Who do you punish?

[KingBash]

We've just witnessed our amazing 2017 season slide into a slump that will most likely last another couple years. So what needs to happen?

Cousins - unfortunately - is here for another two years. He's absolutely mediocre, just like he was in Washington. When things are going well, he can be fine. When you need to win a game, he's shit. But... he's "the guy."

So that leads to Spielman. His drafting is suspect to begin with, but signing Cousins to this much money for another two years? Get out. Done. Fired.

Zimmer... I dunno. Our defense was riddled with injuries, but I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater yet. I just happen to like Zimmer, for one. And two, I'm worried we're gonna toss aside another good coach for him to go on to greatness. Again: our defense was slammed with injuries.

Regardless, we'll never win a Super Bowl. This franchise is fucked as always. The world is ending. I want my blanket. (I'm just extra, extra pissed this year because I flew home for this, bought my dad and I tickets as a Christmas present, and we were so excited. Once again, the Vikings disappoint as always.)

[Guest]

I think we have to punish ourselves for letting Lucy tee up the football yet again.

[Guest]

@MarkSP18 said:

I think we have to punish ourselves for letting Lucy tee up the football yet again.

You know what's funny? You're right. I'm mostly mad at myself.

Why be mad at a bunch of millionaires trying their hardest I've never met? Every fucking YEAR I fall for this same Charlie Brown shit haha

Oh well.

[Guest]

This has to start at the top and that's spielman,  he got his shot and it didn't work out.  Wilfs need to bring in a new GM and let the chips fall from there.  If the new GM decides he needs his own coach or different players then that's his choice and his job.

I don't think rick has done a horrible job,  but his short comings have not been over come and they have tanked several years of a promising defense.

[Guest]

I disagree re: Cousins.  At some point this year, he went from being a turn-over prone gunslinger to a turn-over averse game-manager.  I think that the turn-overs would've decreased naturally, as he got more and more comfortable with the offense.  (Of course, having a better OL would've helped vs. the fumbles)
I say: let Cousins go back to being a gun-slinger.  We're certainly not going to win with defense and a bottom 15 offense.  If he struggles next season, then we'll be on the hook for only 1 more season.  But take the hand-cuffs off of him and let him play.  That's my take, anyway.
As for Spielman, I'm not sure what to say.  It's not his fault that the coaches keep some of the better players on the bench (O'Neill... and, I believe, Isadora).  On the other hand, he drafted Treadwell (who- at the time- seemed to me like a bad signing)... and did not take OL high enough.  He wanted lots of picks... but that plan may have also cost us some starters.  I think that most of us agreed that we had the talent to win (other than the OL).  But we didn't.  He got Zimmer all the defensive help that he could want (except- for whatever reason- Robison), and yet the defense sucked (when it was needed most).  So, do we blame Spielman for the defense?  I don't think so.  But it's not like I'm related to the guy, so the world won't end if they replace him.

[Guest]

KingBash...good question, but the only way we can "punish" anyone in the Vikings organization is to decrease their profits (which is difficult).

Fans tend to act like support for a local team is almost patriotism, which explains some of the anger between each other. But let's face it: the Minnesota Vikings are not "our local guys" in any meaningful form. They are an assigned franchise of a corporation - in fact, of an ENTERTAINMENT corporation. Winning is just an OPTION for any NFL franchise, so long as we keep their ratings (profits) high.

If there was a movie company named "Minnesota Movies", would you
automatically make them your favorite, even if they kept producing
mediocre movies? Would you ignore movies made by "New England Movies" if they were consistently better?
But habit makes us feel the emotional ties, myself included. This doesn't fix the team, but sometimes to keep perspective.

[Guest]

Punish isn't the right word imo. Accountability certainly is.

Enough blame for the front office/coaching/players to get their fair share of it from a mediocre season with a pretty damn stacked roster. 

I hope they're all feeling the heat and doing some serious soul searching and self assessments. 

[Guest]

I keep hearing people say that people need to be “punished”,
“held responsible”, or “held accountable”. 
I guess I just don’t understand what this means to people.  To me, you either fire them if they’re not
the right guy or you help them achieve the dream you’re both working
towards.  But what does “punish” even
mean?  Are you going to parade him around
in front of the media and tell everyone how bad of a job they did?  You going to give him a spanking or put him
in timeout?


These are grown ass men. 
They know they underachieved.  How
does “punishing” people help them do better next time?  It’s not like you can bench the GM/HC and put
in a backup for 2 series.

[Guest]

[Guest]

my poor liver...  B)