Can the Minnesota Vikings make the playoffs without Brett Favre?

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Brett Favre is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play this game, but even though the Minnesota Vikings are much better team with 11-time Pro Bowler under center, the fact is three-time NFL MVP still hasn’t made up his mind and head coach Brad Childress just might have to go with Tavaris Jackson as his starting quarterback.

Obviously, the Silver Fox not making his mind up with the NFL season just around the corner is nothing new and almost expected at this point, but a team with Super Bowl aspirations like the Minnesota Vikings can’t wait to have their fate decided by one man.

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If the Vikings do end up with Tavaris Jackson under center as a result of Brett Favre finally deciding to retire, everything will change in Minnesota as the team would take a much different approach on the offense side of the football by concentrating on the ground game with superstar running back Adrian Peterson, rookie Toby Gerhart and possibly more of a wildcat option Jackson being a much more mobile quarterback than Favre.

The one part of the Minnesota Vikings game plan that will take a serious hit will be the play-action pass as opposing defenses will be looking more at Adrian Peterson is the biggest threat on the field opposed to Brett Favre dropping back and going deep to Percy Harvin or Sidney Rice.

As of right now, with the assumption that Brett Favre will be back for the regular season, the Minnesota Vikings are Super Bowl title contender and arguably the best team in the NFC Conference, but if the Silver Fox does decide to shut it down permanently, I believe the Vikings could struggle just to make the playoffs.

As always, the NFL can be extremely unpredictable as one season a team can be a Super Bowl title contender and the next season that same team can miss the playoffs. A perfect example of this is the Pittsburgh Steelers last season as they came into the year as defending Super Bowl champions and ended the year missing the playoffs and having one of their worst seasons in recent memory.

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Heading into next season, the Minnesota Vikings will have relatively the same team intact, but they do have some injury concerns with Percy Harvin dealing with migraines, Sidney Rice still recovering from a hip injury and of course Brett Favre dealing with a surgically repaired ankle that hasn’t healed the way anyone anticipated.

These three players are three of the most important players on the offense side of the football for the Minnesota Vikings, but they still have arguably one of the best running backs in the league in Adrian Peterson and could go strictly with the ground game in the beginning of the season to get their stars on offense back to 100%.

Even though it is still very uncertain whether or not Favre will be back under center, I do believe that the Minnesota Vikings still have the ability to make it into the playoffs as long as they can stay healthy and Tavaris Jackson can play consistently well as the starting quarterback.