Somebody has to answer for that performance today. The Vikings were pathetic tackling, pathetic scheming on defense (and offense) and it was as nonprofessional performance as I’ve seen from the Vikings since the forgettable season of Les Steckel.
I know you have extended your general manager and head coach. I know they have two or three years left on their contracts. I know, and Vikings fans know, and you both know that the Vikings have been pretty much mediocre during the Rick and Mike Show. A playoff appearance here, another one two seasons later and a third one last year. They’ve had almost seven years, and after six years and 15 games, they laid down on national television and allowed a team to score 52 points on them, the most against the Vikings since 1963.
I’ve been a Vikings fan since Brett Fevre came over from Green Bay. Granted, there are Vikings fans who have suffered far longer than me. But it’s not the length of the suffering that matters, it’s the in the moment suffering. Mike Zimmer’s teams know they can’t beat good teams, teams with winning records. Who wants to digest this oatmeal enterprise again next year? Are you really going to ask fans to buy into the eighth season of the Rick and Mike Show?
The depth of the defensive and offensive lines is nonexistent. Rick Speilman is responsible for putting together a quality roster. There is quality in spots, but it is riddled with average to below average backups that cannot start. Yes, the Vikings have had injuries. What team hasn’t?
Firing Speilman and Zimmer the day after the Detroit game next week won’t count against the cap or anything else. You’ll have to eat their salaries, but nobody put guns to your heads telling you to extend Speilman and Zimmer. That mistake is on the Wilf family. The Wilfs are ultimately responsible for the entertainment on the field, and after seven years, the Vikings are predictably boring and they cannot beat teams with winning records. How much more do you have to see? How much more do fans have to watch?
Do the right thing. Clean house. Mike Zimmer is about my age. He’s a relic. So is Kubiak. The game has passed them by. Find a hungry GM who is intelligent and creative, and let’s take the first steps toward winning a Super Bowl.
Send a message after the season ends. Give fans new leadership, and a general manager who knows its smart to draft a quarterback every year.
Just listened to the podcast with you and Paul. Completely agree with Paul’s take on how this is the way Zimmer constructed this team and defense with all the roster moves. He needs to be held responsible for this. Kinda funny how he never accepts blame and just says this is a “bad” defense and all the good players are hurt. Not a good way to send a message to the fans or the players on the team for years to come. I would feel a little better if he explained the struggles and maintained a positive attitude about this defense having issues.
Can we talk about Zimmer’s horrendous clock management all season and burning timeouts at worst time when you are playing from behind. He coaches like we are up 10pts each game when they are behind...it’s like he thinks the defense is top 5 still when Alabama would light up this defense this year
As always, great read Matthew 😊 I wrote a great deal a few posts ago, in response to the Chicago game, about no longer being a Zimmer apologist and no longer believing in Kubiac – Zimmer offense. I called the season record as 8-8 at the beginning of the season and we’re going to be worse. Today on the podcast you had Courtney do a pie chart of blame. I thoroughly enjoy the dialogue between the two of you. Here’s my take, much of the related rationale was posted previously:
1. Signings – Cousins the worst, followed by Zimmer. The price of Cousins coupled with his yo-yo play and Zimmer’s run run run offensive demand with no reasonable adjustment absolutely entrenched hard-headedness that even a casual fan can see results in a deficit. Theilen, Jefferson, and Smith are being underutilized to a ridiculous degree. Part of that is Cousins in-game and part Zimmer in a run-first regardless philosophy;
2. No preseason and injuries – You can’t expect those young players to click into a dumbed-down Zimmer defense who’s forced to dumb it down because you are missing your starting DE, NT, a CB who is a bust because of injuries, that additionally results in being forced to play all rookie CB including dragging less than marginal players off the street to join an entirely subpar, nearly not even at the basic level expected from NFL backups. Barr out for the season and Kendrix essentially being out for the rest of the season added to the issues. We have no idea who those players will be 2021.
3. Offensive Scheme, Coach, and Company – A.) to me the blocking scheme is hamstrung more by the small size of our lineman than the scheme itself. When you go this way you have already conceded you are going to lose some games because of the size of your players and the scheme, particularly when the team sucks at pass blocking. B) I could not differentiate what was Zimmer’s insistence, Kubiac’s actual call, or Cousins goofing up the plays but that offense sputtered at the worst of times. The Run heavy philosophy, though Kubiac has historically done this, put Kubiac in a box in terms of shifting to more balance. He risked Zimmer’s ire if he went balanced or opted for more passing. As a result we had a methodical march in step Offense with limited ability to switch the cadence in a race that was filled with sprinters. The constant run on 2nd down, in some games run 1st and 2nd then expect Cousins to make up the difference failed. C)the O-line coach should be fired. Dennison is known for run blocking which was all we could do with any effectiveness. We were “trucked” all year in pass protection. The musical chair configuration of the O-line that has no guard play all year close to acceptable. Next year will show whether Bradburry, who I like, is a true liability because of his size. He was this year on several occasions bull rushed into Cousins. The guard play was atrocious and our natural left tackle played guard his first year so we do not have anyone to inherit Reif’s position next year. They mishandled Jefferson, Theilen and the tight ends all season. If this keeps up we will lose Jefferson the same way we lost Diggs. I am ecstatic about Jefferson’s potential but we need to get to at least a more balanced offense with at least a mid-level O-line to do it.
What would I do, and there is a reason I’m not a coach haha, is:
1. Get rid of Cousins, Barr, Rudolph, Harris, Samia, Dozier, Hughes as soon as possible;
2. Put Zimmer on the hot seat or trade him to the Cowboys. I can’t imagine McCarthy is going to last;
3. Put Speilman on notice – focus on offense beginning with QB and O-line
4. Terminate special teams coach, I do not know how to spell his name and I’m not interested in knowing how to.
Matthew, this is a fantastic article, put over the top by that final paragraph which perfectly summed up this lost season. That's some great writing.
Yep, we weren't good enough to make any noise in the playoffs this year, but--to reframe what you said in cruder terms--if Zimmer and Spielman weren't so blind about how bad this defense was going to be, and if Zimmer wasn't so stupid to ignore how good this offense could be, a 10 win season was a possibility.
Thanks so much Rob, I appreciate you reading and supporting the site! Happy holidays to you sir!
Your bluntness is appreciated haha. I think you hit on one of the toughest things to swallow for Vikings fans: It feels like it didn't have to be this way.
Dear Ziggy and Mark Wilf,
Somebody has to answer for that performance today. The Vikings were pathetic tackling, pathetic scheming on defense (and offense) and it was as nonprofessional performance as I’ve seen from the Vikings since the forgettable season of Les Steckel.
I know you have extended your general manager and head coach. I know they have two or three years left on their contracts. I know, and Vikings fans know, and you both know that the Vikings have been pretty much mediocre during the Rick and Mike Show. A playoff appearance here, another one two seasons later and a third one last year. They’ve had almost seven years, and after six years and 15 games, they laid down on national television and allowed a team to score 52 points on them, the most against the Vikings since 1963.
I’ve been a Vikings fan since Brett Fevre came over from Green Bay. Granted, there are Vikings fans who have suffered far longer than me. But it’s not the length of the suffering that matters, it’s the in the moment suffering. Mike Zimmer’s teams know they can’t beat good teams, teams with winning records. Who wants to digest this oatmeal enterprise again next year? Are you really going to ask fans to buy into the eighth season of the Rick and Mike Show?
The depth of the defensive and offensive lines is nonexistent. Rick Speilman is responsible for putting together a quality roster. There is quality in spots, but it is riddled with average to below average backups that cannot start. Yes, the Vikings have had injuries. What team hasn’t?
Firing Speilman and Zimmer the day after the Detroit game next week won’t count against the cap or anything else. You’ll have to eat their salaries, but nobody put guns to your heads telling you to extend Speilman and Zimmer. That mistake is on the Wilf family. The Wilfs are ultimately responsible for the entertainment on the field, and after seven years, the Vikings are predictably boring and they cannot beat teams with winning records. How much more do you have to see? How much more do fans have to watch?
Do the right thing. Clean house. Mike Zimmer is about my age. He’s a relic. So is Kubiak. The game has passed them by. Find a hungry GM who is intelligent and creative, and let’s take the first steps toward winning a Super Bowl.
Send a message after the season ends. Give fans new leadership, and a general manager who knows its smart to draft a quarterback every year.
Just listened to the podcast with you and Paul. Completely agree with Paul’s take on how this is the way Zimmer constructed this team and defense with all the roster moves. He needs to be held responsible for this. Kinda funny how he never accepts blame and just says this is a “bad” defense and all the good players are hurt. Not a good way to send a message to the fans or the players on the team for years to come. I would feel a little better if he explained the struggles and maintained a positive attitude about this defense having issues.
Can we talk about Zimmer’s horrendous clock management all season and burning timeouts at worst time when you are playing from behind. He coaches like we are up 10pts each game when they are behind...it’s like he thinks the defense is top 5 still when Alabama would light up this defense this year
Great job Mathew recapping this debacle
As always, great read Matthew 😊 I wrote a great deal a few posts ago, in response to the Chicago game, about no longer being a Zimmer apologist and no longer believing in Kubiac – Zimmer offense. I called the season record as 8-8 at the beginning of the season and we’re going to be worse. Today on the podcast you had Courtney do a pie chart of blame. I thoroughly enjoy the dialogue between the two of you. Here’s my take, much of the related rationale was posted previously:
1. Signings – Cousins the worst, followed by Zimmer. The price of Cousins coupled with his yo-yo play and Zimmer’s run run run offensive demand with no reasonable adjustment absolutely entrenched hard-headedness that even a casual fan can see results in a deficit. Theilen, Jefferson, and Smith are being underutilized to a ridiculous degree. Part of that is Cousins in-game and part Zimmer in a run-first regardless philosophy;
2. No preseason and injuries – You can’t expect those young players to click into a dumbed-down Zimmer defense who’s forced to dumb it down because you are missing your starting DE, NT, a CB who is a bust because of injuries, that additionally results in being forced to play all rookie CB including dragging less than marginal players off the street to join an entirely subpar, nearly not even at the basic level expected from NFL backups. Barr out for the season and Kendrix essentially being out for the rest of the season added to the issues. We have no idea who those players will be 2021.
3. Offensive Scheme, Coach, and Company – A.) to me the blocking scheme is hamstrung more by the small size of our lineman than the scheme itself. When you go this way you have already conceded you are going to lose some games because of the size of your players and the scheme, particularly when the team sucks at pass blocking. B) I could not differentiate what was Zimmer’s insistence, Kubiac’s actual call, or Cousins goofing up the plays but that offense sputtered at the worst of times. The Run heavy philosophy, though Kubiac has historically done this, put Kubiac in a box in terms of shifting to more balance. He risked Zimmer’s ire if he went balanced or opted for more passing. As a result we had a methodical march in step Offense with limited ability to switch the cadence in a race that was filled with sprinters. The constant run on 2nd down, in some games run 1st and 2nd then expect Cousins to make up the difference failed. C)the O-line coach should be fired. Dennison is known for run blocking which was all we could do with any effectiveness. We were “trucked” all year in pass protection. The musical chair configuration of the O-line that has no guard play all year close to acceptable. Next year will show whether Bradburry, who I like, is a true liability because of his size. He was this year on several occasions bull rushed into Cousins. The guard play was atrocious and our natural left tackle played guard his first year so we do not have anyone to inherit Reif’s position next year. They mishandled Jefferson, Theilen and the tight ends all season. If this keeps up we will lose Jefferson the same way we lost Diggs. I am ecstatic about Jefferson’s potential but we need to get to at least a more balanced offense with at least a mid-level O-line to do it.
What would I do, and there is a reason I’m not a coach haha, is:
1. Get rid of Cousins, Barr, Rudolph, Harris, Samia, Dozier, Hughes as soon as possible;
2. Put Zimmer on the hot seat or trade him to the Cowboys. I can’t imagine McCarthy is going to last;
3. Put Speilman on notice – focus on offense beginning with QB and O-line
4. Terminate special teams coach, I do not know how to spell his name and I’m not interested in knowing how to.
Matthew, this is a fantastic article, put over the top by that final paragraph which perfectly summed up this lost season. That's some great writing.
Yep, we weren't good enough to make any noise in the playoffs this year, but--to reframe what you said in cruder terms--if Zimmer and Spielman weren't so blind about how bad this defense was going to be, and if Zimmer wasn't so stupid to ignore how good this offense could be, a 10 win season was a possibility.
Thanks so much Rob, I appreciate you reading and supporting the site! Happy holidays to you sir!
Your bluntness is appreciated haha. I think you hit on one of the toughest things to swallow for Vikings fans: It feels like it didn't have to be this way.