Eden Prairie, Minn. ? Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice was getting visibly annoyed.

Pestered one last time to answer how the Vikings’ offense would perform without standout receiver Randy Moss, Tice’s deep voice gradually began to rise.

“I want to make sure we all understand in the five games where there was an injury to (Moss) last year, our quarterback carried our football team, and we scored a lot of points,” Tice said. “We had a lot of offense, and we lost two games on last-second field goals. … We will not be a lesser offense.

“We will lose some (big) plays, absolutely and positively, but we have some players on our roster that can play football,” Tice continued. “And I’m an offensive head coach, and we’re going to be good on offense, I’ll promise you that.”

The Vikings offensive identity changed the minute Moss officially was traded to Oakland on Wednesday, ending his record-setting and headache-inducing seven years in purple.

Since he burst onto the scene as a rookie in 1998, one play has defined the high-scoring unit’s aggressive philosophy — going deep to Moss.

“We built our offense around him,” Tice acknowledged.

So now that the foundation of their exciting system is gone, what’s next?

“We will be excellent on offense,” Tice said. “That’s one thing I can stand here on March (3) and promise you. I know offense.”

Tice certainly has some evidence to back up his bold statements.

During a three-game stretch with Moss on the sideline because of a hamstring injury last season, Pro Bowl quarterback Daunte Culpepper completed 68 percent of his passes for 765 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception.

Receiver Nate Burleson emerged so impressively as a playmaker that Tice said he was confident Burleson could be the team’s No. 1 receiver this season.

Owner Red McCombs pointed to the sudden retirement of running back Robert Smith in 2000 while looking for a reason to be optimistic.

“I wouldn’t put him in the category of Randy, but when we lost Robert, and we didn’t have a clue we were going to lose him, our running game didn’t go in the tank,” McCombs said. “We’ve had some guys step up and do very well. If we look at Burleson’s games last year, his best games were when Randy was out.”

Replacing Moss will be made much easier, of course, if the Vikings can shore up their porous defense.

Despite the considerable success they had with and without Moss on offense, the Vikings have been kept short of their goals by their defense. Watching the unit let opponents drive for winning scores in the closing minutes too many times has led Tice to re-evaluate the makeup of his team.

“We feel like being No. 1 in offense, although it may make for more standing and cheering at the Metrodome, doesn’t necessarily help us win the world championship,” Tice said.