New season, attitude, but these Vikings still 'have a long way to go'

As minicamp drew to its exciting conclusion Sunday, Vikings players assembled along the sideline and in the end zone, preparing for a set of conditioning drills. Coach Brad Childress stood at midfield, whistle in hand.

Instead of signaling the first sprint, however, Childress called everyone into a huddle and ended practice on a relieving and humorous note.

Three minutes later, cornerback Antoine Winfield stood quietly off to the side, sounding as skeptical as ever about the team's potential for significant improvement over last season's 6-10 record. He said that he will skip the remainder of the Vikings' offseason program, apparently disappointed with their prospects for 2007.

"I don't think anything is going to change," he said.

The dichotomy of post-practice scenes provides a telling window into the organization as summer approaches.

Childress appears more comfortable and personable in his second season, focusing more on his role as head coach and less as a quasi-offensive coordinator. Yet, even after addressing many of the issues that contributed to the bitter end of 2006 -- disgruntled players and mismatched talent, to name two -- it appears that not everything came out in the wash.

Winfield's candid assessments, as well as the guarded comments of other veterans, suggest that the Vikings still have some ground to cover in their physical -- and spiritual -- rebuilding process. After all, how often does a player as prominent and respected as Antoine Winfield openly cast doubt about a team's competitiveness in the offseason?

After participating in five minicamp practices, Winfield said: "We still have a long way to go.

"I know they have two weeks of [voluntary practices]," he added. "There's another month before training camp starts. You've got four or five weeks during training camp and the preseason to get there. They're taking strides. [But] they're a young group on offense, the receivers, [quarterback] Tarvaris [Jackson]. It's all about experience: Getting out there, getting a chance to see things."

Winfield will turn 30 this month and probably isn't excited about playing through the growing pains that one can reasonably expect from a young quarterback and an unproven group of receivers.

"They're not going to bring in Peyton Manning or anything like that," said Winfield, the best indication that his offseason absence is related to the team's long-term approach to building its roster. "The scenery here is not going to change."

Other veterans are not quite as direct, but pointedly are not making any brash predictions.

"Everything is yet to be seen," safety Darren Sharper said. "That's the way I'm going to go. I'm not going to make any pre-judgments on things in the offseason or how things are going to be in the future. I want to see it.

"The proof is in the pudding when we come on the field. I know we have capable players. We had capable players last year, and we should have played better as players. It's going to be up to the players again this year to play better. I'm just waiting to see. I'm waiting to see on myself and I'm waiting to see on everybody out there."

It takes time to extract the bad taste -- and, to some extent, the ill will -- of a 6-10 season. The Vikings lost eight of their last 10 games, including a 41-24 loss to St. Louis in which some players appeared to have packed it in.

"It was like guys were out there just trying not to get hurt going into the offseason," Winfield said.

Childress bid farewell to a number of prominent veterans, from receiver Marcus Robinson to quarterback Brad Johnson to tight end Jermaine Wiggins. The Vikings then allowed linebacker Napoleon Harris to depart via free agency, lost defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin to Pittsburgh and signed a class of second-tier free agents that had their fan base -- and, it seems, at least one of their players -- in an uproar.

The arrival of rookie tailback Adrian Peterson has restored some excitement, and Childress said: "My role as the head coach is to create that competitive environment."

How quickly it will translate into a better record, however, remains a matter of some debate at Winter Park.