Time For A Realistic Plan B?

As many of you now may know, the drunk trailer park boyfriend Minnesota Vikings just smoked the trailer park girlfriend out of their fans on Sunday by losing in horrific fashion to the New Orleans Saints. Like always, we'll come crawling back to the Vikings after they beg for forgiveness and tell us that it will be different next time. So, we might as well address what will happen to the Vikings next season.

Unlike another Minnesota professional sports team, the Vikings are willing to make moves to make their team better in the offseason. Of course, the biggest question mark of the upcoming offseason is whether or not Brett Favre will return for a 21st season in the NFL.

After the game, Favre was nearly in tears talking about how he failed to get to his 3rd Super Bowl. He was a beaten, broken down, old man who just destroyed his ankle and probably every body part within a 60 minute time frame. Now the fun begins, especially for Packer fans, as the will he or won't he drama begins for Viking fans. The truth is the Vikings won't get a clear answer from Favre until August again. There are three options the Vikings can take in this situation.

The first option for the Vikings is to simply try to enter the season with Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels battling out for the starting quarterback position. This option would be the least popular, but it may be what the Vikings have to do. In this situation, it wouldn't be a bad thing for Favre to come back. If Favre came bcak in mid-August again, I'm sure Brad Childress would have no problem stepping on Sage and T-Jack's dreams once again, and we're back in the fast lane for a Super Bowl appearance.

The second option would be to draft a quarterback. The problem with this theory is that the Vikings will be drafting towards the end of the first round in a class that doesn't have an elite quarterback prospect. The two top prospects are currently Sam Bradford (Oklahoma) and Jimmy Claussen (Notre Dame), two QB's that I find incredibly overrated. If the Vikings do go this route, they'll probably take Colt McCoy (Texas), Tony Pike (Cincinnati), or Dan Lefevour (Central Michigan). This route would also wouldn't be problematic should Favre decide to come back in August. This way, the new QB could learn a year under Brett Favre, which wouldn't be a bad thing by any means. However, looking into the future, it may take several years after Favre's departure to become a Super Bowl contender.

The third option is the most desperate, but the one that I'm most in favor of should Favre retire. Bring in Donovan McNabb. This makes sense on so many levels. McNabb was Childress' prize student in Philadelphia when he was the offensive coordinator there. McNabb knows the offense and is considered a legit quarterback, something the Vikings wouldn't have on their roster should Favre hang up the cleats. On the Eagles side, the performance by Eagles QB Kevin Kolb, who was considered to be McNabb's heir apparent, replaced McNabb after he broke a couple of ribs in the season opener at Carolina and played quite well. The rumors are flying that the Eagles want to clear the way for Kolb, and a McNabb trade to Minnesota may be the way to do that.

The question may be how much do the Eagles want for McNabb. Would they go the Matt Schaub route and demand a first and a third? Or would they go the Daunte Culpepper route and take anything just to get rid of the guy? That would also be an important factor, but when you look at the team, there isn't much that the Vikings need via the draft. To quote Favre, "The pieces are in place." (Although the Vikings could use a safety and corner help but regardless...)

The one problem with this idea is that it's a massive gamble. If the Vikings go get McNabb, what if Favre gets that itch to play again in August? Would there be the greatest QB controversy of all time? Or would Childress go ahead and create some kind of crazy 2 QB formation so that he could use both QB's at once? When Favre came to Minnesota, there were reports of a schism. Those didn't come to be true, but in this scenario I could see a civil war as to who the team wanted as the quarterback of the team.

So, into the offseason and the dark the Vikings go. Their fans are still thirsty for a Super Bowl appearance after a 34 year absence and hopefully, the Vikings can make the right moves and end that drought next year.