The 2011 NFL regular season is over and a 3-13 record has landed the Minnesota Vikings as far away from a trip to the playoffs as they could have imagined.

So now that the 2011 campaign has come to an end, the Vikings have their sights set on preparing for the 2012 season. Although free agency doesn’t start until the first week of March and they still have over four months before the 2012 NFL Draft, the Vikings made some of the only moves they could make to secure players for the future.

On Monday, the Vikings signed all seven of their practice squad players to reserve/future contracts. Once the regular season ended after their loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the Vikings had one week to sign members of their practice squad before they became free agents. With these signings, the Vikings have secured their seven young talents at least until the 2012 preseason.

Among those signings were wide receivers Kris Adams and Kerry Taylor, guards Chris DeGeare and Butch Lewis, cornerback Reggie Jones, linebacker Tyrone McKenzie and tight end Allen Reisner. Terms of the contracts were not disclosed.

The only one of these seven players to see the field this season for the Vikings was Reisner. Although he enjoyed two stints on the Vikings’ practice squad in 2011, Reisner also appeared in six games and caught one pass for five yards.

DeGeare is the only other player besides Reisner that was signed today who has seen game day action in the NFL. Drafted by Vikings in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL Draft out of Wake Forest, DeGeare played in eight games (five starts) throughout the 2010 season.

McKenzie was a third-round selection by the New England Patriots in 2009 and spent the 2010 season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jones spent his rookie 2010 season with both the New Orleans Saints and Washington Redskins. The rest of the Vikings signees were all rookies this past season.

These seven players will all be around when the Vikings open up team workouts in a few months with the opportunity to earn a roster spot for the 2012 season.

Gil Alcaraz IV is a life-long follower of the Minnesota Vikings and the founder of TheVikingDen.com. For more Vikings/NFL coverage, follow him on Twitter or “like” The Viking Den on Facebook.

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I know I sound like a broken record, but I’m going to use this line again. The injuries continue to pile up for the Minnesota Vikings as this 2011 season continues to wind towards its disappointing end.

This past Sunday, when the Vikings lost 42-20 to the New Orleans Saints, veteran guard Steve Hutchinson went down with a concussion that could potentially sideline him for the final two games of the season.

In hopes of healing the wounds that the injury bug has left behind, the Vikings signed former USC guard Butch Lewis to their practice squad on Tuesday, Dec. 20. This, however, isn’t Lewis’ first go-around with the Vikings.

After going undrafted in the 2011 NFL Draft, Lewis spent training camp with the Kansas City Chiefs and was signed to their practice squad shortly after failing to make the final cuts for the 53-man active roster. Throughout the first month of the regular season, he was on and off of their practice squad before getting the final axe from the Chiefs on Oct. 6.

On Oct. 26, the Vikings signed Lewis to their practice squad in hopes of providing some depth to their heavily-depleted offensive line. He remained a part of the Vikings’ practice squad up until a week ago when he was waived to make room for two new additions to the team’s wide receiver corps.

Now back with the Vikings, Lewis will work as an extra body along the offensive line for the team to take advantage of throughout the week. Although it’s unlikely that he’ll see the field in the next two weeks, there’s potential to earn himself a training camp invite when the Vikings begin work for the 2012 season.

Lewis will join fellow guard Chris DeGeare as the Vikings’ two practice squad offensive linemen.

In order to make room for Lewis, the Vikings have subtracted wide receiver Owen Spencer from the practice squad. Spencer, who was one of the wide receivers signed when the Vikings initially waived Lewis, is an undrafted rookie out of North Carolina State. He was brought in along with fellow undrafted rookie wide receiver Kris Adams, but apparently didn’t do enough to earn another week with the team.

Only two weeks to go until this nightmare of a season is over.

Gil Alcaraz IV is a life-long follower of the Minnesota Vikings and the founder of TheVikingDen.com. For more Vikings/NFL coverage, follow him on Twitter or “like” The Viking Den on Facebook.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Feel free to leave your comments below.

Fifty years ago, Fran Tarkenton was the rookie quarterback for the inaugural Minnesota Vikings, a team that won just three games that season.

Fifty years later, Tarkenton isn’t giving up on current Vikings rookie quarterback Christian Ponder after a few rough weeks.

Tarkenton said he struggled as a rookie, too — and so did Peyton Manning.

“Christian Ponder is fine,” Tarkenton said. “Leave him alone. He’ll grow. He’ll make mistakes. He’ll learn from the mistakes. He’ll get better next year.”

Among the other highlights in this week’s TwinCities.com video:

– Tarkenton said if the Vikings somehow manage to get the No. 1 overall pick, that would be great for the franchise. Should they draft Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck? Only if the organization believes he is the better choice than Ponder for the future of the team. Should they keep both Luck and Ponder? No. Is Ponder a good quarterback? Yes. Should they trade the No. 1 pick?
That, Tarkenton said, might end up being the best option.
“Maybe you trade the No. 1 pick to get three No. 1s. … The best thing is to get the most, best football players in Minnesota,” he said.

– Tarkenton said he appreciates running back Adrian Peterson’s character, and his decision to come back Sunday after missing three weeks with a high ankle sprain, but wonders if playing right now on a 2-12 team is wise.
“I’d like to see him just take a rest,” Tarkenton said. “I’d like to see him stay healthy.

Editor’s note: Fran Tarkenton is a former quarterback with the Minnesota Vikings and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He also is an advocate for small businesses and the founder of OneMoreCustomer.com. Now Tarkenton adds the title of Vikings analyst for TwinCities.com and the Pioneer Press.

Minnesota Vikings Christian Ponder prepares to pass the football in first half action against the New Orleans Saints December 18, 2011 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. (Pioneer Press: Chris Polydoroff) (Chris Polydoroff)

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The Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints don’t have much in common this season. The Vikings are going nowhere and may record the worst record in franchise history; the Saints have already clinched a playoff spot.

But in one regard the team’s are similar: both have defenses that have thus far been much better against the run than the pass. That seems odd at first blush, given most of the top teams in the NFL – Green Bay, New England and New Orleans to name three – are built around a passing attack.

Allen conceded the game isn’t the same he grew up with, and that the battle along the line of scrimmage revolves more around the defensive line getting penetration than it does holding a wall. And Allen himself has made a name for himself by getting to the quarterback, leading the NFL with 100.5 sacks since 2004.

But that does not mean stopping the run isn’t the top priority, in his opinion. Echoing comments Saints Coach Sean Payton made last week, Allen said the goal each Sunday is making an opponent one-dimensional.

The Vikings have the league’s 18th best mark in total defense, while the Saints have slid from 25th to 27th overall in the last two weeks. But both teams have largely stifled the run, with the Saints sporting the league’s 15th best rushing defense and the Vikings the 9th.

Certainly that mix has worked for New Orleans. The Saints have surrendered fewer than 20 points the last two games and won both, while the Vikings lost their last two giving up 69 points. The teams are also tracking in different directions as the 2011 season enters the homestretch. New Orleans is riding a five-game win streak while Minnesota has lost five in a row.

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