Week 13 Preview: Denver At Minnesota

This will be the Broncos fifth away game in seven weeks. Aside from racking up the air miles, the Broncos will be looking to rack up the wins during this – the most difficult part of their schedule.

The Vikings went 6-10 in 2010, which was a huge disappointment after their 12-4 season and a run to the NFC Conference Championship in 2009.

The Favre era is over (or is it?), but this Vikings team has a lot of great young talent. If the team can get a strong arm under center, he will have a lot of targets out on the field. Right now, Joe Webb is listed as the team’s starting QB, but they drafted Christian Ponder out of Florida State with the 12th pick overall. He will be able to compete with Webb and Patrick Ramsey for a starting job. Whoever the starting QB is, it helps him that Adrian Peterson is in the backfield and Percy Harvin, Visanthe Shiancoe, and Sidney Rice are running routes.

The Vikings offense was ranked 10th in rushing, but 26th in passing. Favre had great protection, but he threw just 11 touchdowns to 19 interceptions. The Vikings are looking forward to getting a young gun in there. Peterson led the team in rushing while Harvin led them in receiving.

The Vikings defense last season was much better off than their offense. They were ranked 9th in rush defense and 10th in pass defense. Letroy Guion led the team in sacks with 13 while Ray Edwards came up with 8 of his own. Eight players had at least one interception, but it was Husain Abdullah and E.J. Henderson that had 3 a piece. The big defensive plays were there, but the offense could not capitalize.

There is so much talent on this Vikings team that a lot depends on how the coaching staff utilizes it, and what kind of quarterback they can put under center.

Like all venues in the NFC North, Minnesota is not a walk in the park. The dome may be nice a toasty, but the team’s fans certainly aren’t warm and welcoming.

If the Broncos can take care of business against divisional opponents up to this point, and get a win here would, it would mean a lot. The Vikings are very capable of putting together some nice games, so no one in the AFC West is immune.

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