Bodog Beat

Adrian Peterson averaged more than 100 yards rushing per game in his first two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. (AP Images)

Not all of the big offseason news regarding the Minnesota Vikings revolves around a former Packers and Jets quarterback.

The strength of the Vikings the past few years has been their run defense, no offense to the incomparable Adrian Peterson. It has been Minnesota, not Baltimore and not Pittsburgh, that has led the NFL in rushing defense the past two seasons – holding opposing teams to under 80.0 yards per game in 2007 and 2008.

Thus the suspensions of defensive tackles and space-fillers Kevin Williams and Pat Williams (no relation) could be key to the Vikes’ NFC North hopes this season. The NFL suspended both of them last season four games each for a positive drug test for a banned substance, but they got an injunction to keep playing.

Without boring you with the legal details, the players have been fighting the suspensions since then, saying NFL officials knew a weight-loss supplement that they took contained a banned substance.

A federal judge recently threw out most of the claims of the Williamses but did rule that the NFL’s policy is clear: Players are responsible for what they put in their bodies, and inadvertently ingesting a banned substance is not an excuse.

But the judge also sent the case back to state court in Minnesota for long-winded legal reasons. Long story short: The NFL is more confident than ever that its suspension will be upheld and that the injunction allowing the Williamses to keep playing will be overturned.

Why does this matter to bettors? The Vikes are currently 16/1 odds to win Super Bowl XLIV on Bodog. But if their star tackles miss the first four games, the team could find itself in a hole in the division and thus in a hole for any potential home-field advantage in the playoffs. Hey, four games is 25 percent of the season!

Minnesota opens at Cleveland and Detroit and then hosts San Francisco and Green Bay. With the Williamses playing, the Vikes could start 4-0. Without them, 2-2 and even 1-3 is not impossible.

Get all your NFL futures betting at the Bodog Sportsbook.