ll be seeing them tonight.

I think that the defense is probably pretty much set.  I expect tonight to be  a time for the Vikings to showcase some of the talent they may be willing to let go.

What About Quarterbacks?

I don’t know what to expect with the quarterbacks.

I honestly don’t expect Sage Rosenfels to be a Viking after Saturday.  If the Vikings could make a deal with someone before then, they could trade him before the final cuts come up, which means they could get some potential value from him.

If they are thinking along those same lines, expect Sage to play a lot… like maybe the second and third quarters.  If it’s Jackson they’re shopping (which I REALLY don’t see happening), expect Jackson to play a lot.

I expect Webb to play in the fourth.  I think the Vikings have to realize there is NO WAY that Webb would make it through waivers to get onto the practice squad, so if they really want to develop him, they’re going to have to keep him on the 53 man roster.

All of these are just theories though.  I don’t know what Minnesota is planning to do with the quarterbacks.  If they’re content just cutting one of these guys, then all of my guesses are pretty meaningless.

How’s that for being full of uselessness?!?

My Prediction

This is the hardest game to predict because we have no idea who will be playing.

Being a “homer”, though, I’m going to say Vikings win 24-14.