When news first broke last night that Minnesota wide receiver Sidney Rice was potentially looking at undergoing surgery to repair his injured hip, the Vikings, who have dreams of Super Bowl trophies dancing in their heads, were sent reeling, looking for options to replace his production that on paper would seem to be a shot in the dark at best.

Given Rice’s status as the go to receiver for quarterback Brett Favre last season, there’s little doubt that having him out of the lineup for a half season or worse will be a major blow to Minnesota’s offense, and while the Vikings still have weapons to work with, his loss is about as bad as it could get right now.

The situation has been made much worse with the continued migraines of wide receiver Percy Harvin taking their toll, likely knocking him out of the starting 11 for the early part of the season while he looks for answers to his medical issues.

The Vikings quickly moved to address their projected deficiencies in the receiving corps yesterday afternoon, agreeing to a deal with oft-injured and well traveled receiver Javon Walker. While that signing isn’t likely to do much to help right away, if Walker is healthy, he’ll provide a reasonable option for Favre to work with, aside from Bernard Berrian and tight end Visanthe Shiancoe.

As for Rice, the decision to have surgery or not is still taking  place behind closed doors with the Vikings and the team doctors, and while the possibility remains that he’ll be able to play through the injury, doing so could end up making the situation worse in the long run if he aggravates it any further.

That alone will likely be enough to convince Rice and the Vikings to stick with surgery now in an effort to cut off any future problems at the knee, rather than risk having him be lost for the entire season if not more. But for the time being, all options are still on the table, and there’s no doubt Minnesota will do what’s best for the team in the long run.

As always, we’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available.

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