Quote: @Jor-El said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@"Geoff Nichols" said:
@ AGRforever said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ greediron said:
Why would he restructure? Didn't he just sign for less to stay with the Vikings?
and his play showed it....
I used to defend him as the straw that stirred Zimmers drink, but I just cant any more. He is a good not great coverage guy, he is weak in run support in the middle, decent on the edge, and a disappointment as a pass rusher in terms of getting off blocks.
I am done with Barr and wish the team could be as well, but IIRC his contract makes it hard to force anything except maybe a trade.
Yup, its time to let Barr walk. He's hardly the player we're paying him to be.
Is Barr worth $15M? No. But the cap his is based on how the Vikings structured the contract. He is worth close to the $12.3M is he actually owed in 2021. People seem to think that Barr is supposed to be Vonn Miller which isn't his role at all. Nobody notices it but Barr is probably the Vikings best run defender and dictates how the opposing offense sets their protections. Zimmer loves Barr because Barr forces offenses to do what Zimmer wants them to do. That is worth a lot of money.
This is Barr's camp setting the expectation they won't restructure. This isn't suggesting the Vikings have asked him to take a pay-cut, yet. They can move money around if they want to keep him and lower the cap hit.
I dont see it, I dont see Barrs big influence on the opposing run game. IMO our DTs better our biggest keys to stopping the opposing offenses inside runs, which is where we get gashed the most in recent years. Like I said, Barr does a damn good job IMO on outside runs and shit in the flat, but is easily blocked and as such not a big threat to opponents power running games.
I just am done defending a guy that doesnt show up statistically at a position that should be able to be pointed to as a game changer from a statistical standpoint.
His average per year makes him the 7th highest paid linebacker in the league ( 3 million more per year than Kendricks)... I just dont see it.
Jimmy, curious if there's anyone on the roster you'd like to keep.
depends on the scenario... are we rebuilding or are we going to keep settling for mediocrity? besides cousins and barr, who else have I been vocal about moving on from?
Mediocrity. Dalvin. Hunter.
I asked about Hunters health and desire to want a new deal before proving his health, hardly saying move on from him.
Dalvin is a move on from only if the team is going to rebuild as he wont be worth a shit in 2-3 years when the team is ready to contend again.
IMO this team is more than 2 years away from contending for a SB and keeping aging players that could be draft picks on high salaries is a mistake instead of using that money to find and retain younger free agents that will still be viable in 2-3 years would be a better use of our current cap and the draft picks to load the cupboard for a real run.
Curious what you think the odds would be for us to land on upgrades at each of those positions in a blow it all up scenario.
curious what you think the odds are for staying with the status quo and reaching the promised land?
Better than if we blew it up. I attend the school of thought that says the team that wins the Super Bowl is not some formidable power house following some model laid out from the year before. That model is always going to be different. It's the team that makes the playoffs and gets lucky, healthy and hot at the right time. So make the playoffs. As often as you can. And your odds of winning a super bowl are a lot higher than if you blow everything up and hope you land on players that are upgrades to players who are already among the best at their positions.
I don't think you're wrong, but there is a qualification missing: make the playoffs as often as you can...with a STRONG team. In 7 years, the Vikings have had 3 teams make the playoffs, but only 1 of those was strong enough to get a first-round bye (which helps that health factor being discussed). In the last 45 years, only 7 wildcard teams have won the SB. It's possible - I know, the Bucs just did it - but exceptional. Of the 90 teams playing in Super Bowls, 72 of them have been seeded #1 or #2 in their conference, and 18 have been #3-6.
Other than 2017, Vikings under Zimmer have been consistently on the edge of the playoffs - they don't get eliminated from playoff contention until the last two weeks of the season, but they also aren't strong enough to lockup a spot either.
Like Jimmy, I think they are about to slide backwards. 2021 schedule looks much tougher than their earlier "every other year" weak years and the salary cap is biting them. For every "young upcoming player" on the defense, there is another aging (Smith and Barr), leaving (Harris and Wilson), or trying to return from serious injury (Hunter and Hughes). IMO the offense peaked in 2020 and I don't really believe the coaching changes will be seamless. But - either I will be wrong and Zimmer will shut me up, or I'll be correct and a 10-loss season will start the rebuild.
LOL. You have to be a pretty miserable crank to see 10 losses for a team adding Hunter, Pierce, Barr, Kendricks and Hughes to a 9-loss team.
Quote: @MaroonBells said:
@ Jor-El said:
I don't think you're wrong, but there is a qualification missing: make the playoffs as often as you can...with a STRONG team. In 7 years, the Vikings have had 3 teams make the playoffs, but only 1 of those was strong enough to get a first-round bye (which helps that health factor being discussed). In the last 45 years, only 7 wildcard teams have won the SB. It's possible - I know, the Bucs just did it - but exceptional. Of the 90 teams playing in Super Bowls, 72 of them have been seeded #1 or #2 in their conference, and 18 have been #3-6.
Other than 2017, Vikings under Zimmer have been consistently on the edge of the playoffs - they don't get eliminated from playoff contention until the last two weeks of the season, but they also aren't strong enough to lockup a spot either.
Like Jimmy, I think they are about to slide backwards. 2021 schedule looks much tougher than their earlier "every other year" weak years and the salary cap is biting them. For every "young upcoming player" on the defense, there is another aging (Smith and Barr), leaving (Harris and Wilson), or trying to return from serious injury (Hunter and Hughes). IMO the offense peaked in 2020 and I don't really believe the coaching changes will be seamless. But - either I will be wrong and Zimmer will shut me up, or I'll be correct and a 10-loss season will start the rebuild.
LOL. You have to be a pretty miserable crank to see 10 losses for a team adding Hunter, Pierce, Barr, Kendricks and Hughes to a 9-loss team.
To be fair, we are Viking fans.
I don't think we're going to slide backwards, but I think we're going on a pathway of not being able to be good enough to win and watching all our expensive players age out of being great, with Zimmer and Spielman getting let go because they couldn't get over the hump and put together a competitive team.
I think we had a chance to not rebuild, but we made a lot of wrong choices. We kept going all in, pushing salary cap hits into the future, as if we were close, and now we just don't have enough cap to compete.
Barr's fine. I just think he's an obvious cut if you have the mindset of trying to cut some fat now to gain cap room for our next run, rather than having a mediocre team that you hope catches some magic, so you're going to re-extend Barr next year to make his $15M cap hit more palatable by committing to more years.
Quote: @MaroonBells said:
@ Jor-El said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@"Geoff Nichols" said:
@ AGRforever said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ greediron said:
Why would he restructure? Didn't he just sign for less to stay with the Vikings?
and his play showed it....
I used to defend him as the straw that stirred Zimmers drink, but I just cant any more. He is a good not great coverage guy, he is weak in run support in the middle, decent on the edge, and a disappointment as a pass rusher in terms of getting off blocks.
I am done with Barr and wish the team could be as well, but IIRC his contract makes it hard to force anything except maybe a trade.
Yup, its time to let Barr walk. He's hardly the player we're paying him to be.
Is Barr worth $15M? No. But the cap his is based on how the Vikings structured the contract. He is worth close to the $12.3M is he actually owed in 2021. People seem to think that Barr is supposed to be Vonn Miller which isn't his role at all. Nobody notices it but Barr is probably the Vikings best run defender and dictates how the opposing offense sets their protections. Zimmer loves Barr because Barr forces offenses to do what Zimmer wants them to do. That is worth a lot of money.
This is Barr's camp setting the expectation they won't restructure. This isn't suggesting the Vikings have asked him to take a pay-cut, yet. They can move money around if they want to keep him and lower the cap hit.
I dont see it, I dont see Barrs big influence on the opposing run game. IMO our DTs better our biggest keys to stopping the opposing offenses inside runs, which is where we get gashed the most in recent years. Like I said, Barr does a damn good job IMO on outside runs and shit in the flat, but is easily blocked and as such not a big threat to opponents power running games.
I just am done defending a guy that doesnt show up statistically at a position that should be able to be pointed to as a game changer from a statistical standpoint.
His average per year makes him the 7th highest paid linebacker in the league ( 3 million more per year than Kendricks)... I just dont see it.
Jimmy, curious if there's anyone on the roster you'd like to keep.
depends on the scenario... are we rebuilding or are we going to keep settling for mediocrity? besides cousins and barr, who else have I been vocal about moving on from?
Mediocrity. Dalvin. Hunter.
I asked about Hunters health and desire to want a new deal before proving his health, hardly saying move on from him.
Dalvin is a move on from only if the team is going to rebuild as he wont be worth a shit in 2-3 years when the team is ready to contend again.
IMO this team is more than 2 years away from contending for a SB and keeping aging players that could be draft picks on high salaries is a mistake instead of using that money to find and retain younger free agents that will still be viable in 2-3 years would be a better use of our current cap and the draft picks to load the cupboard for a real run.
Curious what you think the odds would be for us to land on upgrades at each of those positions in a blow it all up scenario.
curious what you think the odds are for staying with the status quo and reaching the promised land?
Better than if we blew it up. I attend the school of thought that says the team that wins the Super Bowl is not some formidable power house following some model laid out from the year before. That model is always going to be different. It's the team that makes the playoffs and gets lucky, healthy and hot at the right time. So make the playoffs. As often as you can. And your odds of winning a super bowl are a lot higher than if you blow everything up and hope you land on players that are upgrades to players who are already among the best at their positions.
I don't think you're wrong, but there is a qualification missing: make the playoffs as often as you can...with a STRONG team. In 7 years, the Vikings have had 3 teams make the playoffs, but only 1 of those was strong enough to get a first-round bye (which helps that health factor being discussed). In the last 45 years, only 7 wildcard teams have won the SB. It's possible - I know, the Bucs just did it - but exceptional. Of the 90 teams playing in Super Bowls, 72 of them have been seeded #1 or #2 in their conference, and 18 have been #3-6.
Other than 2017, Vikings under Zimmer have been consistently on the edge of the playoffs - they don't get eliminated from playoff contention until the last two weeks of the season, but they also aren't strong enough to lockup a spot either.
Like Jimmy, I think they are about to slide backwards. 2021 schedule looks much tougher than their earlier "every other year" weak years and the salary cap is biting them. For every "young upcoming player" on the defense, there is another aging (Smith and Barr), leaving (Harris and Wilson), or trying to return from serious injury (Hunter and Hughes). IMO the offense peaked in 2020 and I don't really believe the coaching changes will be seamless. But - either I will be wrong and Zimmer will shut me up, or I'll be correct and a 10-loss season will start the rebuild.
LOL. You have to be a pretty miserable crank to see 10 losses for a team adding Hunter, Pierce, Barr, Kendricks and Hughes to a 9-loss team.
Oh, I am....
But...what kind of person thinks those 5 are all coming back at 100%?
Quote: @Jor-El said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ Jor-El said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@"Geoff Nichols" said:
@ AGRforever said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ greediron said:
Why would he restructure? Didn't he just sign for less to stay with the Vikings?
and his play showed it....
I used to defend him as the straw that stirred Zimmers drink, but I just cant any more. He is a good not great coverage guy, he is weak in run support in the middle, decent on the edge, and a disappointment as a pass rusher in terms of getting off blocks.
I am done with Barr and wish the team could be as well, but IIRC his contract makes it hard to force anything except maybe a trade.
Yup, its time to let Barr walk. He's hardly the player we're paying him to be.
Is Barr worth $15M? No. But the cap his is based on how the Vikings structured the contract. He is worth close to the $12.3M is he actually owed in 2021. People seem to think that Barr is supposed to be Vonn Miller which isn't his role at all. Nobody notices it but Barr is probably the Vikings best run defender and dictates how the opposing offense sets their protections. Zimmer loves Barr because Barr forces offenses to do what Zimmer wants them to do. That is worth a lot of money.
This is Barr's camp setting the expectation they won't restructure. This isn't suggesting the Vikings have asked him to take a pay-cut, yet. They can move money around if they want to keep him and lower the cap hit.
I dont see it, I dont see Barrs big influence on the opposing run game. IMO our DTs better our biggest keys to stopping the opposing offenses inside runs, which is where we get gashed the most in recent years. Like I said, Barr does a damn good job IMO on outside runs and shit in the flat, but is easily blocked and as such not a big threat to opponents power running games.
I just am done defending a guy that doesnt show up statistically at a position that should be able to be pointed to as a game changer from a statistical standpoint.
His average per year makes him the 7th highest paid linebacker in the league ( 3 million more per year than Kendricks)... I just dont see it.
Jimmy, curious if there's anyone on the roster you'd like to keep.
depends on the scenario... are we rebuilding or are we going to keep settling for mediocrity? besides cousins and barr, who else have I been vocal about moving on from?
Mediocrity. Dalvin. Hunter.
I asked about Hunters health and desire to want a new deal before proving his health, hardly saying move on from him.
Dalvin is a move on from only if the team is going to rebuild as he wont be worth a shit in 2-3 years when the team is ready to contend again.
IMO this team is more than 2 years away from contending for a SB and keeping aging players that could be draft picks on high salaries is a mistake instead of using that money to find and retain younger free agents that will still be viable in 2-3 years would be a better use of our current cap and the draft picks to load the cupboard for a real run.
Curious what you think the odds would be for us to land on upgrades at each of those positions in a blow it all up scenario.
curious what you think the odds are for staying with the status quo and reaching the promised land?
Better than if we blew it up. I attend the school of thought that says the team that wins the Super Bowl is not some formidable power house following some model laid out from the year before. That model is always going to be different. It's the team that makes the playoffs and gets lucky, healthy and hot at the right time. So make the playoffs. As often as you can. And your odds of winning a super bowl are a lot higher than if you blow everything up and hope you land on players that are upgrades to players who are already among the best at their positions.
I don't think you're wrong, but there is a qualification missing: make the playoffs as often as you can...with a STRONG team. In 7 years, the Vikings have had 3 teams make the playoffs, but only 1 of those was strong enough to get a first-round bye (which helps that health factor being discussed). In the last 45 years, only 7 wildcard teams have won the SB. It's possible - I know, the Bucs just did it - but exceptional. Of the 90 teams playing in Super Bowls, 72 of them have been seeded #1 or #2 in their conference, and 18 have been #3-6.
Other than 2017, Vikings under Zimmer have been consistently on the edge of the playoffs - they don't get eliminated from playoff contention until the last two weeks of the season, but they also aren't strong enough to lockup a spot either.
Like Jimmy, I think they are about to slide backwards. 2021 schedule looks much tougher than their earlier "every other year" weak years and the salary cap is biting them. For every "young upcoming player" on the defense, there is another aging (Smith and Barr), leaving (Harris and Wilson), or trying to return from serious injury (Hunter and Hughes). IMO the offense peaked in 2020 and I don't really believe the coaching changes will be seamless. But - either I will be wrong and Zimmer will shut me up, or I'll be correct and a 10-loss season will start the rebuild.
LOL. You have to be a pretty miserable crank to see 10 losses for a team adding Hunter, Pierce, Barr, Kendricks and Hughes to a 9-loss team.
Oh, I am....
But...what kind of person thinks those 5 are all coming back at 100%?
I'd be surprised if they didn't. With the possible exception of Hughes, who might have a chronic problem, I don't think any of them stand any more chance of getting hurt again than anyone else on the team. And, in fact, if you go by the odds, they're probably less likely.
It's like my Dalvin Cook argument last year. Running backs get hurt. He's a running back. Might he get hurt? Sure, but he's no more or less likely to get hurt than anyone else. In fact, because he was hurt the year before and someone like Christian McAffrey wasn't, it's probably more likely that CMAC misses time than Dalvin. And sure enough...
Quote: @MaroonBells said:
@ Jor-El said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ Jor-El said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@"Geoff Nichols" said:
@ AGRforever said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ greediron said:
Why would he restructure? Didn't he just sign for less to stay with the Vikings?
and his play showed it....
I used to defend him as the straw that stirred Zimmers drink, but I just cant any more. He is a good not great coverage guy, he is weak in run support in the middle, decent on the edge, and a disappointment as a pass rusher in terms of getting off blocks.
I am done with Barr and wish the team could be as well, but IIRC his contract makes it hard to force anything except maybe a trade.
Yup, its time to let Barr walk. He's hardly the player we're paying him to be.
Is Barr worth $15M? No. But the cap his is based on how the Vikings structured the contract. He is worth close to the $12.3M is he actually owed in 2021. People seem to think that Barr is supposed to be Vonn Miller which isn't his role at all. Nobody notices it but Barr is probably the Vikings best run defender and dictates how the opposing offense sets their protections. Zimmer loves Barr because Barr forces offenses to do what Zimmer wants them to do. That is worth a lot of money.
This is Barr's camp setting the expectation they won't restructure. This isn't suggesting the Vikings have asked him to take a pay-cut, yet. They can move money around if they want to keep him and lower the cap hit.
I dont see it, I dont see Barrs big influence on the opposing run game. IMO our DTs better our biggest keys to stopping the opposing offenses inside runs, which is where we get gashed the most in recent years. Like I said, Barr does a damn good job IMO on outside runs and shit in the flat, but is easily blocked and as such not a big threat to opponents power running games.
I just am done defending a guy that doesnt show up statistically at a position that should be able to be pointed to as a game changer from a statistical standpoint.
His average per year makes him the 7th highest paid linebacker in the league ( 3 million more per year than Kendricks)... I just dont see it.
Jimmy, curious if there's anyone on the roster you'd like to keep.
depends on the scenario... are we rebuilding or are we going to keep settling for mediocrity? besides cousins and barr, who else have I been vocal about moving on from?
Mediocrity. Dalvin. Hunter.
I asked about Hunters health and desire to want a new deal before proving his health, hardly saying move on from him.
Dalvin is a move on from only if the team is going to rebuild as he wont be worth a shit in 2-3 years when the team is ready to contend again.
IMO this team is more than 2 years away from contending for a SB and keeping aging players that could be draft picks on high salaries is a mistake instead of using that money to find and retain younger free agents that will still be viable in 2-3 years would be a better use of our current cap and the draft picks to load the cupboard for a real run.
Curious what you think the odds would be for us to land on upgrades at each of those positions in a blow it all up scenario.
curious what you think the odds are for staying with the status quo and reaching the promised land?
Better than if we blew it up. I attend the school of thought that says the team that wins the Super Bowl is not some formidable power house following some model laid out from the year before. That model is always going to be different. It's the team that makes the playoffs and gets lucky, healthy and hot at the right time. So make the playoffs. As often as you can. And your odds of winning a super bowl are a lot higher than if you blow everything up and hope you land on players that are upgrades to players who are already among the best at their positions.
I don't think you're wrong, but there is a qualification missing: make the playoffs as often as you can...with a STRONG team. In 7 years, the Vikings have had 3 teams make the playoffs, but only 1 of those was strong enough to get a first-round bye (which helps that health factor being discussed). In the last 45 years, only 7 wildcard teams have won the SB. It's possible - I know, the Bucs just did it - but exceptional. Of the 90 teams playing in Super Bowls, 72 of them have been seeded #1 or #2 in their conference, and 18 have been #3-6.
Other than 2017, Vikings under Zimmer have been consistently on the edge of the playoffs - they don't get eliminated from playoff contention until the last two weeks of the season, but they also aren't strong enough to lockup a spot either.
Like Jimmy, I think they are about to slide backwards. 2021 schedule looks much tougher than their earlier "every other year" weak years and the salary cap is biting them. For every "young upcoming player" on the defense, there is another aging (Smith and Barr), leaving (Harris and Wilson), or trying to return from serious injury (Hunter and Hughes). IMO the offense peaked in 2020 and I don't really believe the coaching changes will be seamless. But - either I will be wrong and Zimmer will shut me up, or I'll be correct and a 10-loss season will start the rebuild.
LOL. You have to be a pretty miserable crank to see 10 losses for a team adding Hunter, Pierce, Barr, Kendricks and Hughes to a 9-loss team.
Oh, I am....
But...what kind of person thinks those 5 are all coming back at 100%?
I'd be surprised if they didn't. With the possible exception of Hughes, who might have a chronic problem, I don't think any of them stand any more chance of getting hurt again than anyone else on the team. And, in fact, if you go by the odds, they're probably less likely.
It's like my Dalvin Cook argument last year. Running backs get hurt. He's a running back. Might he get hurt? Sure, but he's no more or less likely to get hurt than anyone else. In fact, because he was hurt the year before and someone like Christian McAffrey wasn't, it's probably more likely that CMAC misses time than Dalvin. And sure enough...
So odds are Cousins is fucked.
Quote: @JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ Jor-El said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ Jor-El said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ MaroonBells said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@"Geoff Nichols" said:
@ AGRforever said:
@ JimmyinSD said:
@ greediron said:
Why would he restructure? Didn't he just sign for less to stay with the Vikings?
and his play showed it....
I used to defend him as the straw that stirred Zimmers drink, but I just cant any more. He is a good not great coverage guy, he is weak in run support in the middle, decent on the edge, and a disappointment as a pass rusher in terms of getting off blocks.
I am done with Barr and wish the team could be as well, but IIRC his contract makes it hard to force anything except maybe a trade.
Yup, its time to let Barr walk. He's hardly the player we're paying him to be.
Is Barr worth $15M? No. But the cap his is based on how the Vikings structured the contract. He is worth close to the $12.3M is he actually owed in 2021. People seem to think that Barr is supposed to be Vonn Miller which isn't his role at all. Nobody notices it but Barr is probably the Vikings best run defender and dictates how the opposing offense sets their protections. Zimmer loves Barr because Barr forces offenses to do what Zimmer wants them to do. That is worth a lot of money.
This is Barr's camp setting the expectation they won't restructure. This isn't suggesting the Vikings have asked him to take a pay-cut, yet. They can move money around if they want to keep him and lower the cap hit.
I dont see it, I dont see Barrs big influence on the opposing run game. IMO our DTs better our biggest keys to stopping the opposing offenses inside runs, which is where we get gashed the most in recent years. Like I said, Barr does a damn good job IMO on outside runs and shit in the flat, but is easily blocked and as such not a big threat to opponents power running games.
I just am done defending a guy that doesnt show up statistically at a position that should be able to be pointed to as a game changer from a statistical standpoint.
His average per year makes him the 7th highest paid linebacker in the league ( 3 million more per year than Kendricks)... I just dont see it.
Jimmy, curious if there's anyone on the roster you'd like to keep.
depends on the scenario... are we rebuilding or are we going to keep settling for mediocrity? besides cousins and barr, who else have I been vocal about moving on from?
Mediocrity. Dalvin. Hunter.
I asked about Hunters health and desire to want a new deal before proving his health, hardly saying move on from him.
Dalvin is a move on from only if the team is going to rebuild as he wont be worth a shit in 2-3 years when the team is ready to contend again.
IMO this team is more than 2 years away from contending for a SB and keeping aging players that could be draft picks on high salaries is a mistake instead of using that money to find and retain younger free agents that will still be viable in 2-3 years would be a better use of our current cap and the draft picks to load the cupboard for a real run.
Curious what you think the odds would be for us to land on upgrades at each of those positions in a blow it all up scenario.
curious what you think the odds are for staying with the status quo and reaching the promised land?
Better than if we blew it up. I attend the school of thought that says the team that wins the Super Bowl is not some formidable power house following some model laid out from the year before. That model is always going to be different. It's the team that makes the playoffs and gets lucky, healthy and hot at the right time. So make the playoffs. As often as you can. And your odds of winning a super bowl are a lot higher than if you blow everything up and hope you land on players that are upgrades to players who are already among the best at their positions.
I don't think you're wrong, but there is a qualification missing: make the playoffs as often as you can...with a STRONG team. In 7 years, the Vikings have had 3 teams make the playoffs, but only 1 of those was strong enough to get a first-round bye (which helps that health factor being discussed). In the last 45 years, only 7 wildcard teams have won the SB. It's possible - I know, the Bucs just did it - but exceptional. Of the 90 teams playing in Super Bowls, 72 of them have been seeded #1 or #2 in their conference, and 18 have been #3-6.
Other than 2017, Vikings under Zimmer have been consistently on the edge of the playoffs - they don't get eliminated from playoff contention until the last two weeks of the season, but they also aren't strong enough to lockup a spot either.
Like Jimmy, I think they are about to slide backwards. 2021 schedule looks much tougher than their earlier "every other year" weak years and the salary cap is biting them. For every "young upcoming player" on the defense, there is another aging (Smith and Barr), leaving (Harris and Wilson), or trying to return from serious injury (Hunter and Hughes). IMO the offense peaked in 2020 and I don't really believe the coaching changes will be seamless. But - either I will be wrong and Zimmer will shut me up, or I'll be correct and a 10-loss season will start the rebuild.
LOL. You have to be a pretty miserable crank to see 10 losses for a team adding Hunter, Pierce, Barr, Kendricks and Hughes to a 9-loss team.
Oh, I am....
But...what kind of person thinks those 5 are all coming back at 100%?
I'd be surprised if they didn't. With the possible exception of Hughes, who might have a chronic problem, I don't think any of them stand any more chance of getting hurt again than anyone else on the team. And, in fact, if you go by the odds, they're probably less likely.
It's like my Dalvin Cook argument last year. Running backs get hurt. He's a running back. Might he get hurt? Sure, but he's no more or less likely to get hurt than anyone else. In fact, because he was hurt the year before and someone like Christian McAffrey wasn't, it's probably more likely that CMAC misses time than Dalvin. And sure enough...
So odds are Cousins is fucked.
QBs are on a whole different level. Many of them just don't want to get their dresses dirty.
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