Vikings get high praise from yet another national outlet

Already in this NFL offseason, several national outlets — including SI.com, ESPN.com, CBSSports.com and NFL.com — have gone on record with positive predictions for the Vikings. The most notable was Peter King putting them sixth in his preseason power rankings — and that's sixth in all the NFL, not just the NFC.

Well, add another to the list: USA Today. Nate Davis, writing for their web site, predicts the Vikings will finish 10-6 — earning a playoff berth as the No. 5 seed and even winning a playoff game before falling to Seattle.

Says Davis: "Highly motivated Adrian Peterson should take offense and second-year QB Teddy Bridgewater to new level, and potentially stacked defense looks ready to blossom. Schedule gets friendly after Week 5 bye."

I know the opinion of writers doesn't mean much (present company included). I don't know if one writer (King, perhaps) started all this and everyone else is feeding off of it.

I do know that last year, you could barely find a positive peep about the Vikings before the season started, and that was BEFORE the Peterson mess unfolded. You have the right to be either pleased or terrified by all this praise, depending on what kind of Minnesota sports fan you are.