The excitement is building after OTA’s and mini camps have finished in May and June. Training Camp all 15 days in late July through early August have been completed with 51,000 fans coming and watching which works out to 3400 a day.
The next step comes on Sunday September 9th at noon when the Jacksonville Jaguars come to Mall of America Field. The Vikings lead the series 3-1 with going 2-1 at home and 1-0 on the road. The team that has won these games has averaged scoring 27 points in each of the victories. The only loss to Jacksonville came at home in 2001 when the Vikings lost 33-3.
This will be the first home opener since 2007 when the Vikings beat the Atlanta Falcons 24-7. The Vikings are 17-7 in home openers.
The last 10 openers total including road and home the team is .500 going 5-5 in this stretch.
In 2011 Donovan McNabb was the opening day starter. Christian Ponder is now the quarterback in 2012 so not only will it be his first opening day start it will come at home with 63,000 plus supporters trying to help his cause.
Coach Frazier has yet to win an opening game in his career. The team played in San Diego in last season’s opener and played the Chargers tough but came up shorts. I cannot think of a better way to get Coach Frazier his first opening day victory over Jacksonville right here in the great state of Minnesota.
Kevn Williams is now the longest tenured Vikings with 10 years and has played in 140 games. It is hard to believe 10 years already for one of the best defensive tackles in football.
The pregame will have major stadium supporter, Larry Spooner, blowing the Gjallahorn signaling the Vikings to come onto the field.
The halftime show will feature Chris Doleman getting his Hall of Fame ring.
Ties to Minnesota come in the form of Jacksonville Jaguars new coach, Mike Mularkey who took over officially in January. Mike has been in the NFL for 27 years. He has coached in some form in the NFL for 18 years and played 9 years tight end. He played for the Minnesota Vikings from 1983-1988.
The game will be on CBS and Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots will be in the booth announcing the games.
This first game in my mind will be as important as any game in this team’s history. The amount of losing in the last 2 has got to be forgotten. How nice will 1-0 be vs 0-1? It is only 1 game but the confidence can begin Sunday with a victory.
The team is full of youth as we know. I believe in Coach Frazier and his staff. The team has the 8th toughest schedule with the opponents combined 2010 record of 131-125 which works out to .511
Thanks for reading
Purplestick
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