When it comes to the Minnesota Vikings, I’m a passionate man.I’ve been a big backer of the purple and gold for as long as I can remember, and my devotion to the team is something that I can proudly say has rubbed off on every member of my family.It was a tough sell at first, but I consider one of my biggest conquests to be converting my wife (Astrid) of 11 years into a die-hard Vikings fan."What do you watch those losers for, anyway," she said, early in our marriage.Then, with one trip to the dome for a Sunday night game against the Philadelphia Eagles, a Minnesota victory turned my skeptical partner around. She now wears Viking purple every Sunday during the football season, and taking her to a home game every year has become an autumn ritual.Brain-washing the children was easier.All we had to do was buy a couple of Randy Moss jerseys, and our 11 year old was hooked. Nick might try to tell a different story, but the tears that fell from his eyes were real when the Vikings lost the NFC North Division championship to the Green Bay Packers last Christmas Eve.As far as our 3-year-old goes, she had no choice in the matter of becoming a Minnesota football fan. Melanie was wearing a Vikings sleeper before she turned 1, and she now dons a Daunte Culpepper jersey every game day. Behind the instruction of my converted wife, the girl knows every word of the Vikings’ fight song, and I’ve heard her reciting it at times in the middle of the night.My family is devoted to the Vikings 100 percent, but the problem is convincing myself that Minnesota will fare any better on the field in 2005 than it has in recent years.Sure, they have brought some experience to the defense by signing free agents Darren Sharper, Fred Smoot, Pat Williams and Sam Cowert, but I doubt trading Moss to Oakland (the deal included Minnesota acquiring linebacker Napolean Harris) was the right thing to do.I admit some of his antics were immature and boorish, but the fact remains that Moss is the most dangerous offensive weapon in the game today.With him, we fielded an offensive team that could score points from anywhere on the field. Without him, I think we’ll be an average offensive team at best. We were 4-1 when Moss went down with a serious hamstring injury in New Orleans last season, and we were 6-4 when he returned from the injury.Other than being fast, I don’t know anything about Troy Williamson, the South Carolina wide receiver Minnesota drafted with the seventh pick they received from Oakland in the Moss deal. All of the so-called experts say Williamson will be a deep threat in the NFL, but that remains to be seen.The fact is, Moss is a proven deep threat who also made plays with great hands and outstanding jumping ability. In my opinion Moss made a mistake-prone quarterback in Daunte Culpepper (his record as a starting quarterback the last four seasons is 26-33) look good.I’m also concerned with how our new defense will perform next fall. With a projected six new starters (seven, if first-round pick Erasmus James cracks the starting lineup) on the defensive side of the ball, I can’t imagine team continuity was at the top of the organization’s wish list during the off-season.Whenever an area high school team loses a lot of players to graduation, the coach always says it will take time for the team to jell. If that’s true, how can someone expect Minnesota’s defense to operate like a cohesive unit with more than one-half of the starters entering a new system led by unfamiliar coaches.Don’t take this the wrong way, because my loyalty to the Minnesota Vikings will not be compromised this fall.My wife and I are planning to take in the Sept. 27 home game against New Orleans, and nothing would make us enjoy the weekend more than a victory for the purple and gold.But, as a Vikings fan for years, I’ve experienced my share of disappointments while following this team. And when I heard the so-called experts say the Vikings are the favorite to win the NFC North and will be a trendy pick to reach the super bowl, all I could to is shake my head in disbelief.