Years of neglecting the defense finally caught up to the Minnesota Vikings. Whoever took over for Dennis Green had an impossible assignment.

That's where Mike Tice is winning points as the Vikings head coach. Though the record is 2-7, Tice has a young roster working hard and showing progress. But, in rebuilding processes, those positives may not show in the win-loss record until the next season.

Tice's situation isn't that much different from Gregg Williams in Buffalo and Dave McGinnis in Arizona. In their first seasons, they had to virtually build defenses from scratches, one of the hardest processes in the salary-cap era. Playmakers on defense are hard to find unless the team is willing to overpay in free agency. Head coaches in places like Buffalo, Arizona, Cincinnati and Minnesota don't have that luxury.

Still, Tice has a plan and it appears that owner Red McCombs will let him follow it into next season, provided the franchise is not sold and massive turnovers in the front office occur.

	Tice had a lot of things to fix when he took over the Vikings.

"The best thing I can say about the Vikings is the players," Tice said. "They are working hard. They believe in what we are trying to do. We understand that we can't continue to make the mistakes we are making, but we are busting our butts."

Tice started the season by turning over 27 of the team's 53 players from last year's 5-11 squad. The only true playmaker on defense Tice could build around was defensive tackle Chris Hovan, an overachiever in the mold of a John Randle. The linebacking corps and the secondary stacked up as one of the weakest in football. Last year, the Vikings gave up 24.4 points a game, 4.8 yards a carry and 210 passing yards a game.

He put his biggest resources on the defensive line, signing former Dolphins Kenny Mixon and Lorenzo Bromell and keeping Lance Johnstone at defensive end. He also hired a teaching defensive coordinator in Willie Shaw. Through different experimenting, Shaw and Tice found different ways to create pressure. Mixon moved to defensive tackle on some passing downs and combined with Hovan to get inside pressure while Bromell and Johnstone applied some pressure from the outside.

Still, the forecast for the linebacking corps and the secondary was going to take time because the rest of the unit was so young.

"Ronnie Bradford has done well at free safety, and we found Henri Crockett the right niche when we moved him to weakside outside linebacker," Tice said. "We have a lot of young players. Brian Williams (a fourth-round choice) isn't starting but he's going to be a good, young cornerback. A couple weeks ago, he was special teams players of the week. Willie Offord (a third-rounder) has had a tough time but he's got potential. Nick Rogers, our sixth-rounder at linebacker, is one of our rubies."

For a defense surrendering 28.5 points a game, a coach can only speak about the positives. The Vikings don't match up against most opponents at cornerback and the difficulty of not being able to risk too many blitzes make it tough for hang in games.

McGinnis and Williams were making similar comments a year ago. This year, the Bills and the Cardinals made improvements even though each team knew the buildup was going to take more than two years. Revamping a defense isn't easy.

"On defense, we are one of the better teams on third down, one of the better teams in third-and-one conversions," Tice said. "We are good in stopping teams in the red zone and we are among the best is losing yardage for teams running the football. We're one of the best in tackles behind the line of scrimmage."

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR NEXT YEAR

1. The Vikings will concentrate their first couple of choices in the NFL draft on defense. The prime need is a shutdown cornerback, but the team will still need to find another starter through free agency. That could allow Mike Tice to move smart cornerback Corey Chavous to safety if there is enough depth at corner. Another impact linebacker with speed will help. 2. The Vikings upgraded the receiving unit with D'Wayne Bates, but Derrick Alexander didn't work out as a deep threat to take pressure off Randy Moss. A third-round choice might be the answer that can be developed as a third receiver and eventual starter. 3. The Vikings need to spend a couple of middle-round choices on offensive linemen. The unit has good run blockers, but some better athletes along the line may help improve the pass blocking. — John Clayton

Jeff Garcia and Peyton Manning understand how bad defenses make it tough on quarterbacks, and Daunte Culpepper is finding the same problem. Ask a quarterback to score 29 points a game to be able to win, and you usually find a quarterback among the league-leaders in interceptions. To keep even with opponents, quarterbacks with undermanned defenses force throws.

Last Sunday, Culpepper found himself on the bench in the second half because of the mistakes, but he remains the team's quarterback. It's forced Tice to work with his offensive staff in adjusting the play-calling. In turning over the roster, Tice didn't have the freedom to spend big on the offensive line and the owner's decision to hold tough in negotiations on first-round choice Bryant McKinnie left him without a great pass blocker at left tackle for 100 days.

For talent, the Vikings line is decent in run-blocking situations, but not strong in pass blocking sets. McKinnie, who played 41 snaps Sunday, will help that equation.

"We've tried to move the pocket for Daunte," Tice said. "We've tried to repeat plays more and get into more rhythmic play calls."

Tice has tried to get Culpepper through some lack of confidence with his pass blocking, which is causing him to throw more interceptions. Culpepper tends to hold onto the ball a little longer than normal trying to make plays. That leads to turnovers.

One regret Tice has was making the Randy Moss ratio so public. Moss has 56 receptions for 649 yards and three touchdowns. Whether it was made public or not, more than 30 percent of Culpepper's throws were heading in Moss' directions anyway. Tice made it known that the Vikings usually won when Moss had 40 percent of the action in his direction.

The attention to throwing passes to Moss threw off Culpepper in his decision-making. He forced too many throws, some leading to interceptions.

"We don't talk about the Randy Ratio anymore," Tice said. "It was a hype thing. It got players pumped up."

More importantly, tough, it got Moss more involved in the leadership role of this team. That was one of Tice's biggest successes this season. Sure, Moss is controversial, but he is liked in the locker room and he is still maturing.

"We are trying to develop a lot of young players on this team," Tice said. "Culpepper and Moss are still young. Michael Bennett is coming on at running back. Jim Kleinsasser has been sensation at tight end. Matt Birk is a great young center."

Whoever took over for Green would have suffered a similar fate in the standings, but he might not have had the patience to deal with developing a young team. And the biggest thing in Tice's favor is that the players have supported him in his efforts as a first-year coach.

"We're finishing plays in practice and we're finishing plays in games," Tice said.

It wasn't going to be a one-year turnaround in Minnesota.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.