Welcome to the most important week of the summer.
Returning to Winter Park for a 1 p.m. practice today, the Vikings have reached the part of their preseason where more than baby steps are required to keep the pace.
Coach Leslie Frazier will treat this week more like he would a regular-season game. Practices will have a regular-season tempo, there will be specific game-planning for the Cowboys, and the starters will play into the second half on Saturday night at Mall of America Field. How long they play hasn't been determined, but coaches always mark the third preseason game as the one in which starters get reacquainted with returning to the field for the second half.
As far as baby steps to get to this point, the Vikings deserve a passing grade, all things considered. The defense was stifling in Saturday night's 20-7 win at Seattle, while the offense showed some rhythm after a slow start. Yes, the offense still hasn't scored a touchdown, but that 81-yard drive from inside their 1-yard line was impressive, especially considering it came without Percy Harvin (ribs) and Visanthe Shiancoe (hamstring), two major parts of a new offense still taking its baby steps.
Possibly the most unexpected observation to this point is how comfortable new quarterback Donovan McNabb has looked with a little more than two weeks in the offense. He's been decisive, sharp on the short and intermediate passes, threw a nice longer pass to Michael Jenkins and has shown he still can move around in the pocket.
So as we head into the big-boy steps part of the preseason, I wouldn't put McNabb among the top five concerns at this point. Here are my top five:
1, The offensive line.
Most coaches want their starting five in place by the third preseason game. The Vikings are unsettled up front, to say the least. They still don't know who their right guard is. Their left tackle looks like a guard and made a major mistake that gave Seahawks DE Raheem Brock an open path to McNabb. That can't happen. Not to a 34-year-old QB who hasn't survived all 16 games since 2004. The O-line is easily the biggest concern on this team.