... immediately began the fight to turn around an embarrassing franchise. There is little doubt that the team which was the NFL's joke pile in the early years of the new millennium stands in stark contrast to the Minnesota Vikings of 2009.

Specifically, the Vikings defense has vaulted from an historically abhorrent ineptness to one of the most feared units on the field today.

However, as evidenced by two poor first-half showings early in the 2009 season, fighting to the top is the easy part; maintaining excellence is the real test of a champion.

Granted, it's hard to get all fired up going into games featuring two opponents with a combined total of four wins in the previous season. But lackluster performance is ...

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