Draft day seemed to go well for our purple. It appeared they got game-breaker Percy Harvin and a bulldozer for their line in offensive tackle Phil Loadholt. The Viking faithful are talking playoffs going beyond the first game.

The water cooler talk, for those who still have jobs, is that the team now has a superb complementary player for running back Adrian Peterson. They forget the Vikings still have the same coach in Brad (let’s take a knee before halftime) Childress.

But let’s go a little deeper into the Vikings’ psyche. What does Percy Harvin mean to the team chances for a championship? One wonders, when you look at his past history. It makes you question whether Harvin will be much of an asset to the team. Evidently winning has become the be-all and end-all for coach Childress. As well it should be, for owner Zygi Wilf may be running out of patience. In spite of the espoused remake of the team in the image of Wilf’s book of behavior, Childress drafted Harvin. Percy has had difficulty with his temper leading to his suspension from participation during high school. He fell to the Vikings at No. 22 as the other teams were not willing to take on the oft-injured, temperamental star and the chemistry problems he might bring to their team.

Harvin had a positive drug test, and a Wonderlic test of 12 at the NFL combine. The average is 20 and wide receivers’ average 17. The Wonderlic measures intelligence, learning and problem solving. The results of Harvin’s Wonderlic did not reach the sports pages, at least those that I saw. Now it could well be that Harvin had a bad day and he is a bright person with great football sense. I don’t know.

It appears that Childress has drafted a supremely talented, temperamental, low achiever, at least on the Wonderlic. I would expect his first year may be his best as he will be the new kid on the block, minding his manners trying to fit in. Perhaps I am being overly critical and he will be the second coming of Jerry Rice. However one can only go on his past history which is spotty at best.

There is no question that Harvin brings a boatload of ability to the Vikings and it could be that Childress will be able to mold him into a formidable asset. But Childress’s past performance does not inspire a lot of confidence.

You remember Duante Culpepper, a player with a low ego according to reports. Childress evidently felt there was a head bull struggle and made sure Culpepper did not win. He got rid of Culpepper who tried to come back too soon and injured himself again. We forget that prior to blowing out his knee Culpepper was a pro-bowler and perhaps could have been again. He wouldn’t have had much difficulty in matching Childress’s recent quarterbacks.

Culpepper to Moss was a terrific combination which Childress may be trying to replicate with Rosenfels to Harvin. Analysts are also saying that Randy Moss came with some baggage and look how he turned out. Yes, indeed, in exchange for all his wonderful freakish talent he quit on the field, hurt team chemistry and contributed to Dennis Green resignation. The Moss experience, love boat and other incidents provided the Vikings with a persona they are still trying to live down.

Our Vikings were at one time a small time religion in Minnesota. People ran around with Viking flags on their cars and lots wore jackets and sweatshirts. Not so much anymore and the team had trouble selling out a playoff game last year. Minnesotans are a forgiving bunch, but we can only go so far and when the team gets rid of a Matt Birk, a good man and drafts another possible Randy Moss, it may have stretched our quality of mercy too far.