Eight games down and eight games to go. We are at the mid-point of the regular season, a perfect time to reflect on how well the Minnesota Vikings have done the first half of the 2009 campaign.

Quarterback – A
With the exception of a couple of mop-up-duty stints for Tarvaris Jackson, Brett Favre has taken all of the meaningful snaps from center this year.
After initially living off of dinks and dunks, Favre eventually opened up and mixed in some deeper tosses to loosen up opposing defenses. Favre, even at 40 years old, remarkably, is enjoying the best season of his career. Perhaps playing on the most talented team of his career, he is playing extremely efficiently, and with only three so far, is even avoiding his achilles’ heel, his penchant for throwing frequent interceptions.

Favre shares the league lead (Drew Brees), in posting a quarterback passer rating of 106, and is second in the league (Drew Brees 17) with 16 touchdowns. Certainly Favre is having a pro bowl year so far, and if his second half continues like his first half, will certainly merit league MVP consideration.

Running Backs – A
Adrian Peterson – for all intents and purposes – is the running game for the Vikings. With his combination of speed, power, and elusiveness, he continues to be the explosive game changer that he has always been. This year, using him a little more in the passing game, has increased his threat to opposing defenses. Chester Taylor has not figured prominently in the running game this year, gaining only 123 yards on 2.7 yards-per-carry.

Nonetheless, with Peterson’s 784 yards rushing on 4.8 yards-per-carry, he is tied for third in the league in rushing yardage (Chris Johnson 959, Cedric Benson 837, Steven Jackson 784), and third in the league in rushing touchdowns with nine (Maurice Jones-Drew 11, Michael Turner 10). Peterson is also third in the league in combined rushing and receiving yards with 972 yards (Johnson 1,120, Ray Rice 1,008). Depending on what other league leaders do in the second half of the season, if Peterson can maintain his same production, he too could merit league MVP discussion.

Receivers – A
In the last three years, perhaps no NFL team has improved their receiving corps more than the Vikings. As a group, they now form one of the most formidable attacks in football, and provide the offense perfect balance in being able to move the ball on the ground or thru the air. The speed of rookie sensation, Percy Harvin, and veteran, Bernard Berrian, can easily scare defenses with the deep threat, while veteran receiver Sidney Rice displays excellent pass catching skills as a possession receiver. Rice too, is very capable of breaking big plays. Rice and tight end, Visanthe Shiancoe, provide very good targets around the goal line, and Shiancoe’s six touchdown receptions are tied for second most in the NFL (Miles Austin 7, Vernon Davis 7, Larry Fitzgerald 7, Vincent Jackson 7, five tied with 6). It would appear Harvin will be a likely rookie-of-the-year candidate.

Offensive Line – C+
Losing long-time all-pro center Matt Birk to free agency left a question mark as to how the offensive line might function this year. There has been no drop off, in fact if anything, the line may be a little improved. Struggling in pass protection early in the season, the line has protected the quarterback better in recent weeks, a couple of games keeping Favre from a single sack. The line has yielded 18 sacks on Favre, more than one would like, but not a huge number.

Adrian Peterson’s gaudy numbers always give the impression that the offensive line must be doing a good job in run blocking. Actually most of the running plays, as in recent years, continue to be stuffed around the line of scrimmage or in the backfield. Short yardage plays are usually stuffed, with no push coming from up front. Taylor, a fine runner in his own right cannot even manage three yards a carry behind this line. Were it not for the unique talents of Peterson, being able to break plays off from where they are designed to go, and rip off huge runs, the running game would be far below average. While the long runs make the ground game look good statistically, in reality, the inability to run the ball consistently is the offense’s weakest link.

Defensive Line – A
With three pro bowlers on the front four, the Vikings have the best defensive line in football. They lead the NFL in sacks with 31. After uncharacteristically yielding chunks of yardage in the running game earlier in the season, the run defense has finally settled in and begun to resemble the stingy unit most expected it would continue to be. Giving up only 94 yards per game on the ground, the Vikings are sixth in this category. Defensive end, Jared Allen shares the league lead with 10.5 sacks (Elvis Dumervil 10.5), and may be a possible NFL defensive player-of-the-year candidate.

Linebackers – B
The return of middle linebacker, E. J. Henderson, after missing most of last season due to injury figured to make this linebacking group one of the best starting units in the league. All three linebackers possess good speed. The speed of these players has been better served in run stopping than it has in pass coverage thus far. Still, along with the defensive front, the Viking front seven are just about as good as anybody’s.

Secondary – C-
The poorest showing of any unit has been the Viking secondary. While good tacklers in general – pro bowl cornerback Antoine Winfield in particular – the pass coverage has been very leaky this year. Some of the opposing quarterbacks have simply torched the Vikings this year. With the exception of Ben Roethlisberger, the Viking secondary has not fared well at all against good quarterbacks this year.

When considering how much help the defensive backs are getting by having the best pass rush in football in front of them, to rank 21st in the league, giving up 237 yards passing per contest is somewhat puzzling. Should the Vikings eventually meet up with Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints to decide the NFC title, this unit will surely be called upon to elevate its level of play.

Special Teams – A
This unit by far represents the biggest improvement over last year. The 2008 Vikings had one of the worst special teams units in recent memory. While the kicking game was fine last year, it continues to be solid this year as well.

The huge turnaround is in the return units. Last year, constantly losing the field position battle put more pressure on both the offense and defense. This year is the total opposite. The Vikings now are the beneficiary of superior field position on a regular basis. Percy Harvin leads the league in kickoff return average at 30 yards per return, and along with Ted Ginn, Jr., has returned two kickoffs for touchdowns which also leads the league. The Vikings are eighth in the league in punt return average as well.

Coaching – B+
Pretty much any coach of a 7-1 team is doing a good job. In this case, Brad Childress has to be given credit for expecting Favre to play at a high level. No one could have reasonably expected it to be the best year of his career, and a second half does remain to be seen (the second half is what was terrible for Favre last year), but so far Childress has been vindicated in his quarterback selection.

Again to Childress’ credit, the offense is averaging 30 points a game, and is in a good flow obviously. The special teams are greatly improved. There have been no great let downs this year – losing to teams that should be beaten – although miracle wins were required over San Francisco and Baltimore.

The one loss, can be attributed to questionable coaching however. The minimal use of Peterson on the goal line, in a first and goal situation from inside the one yard line, and not having Peterson on the field during the decisive play in the final minute. These decisions and the lack of positive results after them, easily may have cost the Vikings a win.

The defense, while playing better lately, has not been as good as it was last year. This year the Vikings are giving up over 21 points per game, and rank 18th overall defensively.

All in all, the first half of the Viking season has to certainly be considered a major success, and the overall team grade has to be an A.