Is this the bottom

[Guest]

Nobody is going to get fired or should get fired. IMO this is a throwaway year and tanking the season is going to make us a stronger team next season to where we can make a legit run again. Couple things:

- We are the youngest defense in the league playing without Pierce (opt out), Hunter and Barr (injuries).  We are breaking in an almost completely new secondary without any preseason. Give Zimmer a season of these kids taking their lumps and all the horses back in the stable and you are going to see a completely different defense. Zimmer is a proven commodity as a defensive coach and has been successful everywhere. You cant fire him in such a strange season where we have so many key players out. 

- Kirk Cousins is what he is. System guy who can be successful when surrounded with all the pieces. He is not an upper echelon QB who is a game changing type talent, never has been. To me the biggest advantage to tanking this season is this franchise landing a QBOTF in the upcoming draft who can learn behind Cousins next season and potentially unseat him should Kirk struggle. One of the biggest faults I have had with the Spielman/Zimmer regime is never properly addressing the backup QB position.  They couldn't yank Cousins even if they wanted to right now because Mannion is hot garbage. I do have confidence in Kubiak as an offensive coordinator.  Offensive line continues to be....offensive. 

- I'm just guessing, but I think this team will improve as the year goes on. Even with injuries there is too much talent to not believe that they will. I'm guessing 6-10 on the year which hopefully keeps us in the market to land a franchise QB in the draft 

[Guest]

@MaroonBells said:

@Jor-El said:

@Vikergirl said:
I was thinking that his answers in the press conference were not reassuring but at this point, we need results. He knows that he could be benched. I know it's not all on him but he doesn't get a pass either. There are many issues right now.

From what I saw yesterday, I don't believe Cousins can ever be benched in Minnesota while Zimmer and Spielman are in charge. They were down by 25 points, he had been intercepted 3 times, was getting hammered in the pocket, and looked shellshocked. Wasn't that the time you say, "It's not Kirk's day, let's sit him down before he gets beat up more and give his backup some time"..?

That has more to do with his backup than anything else. The Vikings have put together a pretty good roster, but where its not good--guard and backup QB, seemingly favoring starter support over a player who could actually play in his place--is haunting them now. 

 

I agree Mannion is no world-beater, but my point is more about the situation. The game was lost - they were down by 25 points with less than 10 minutes in the game; that's 4 scores. You're not coming back. You take your starting QB out at that point to reduce the risk to him in a losing cause, even if his backup is not starting caliber.
But a team keeps the starter in for only 2 reasons:1. Pad his stats when the opponent is in prevent. This will help justify Cousins at the end of the season when Spielman is touting his passing yards and other stats, as he did each of the last two offseasons.2. Avoid, at all costs, any controversy. What if Mannion had a couple hot series? Fans might question the decision to play Cousins - Verboten!!

[Guest]

@Jor-El said:

@MaroonBells said:

@Jor-El said:

@Vikergirl said:
I was thinking that his answers in the press conference were not reassuring but at this point, we need results. He knows that he could be benched. I know it's not all on him but he doesn't get a pass either. There are many issues right now.

From what I saw yesterday, I don't believe Cousins can ever be benched in Minnesota while Zimmer and Spielman are in charge. They were down by 25 points, he had been intercepted 3 times, was getting hammered in the pocket, and looked shellshocked. Wasn't that the time you say, "It's not Kirk's day, let's sit him down before he gets beat up more and give his backup some time"..?

That has more to do with his backup than anything else. The Vikings have put together a pretty good roster, but where its not good--guard and backup QB, seemingly favoring starter support over a player who could actually play in his place--is haunting them now. 

 

I agree Mannion is no world-beater, but my point is more about the situation. The game was lost - they were down by 25 points with less than 10 minutes in the game; that's 4 scores. You're not coming back. You take your starting QB out at that point to reduce the risk to him in a losing cause, even if his backup is not starting caliber.
But a team keeps the starter in for only 2 reasons:1. Pad his stats when the opponent is in prevent. This will help justify Cousins at the end of the season when Spielman is touting his passing yards and other stats, as he did each of the last two offseasons.2. Avoid, at all costs, any controversy. What if Mannion had a couple hot series? Fans might question the decision to play Cousins - Verboten!!

LOL. No. 

[Guest]

I agree with Bullizin, and VG, Zim is still a good coach who has not lost the locker room even when lesser coaches might have. And RS cannot take all the blame for the QB situation. He reached for Ponder but we needed a QB, Bridgwater’s injury was obviously not his fault. Bradford had a gun for an arm and our QB had just gone down. He rolled the dice to save a season because he didn’t want to sacrifice a season with such a strong supporting cast. Everybody needs to take a breath. But I do agree that the problem seems to be Cousins. Let’s take that high draft pick (assuming we keep on this pace) and get us a QB. We have a very young team. They will get better. That may be the ultimate bad news here. Picking outside the top 5 will just perpetuate the all too familiar mediocre outcome.

[Guest]

Abandon hope all ye who believe Viking ownership thinks something is wrong.  They will carry on next year with the same coach/g.m. 

I'd make the odds against real change about 5-1, with a Zimmer firing probably the only potential longshot outcome.