Oh crap!! Or maybe not?

So I'm at work today, and some guy comes up to me and says, "It's official! You can pencil in the Vikings at the top of the division at the very least...we have Allen." It was something like that. So yeah, the Vikings sent a bunch of draft picks to Kansas City for defensive end Jared Allen. No doubt this makes the Vikings a better team, and there is no question that the Vikings have upped the ante. And, with Brett Favre being retired, the Packers are no longer the odds-on favorite to win the NFC North this year.

So, it was nice to read this Kevin Seifert article to give a dose of reality to the fans of the Purple-Helmeted Pricks. While Jared Allen will make that defense much better and take some pressure off the secondary, the quarterback is still Tavaris Jackson. And, he still doesn't have all that many options at wide receiver. The point of the article is, Tavaris Jackson will be the biggest difference-maker. If he develops into a solid QB this year, with a healthy Adrian Peterson running for 1,600+ yards, then yeah, the Vikings are probably going to at least win the division. But, if Jackson makes a bunch of mistakes, and Peterson gets hurt (which does happen...check his history), then the NFC North is up for grabs.

If that happens, watch for a young Packers squad with a pretty good defense of its own and a young QB with a plethora of options at WR and an emerging Ryan Grant to be right there.

So, bottom line to Queens fans: don't book your flight and hotel for Tampa-St. Pete just yet. And, you may want to wait until at least week 10 before ordering your division championship sheet to hang in the Jiffy Pop Dome. The Vikings are better than before, but nothing is for certain.