Pressure is on Tice

It was a good draft for the Vikings, but it has been a great offseason. The Vikings have transformed themselves into NFC contenders. Red "Scrooge" McCombs has opened up the bank vault and Minnesota has brought in the talent to make the Vikings an elite team.

Now they must perform. And nobody is on the hook like Mike Tice. Especially now that he has made these statements.

"We certainly said when we started this thing, if you all recall three years ago, that we want to build our football team from the front back," coach Mike Tice said. "I think we've shown everybody we meant that, and adding another first-round lineman to the mix is going to do nothing but get us better."

For now we'll ignore the fact that all of the positive changes under Tice have occurred this offseason.

"We have excellent players on our offensive football team, and I'm a pretty good offensive coach," Tice said, "so we're going to find a way to move the ball and score points. … We're still going to be a good offensive football team."

I didn't know that pretty good offensive coaches finished each season 3-7, but we'll take Mike's word for it.

So with all of the moves they've made, a somewhat weak schedule, playing in a weaker division, and having a "pretty good offensive coach", Minnesota should be thinking about nothing less than a division title and a serious NFC Championship run.

If the Vikings live up to expectations Tice could find himself the object of a bidding war next year. If they don't win the division and make the playoffs, Tice will have to re-evaluate his abilities and should find himself back coaching an offensive line. In college.

I will support Tice and the Vikings 100%, I always do. But the murmurs of dissatisfaction concerning him will only grow louder if the Vikes don't win 11 games make some noise in the playoffs.