Bob Lurtsema, the former Vikings defensive lineman who remains close to the team, predicts Minnesota will finish 10-6 during the 2012 regular season and possibly make the playoffs.
The Vikings were 3-13 last season and a popular guess for 2012 is 6-10 but Lurtsema believes the team will be improved and exceed expectations. “I’ve said it before. I am very optimistic,” Lurtsema told Sports Headliners. “I said 10-6. Everybody said, ‘What are you on? What are you smoking?’”
Lurtsema’s outlook is based on improvement at some positions that faltered last season, including quarterback. He thinks second-year quarterback Christian Ponder will upgrade his play considerably.
Ponder not only had the disadvantage last season of minimal offseason preparation because of the NFL labor dispute but he was a rookie placed in a starting position. The Vikings are counting on maturity from Ponder in year No. 2, perhaps typical of what Drew Brees did for the Chargers when he threw one touchdown pass in his rookie season of 2001 but 17 the next.
Ponder did throw for 1,853 yards last season, the second most ever for a Vikings rookie quarterback. Fran Tarkenton threw for 1,997 yards in 1961.
Vikings and other notes:
Former Vikings coach Jerry Burns told Sports Headliners he’s “hoping” for an 8-8 or 9-7 record. He described Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier as “one of the finest” people he’s met.
Burns will travel to Canton, Ohio to see his former defensive lineman Chris Doleman inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on August 4.
Vikings running back Toby Gerhart, who could be the team’s early season starter if Adrian Peterson isn’t healthy, comes from an athletic family. His dad Todd played in the USFL and went to training camp with the Vikings in 1986. Brother Garth, an offensive lineman, is trying out with the Browns. Gerhart’s triplet sisters are college softball players.
Former Breck and Northwestern football player Regis Eller, son of ex-Vikings star Carl Eller, is scouting for the Chargers. San Diego plays the Vikings at Mall of America Field on August 24.
Gophers coach Jerry Kill said senior quarterback MarQueis Gray has improved so much that he will be a “very, very exciting player to watch” not only in the Big Ten but nationally.
Casey Dehn, the Owatonna native expected to be Wisconsin’s starting offensive right tackle, is no longer with the Badgers.
Former Gophers and now NFL rookies Duane Bennett (running back), Jon Hoese (fullback) and Eric Lair (tight end) are listed on the Packers training camp roster.
Talk about a bad weekend. Not only did the Indians lose three straight to the Twins at Target Field, but Cleveland batters hit .140 in the series and starting pitchers gave up 23 hits and 23 runs in 16 innings. The Twins hit .340 and scored 28 runs.
Twins first baseman Justin Morneau is hitting .333 with three home runs and 12 RBI in his last 22 games. His home run yesterday was No. 198 of his career and moved him within two of becoming the seventh Twins player to hit 200 or more.
Scott Diamond, who leads Twins pitchers in wins with a 9-3 record, is 6-1 at Target Field. He has a 2.28 ERA in eight home game starts.
Twins general manager Terry Ryan said on the Twins Radio Network yesterday afternoon there were no contract “extension talks” between him and Francisco Liriano’s agent in the weeks leading up to last Saturday’s trade of the left-handed pitcher to the White Sox. Ryan also said that during 2006 Liriano was as “good there was” among major league pitchers.
The Timberwolves have scheduled a news conference for tomorrow to introduce guard Brandon Roy to the local media. The Wolves might start the season with only six or seven players from last season’s roster.
Tubby Smith’s contract extension through 2017 with the Gophers means he could determine his Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame credentials during the next five seasons. He won a national championship at Kentucky and had four Elite Eight NCAA appearances, but he’s faltered at Minnesota where his Big Ten record is 14 games under .500.
Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen from the Lynx are among 38 current or former WNBA players on teams competing at the Olympics in women’s basketball. Nine of the 12 nations competing in the Olympics have WNBA alumni.
Golf returns to the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro after a 112 year absence.
A celebration for the completion of Todd Anderson Field in Brooklyn Park will be held starting at 5:30 p.m. on August 9. The facility provides a home for Courage Center’s wheelchair softball players, a first in 30 years of competition.