Hennepin County Judge Gary Larson ruled Thursday that Vikings defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams must serve four-game suspensions but that doesn't mean the case is over.
As the Star Tribune's Rochelle Olson wrote in her story: An appeal of the decision has been a foregone conclusion for weeks because of its significance. The next step is to the state Court of Appeals, which will automatically hear the case. After that, the losing party could appeal to the state Supreme Court, but the state's high court isn't required to take the case. Nonetheless, this thing isn't over. Rochelle also points out the players were granted a court hearing at 2 p.m. and will ask Larson to keep in place a restraining order that allows them to play pending their appeals.
If the Williamses did end up sitting out, the Vikings obviously will be without two of their key defensive players for four games. The Vikings backup defensive tackles are Fred Evans, Jimmy Kennedy, Letroy Guion and Tremaine Johnson.
The Vikings' first four games are against New Orleans (road), Miami (home), Detroit (home) and the New York Jets (road).
