Vikings head into offseason with optimism

In one corner of the Vikings locker room Monday morning, Chad Greenway lingered by his locker longer than other teammates who had quickly cleaned out their stalls, hopped in their luxury vehicles and sped off for parts unknown.

The veteran outside linebacker, who might have played his last game in purple, stood there for a while, shaking hands with teammates, equipment guys, reporters and anyone else who approached him. Wearing a sweatshirt that said "Sota" across the chest under his camouflage coat, Greenway eventually walked out the door, Vikings helmet in hand, and headed into the cold.

"All right, I'm out of this joint," he declared, though he hopes it wasn't really goodbye.

Moments earlier, in the opposite corner of the locker room, Teddy Bridgewater, a rookie no longer, exchanged autographed jerseys with wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes, another one of the team's recent first-round picks, laughed as Bridgewater playfully squeezed into Patterson's jersey to model it.

Bridgewater said some goodbyes, knowing that he will see most, but not all, of his teammates in a few months.

"I think the toughest part is knowing that some of the guys around here won't be here next year and there are probably going to be some changes. That's just the nature of this business," Bridgewater said. "It's going to be exciting moving forward with this group of men and this coaching staff. It will be our second year together, and I'm looking forward to it."

Mood much different

The mood in the locker room at Winter Park was much different Monday than it was a year ago, when players were blinded by camera lights and bombarded with questions about the dismissal of former coach Leslie Frazier after a 5-10-1 season.

While their 7-9 record in 2014 was better but not drastically so, the vibe among the Vikings who are definitely in the team's plans for 2015 was much more upbeat as they cleaned out the lockers. With Bridgewater leading the huddle and coach Mike Zimmer leading everything else, players expressed optimism that this season was the first significant step toward legitimate title contention.

"I definitely feel like it's some light at the end of the tunnel," cornerback Captain Munnerlyn said. "These guys, man, we overcome a lot this year. A lot on and off the field, a lot of situations that we got put in, we overcome a lot. We kept fighting, we kept scratching. These guys in this locker room are very special."

NFL players do have tunnel vision, ideally focusing on their next opponent and little else. And even though they knew that Sunday's game, a 13-9 victory over Chicago, was their final game of the season, Monday still was jarring, as it signaled the abrupt end to the season and the players' insertion back into society, at least for a couple of months.

First thing in the morning, players attended the final team meeting of 2014. Zimmer's message was simple: 7-9 isn't where the Vikings want to be, but it's a good start, and if they work hard and stay out of trouble this offseason, they can get into the playoff picture next season.

The players then trickled into the locker room, where the equipment staff was packing away everything for 2015. Stacked on the floor were big black equipment bags labeled "Gatorade towels" and "purple winter caps." Dozens of pairs of black athletic socks hung on laundry carts to dry. Countless white shower towels were piled in another cart.

In each player's locker, a purple home jersey and a white away one was folded up for them to take home, along with their helmets and any other personal belongings.

"Oh, I can take this with me?" Bridgewater asked when a media relations staffer told him about the helmets.

Strong core returns

Bridgewater will be back this spring, as will most of the team's core. Of the players who were on the active roster, only 10 will be free agents (fullback Jerome Felton will make it 11 when he opts out of his contract in February). Quarterback Christian Ponder, defensive tackle Tom Johnson and middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley are among the notable unrestricted free agents.

The Vikings must also make decisions on a few aging starters under contract for 2015, most notably star running back Adrian Peterson. Left guard Charlie Johnson is not expected to return, and the futures for other veterans remain unclear.

No one's situation is cloudier than that of Greenway, who wants to finish his career with the Vikings but may have to take a significant pay cut to do so, if he is even given that option at all. But even as he walked out the door into single-digit temperatures and an uncertain future in Minneapolis, Greenway conceded that there is "a lot to be excited about" in the Vikings locker room.

"We are a young team with a lot of bright spots," Greenway said.