Vikes thread!

[dutchboy]

I haven't seen any former Wild players lighting the NHL up.

Is what it is. Even if I win Powerball I won't have enough to buy a team so i'll just whine online.   

[Steve-o]

I think Zim wants to get fired. 

[LPS]

Can't say that I think Zim is a good judge of talent anymore.  We dumped some players that are doing just fine on other teams.  The common denominator is Zim. 

[Steve-o]

Its that time of year, Vikings fans!!!  The season isn't over, but Your Purple and Gold have been eliminated.  All we can do now is look forward to the draft.   

The Vikings Draft Order Scenarios  This article has way too many words - a lot like me, but the bottom line is this.

They are at #12 now.

If they loose to Da Bears  next week and some other things happen, then might move to 11 or 10.  If everything goes their way - and it won't - they could move up no farther than 8th.

If they win - and why would they? - they will still probably stay where they are.  Worst case is they move down to 14.

[LPS]

I have a hard time putting up with PA's ego but I do listen to KFAN for Vikes news.  His guests are good and he should shut the ___ up and let them talk.  Today was a press conference with Zim.  In his last two conferences the questions dried up before the end of the allotted time.  Today someone asked if he was going to play some rookies so we can see how they do since the game didn't mean much.  All he said was "no".  There were no more questions. 

[Steve-o]

Opinion: It's Time for the Minnesota Vikings to Fire Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman

... Then came the Cousins era and four years of mind-boggling mediocrity...

This is a pretty good Sports Illustrated piece that sums up Zim's tenure with The Purple.  Its not very long to read.

[LPS]

I will read it.  This morning they were giving stats on the Defense and the last 4 years I think they have been at their lowest rating.  Coincidently it is the same years Quirk has been here.  I suppose all the money he costs prevented us from keeping a balanced team.  We may have been much better with a journeyman QB and have the rest of the team in good shape

[Steve-o]

Look what happened to Seattle...  All was good when Russell was on his rookie contract.  After "he got paid" they couldn't afford as many skilled veteran players, they fell back into mediocrity, and now Russell wants to go to a winning team.   

The Chiefs had to pay Mahomes too.  They have a good record this year, but in some of the games they started to show some vulnerability.  We'll have to see if they start to slide in the next couple of years or maybe they figure out how to pay a QB top dollar and still find other young, cheap talent elsewhere.

[glenn57]

I will read it.  This morning they were giving stats on the Defense and the last 4 years I think they have been at their lowest rating.  Coincidently it is the same years Quirk has been here.  I suppose all the money he costs prevented us from keeping a balanced team.  We may have been much better with a journeyman QB and have the rest of the team in good shape

yeah, can you say Case Kennem

[mike89]

read today Capt Kirk wants to finish his career in Minn..

[LPS]

    Well if it ends soon that would be ok.

[birdswacker]

read today Capt Kirk wants to finish his career in Minn..

Ha that’s funny!!!
Everyone in MN wants him gone!

[mike89]

read today Capt Kirk wants to finish his career in Minn..

Ha that’s funny!!!
Everyone in MN wants him gone!

yup I agree with that too!!! 

[mike89]

https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-sports/cousins-fresh-off-bout-with-covid-says-he-wants-to-finish-his-career-with-the-vikings

here's what I seen... 

[dutchboy]

read today Capt Kirk wants to finish his career in Minn..

Ha that’s funny!!!
Everyone in MN wants him gone!

I don't, well at least until somebody can show me somebody better that they sign.

[fishwidow]

read today Capt Kirk wants to finish his career in Minn..

Why wouldn’t he?  Relatively easy to have good stats when the longest pass you throw is four yards and you never need to expose yourself to risk. The money is good and the performance expectations are pretty low. No need to show leadership.
Besides, the only teams that would be interested aren’t likely to be going anywhere in the remaining years of his career.
There’s too much money tied up in a handful of players on this team. No room left to build any depth.When the big money guys are out because of injury or Covid the lack of quality backup is very apparent.

[Leech~~]

read today Capt Kirk wants to finish his career in Minn..

Ha that’s funny!!!
Everyone in MN wants him gone!

I don't, well at least until somebody can show me somebody better that they sign.

  Actually, his stats aren't all that bad. It would be interesting to see if he could do better with new coaches and game plan. 

[Jerkbiat]

I will read it.  This morning they were giving stats on the Defense and the last 4 years I think they have been at their lowest rating.  Coincidently it is the same years Quirk has been here.  I suppose all the money he costs prevented us from keeping a balanced team.  We may have been much better with a journeyman QB and have the rest of the team in good shape

yeah, can you say Case Kennem

Wish I could like that a 1000 times Glenn. That is what I always said.

[Steve-o]

read today Capt Kirk wants to finish his career in Minn..

Why wouldn’t he?  Relatively easy to have good stats when the longest pass you throw is four yards and you never need to expose yourself to risk. The money is good and the performance expectations are pretty low. No need to show leadership.
Besides, the only teams that would be interested aren’t likely to be going anywhere in the remaining years of his career.
There’s too much money tied up in a handful of players on this team. No room left to build any depth.When the big money guys are out because of injury or Covid the lack of quality backup is very apparent.

Spot on. 

You know, Kapt Kirk has the arm to heave balls down field, and despite his "gosh, golly, gee aw shucks" style - and I think he is willing do fling it when told to do so.  It's just that he must be afraid Zim will yell at him if he changes the play at the line.  Jefferson and Thielen are great receivers and the Vikes should be throwing deep 50/50 balls to them all the time, but that goes against Zim's grain.  How many times in the past several weeks have we seen the Vikes secondary torched by the "slightly underthrown" deep ball.  Its indefensible.  When the receiver slows down, the defender runs into him - pass interference.  And heck, a lot of times those quys catch the ball anyway.

Remember when Spielman first came in?     His first job was to cut popular aging veterans with big salaries.  They weren't washed up yet, but they were expensive and Spielman was committed to starting over.  Those guys he cut were NOT Spielman's players and now the shoe is on the other foot.  I think we've seen with the defense that he and/or Zim are unwilling to do that.  They tied up a lot of money on older players, "their guys", who get hurt and don't play.

[Gunner55]

Look what happened to Seattle...  All was good when Russell was on his rookie contract.  After "he got paid" they couldn't afford as many skilled veteran players, they fell back into mediocrity, and now Russell wants to go to a winning team.   

The Chiefs had to pay Mahomes too.  They have a good record this year, but in some of the games they started to show some vulnerability.  We'll have to see if they start to slide in the next couple of years or maybe they figure out how to pay a QB top dollar and still find other young, cheap talent elsewhere.

These guys seemed to have a blueprint on how to do it but nobody else seems to be able to duplicate it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brady%e2%80%93Belichick_era

[Steve-o]

Look what happened to Seattle...  All was good when Russell was on his rookie contract.  After "he got paid" they couldn't afford as many skilled veteran players, they fell back into mediocrity, and now Russell wants to go to a winning team.   

The Chiefs had to pay Mahomes too.  They have a good record this year, but in some of the games they started to show some vulnerability.  We'll have to see if they start to slide in the next couple of years or maybe they figure out how to pay a QB top dollar and still find other young, cheap talent elsewhere.

These guys seemed to have a blueprint to do it but nobody else seems to be able to duplcate it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brady%e2%80%93Belichick_era

Indeed.

Belichick will go down as the greatest head football coach in history.  Why?  Yes, because of Tom Brady, but Belichick was always builds his roster and adapts his game plans to the the players he has.  He changes his scheme on a game-by-game basis to exploit the opponent's weakness and cover his own.  .500 record coaches like Zimmer and Brad "Chili" Childress are inflexible and insist their players adapt to their schemes.  Their results speak for themselves.

I don't know if Brady was ever the highest paid QB in the league, but he has been the best for a very long time.  And he didn't get to that plateau solely because of his talent and experience (which helps), but rather because his work ethic and leadership demands everyone try harder and become better.  I didn't get the impression that any Vikings 2nd string cornerbacks tried any harder because they were in awe of Kapt. Kirk's gravitas.

P.S.  The other thing Belichick has a knack for is trading/cutting skilled veteran players one year too early rather than one year too late.  This way he maximizes trade values and avoids giving contract extensions to older players who tend to get hurt more and play less. 

[Gunner55]

I agree, & I think TB12 actually renegotiated his deal to free up some cap space at least a couple times in order for them to be able to go get some FA's in areas the team needed help with. He easily could've demanded more $ but he knew if he did it would probably hurt the team's chances of winning another SB. I'm also pretty sure 1 of the last times he redid his deal was when he actually went to Kraft with the idea himself.

[dutchboy]

New England sprinkles in a couple of studs on defense to compliment the guys who are just below star status. That keeps the over-all defense high while not pouring the financial resources all into the defense. On offense it's the same. Other than Brady & Moss they never had any #1 studs. But their O line was all near the top without costing the top tier money. Same with running backs & tight ends.

Belichick would rather have 6 second round draft choices than 2 or 3 first rounders. Spielman on the other hand likes to stockpile fourth thru sixth round choices.

[Gunner55]

Belichick, himself, credits what he learned as a DC under Parcells with the NYG for much of his success as a HC in the NFL. His ability to change his defense or even invent a new 1 to take away the other teams offensive strength is 1 of the main reasons for his success IMO. Josh Daniels does much the same only in reverse, looks for a weakness & then exploits it, as OC for them.

[Steve-o]

Belichick, himself, credits what he learned as a DC under Parcells with the NYG for much of his success as a HC in the NFL. His ability to change his defense or even invent a new 1 to take away the other teams offensive strength is 1 of the main reasons for his success IMO. Josh Daniels does much the same only in reverse, looks for a weakness & then exploits it, as OC for them.

Didn't ol' Zimmy also "study" under Parcells?    

[dutchboy]

There is a difference between studying & learning.   

[LPS]

Would sure like to see Josh Daniels for our coach.

[dutchboy]

Would sure like to see Josh Daniels for our coach.

I agree. I think it's been proven he had the right idea in Denver. He just maybe didn't go about it in the right manner. I think he would clean the ship from top to bottom and want to rebuild with "his" players & coaches. Would the fans here go for a complete rebuild? It wouldn't bother me but some guys get pretty wrapped up in their football.

[Steve-o]

Would sure like to see Josh Daniels for our coach.

I agree. I think it's been proven he had the right idea in Denver. He just maybe didn't go about it in the right manner. I think he would clean the ship from top to bottom and want to rebuild with "his" players & coaches. Would the fans here go for a complete rebuild? It wouldn't bother me but some guys get pretty wrapped up in their football.

It didn't take long for the fans to get behind Spielman and Zim's rebuilding plan when they came in.

And I don't know if Josh Daniels is available.  If the Patriot's owner Kraft gave Daniels "the promise" to be the next head coach - that is as good as being one of the family as far as Kraft is concerned.

[roony]

I like his dad Jack.