Poll: Looking Back at RS

During Rick Spielman's tenure as the primary personnel decision-maker for the Minnesota Vikings (2006–2021), the team went roughly 132-123-2 in the regular season, not including his time with the Miami Dolphins.

• As General Manager (2012–2021): Spielman was promoted to GM in 2012, holding the title of Executive VP/General Manager until he was fired on January 10, 2022.

• Performance: The team earned four playoff appearances during his time as GM.

• Final Years: His final two seasons (2020–2021) resulted in a 7–9 and 8–9 record, which contributed to his departure.

Notable Seasons

• 2015: 11–5 (NFC North Title)

• 2017: 13–3 (NFC North Title, NFC Championship Appearance)

• 2019: 10–6 (Wild Card) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Spielman was widely known for accumulating draft picks, executing frequent trades, and bringing in high-profile free agents like QB Kirk Cousins in 2018. [1, 2]

• Rick Spielman - Wikipedia

  In hopes of finally winning it all, the Vikings signed free agent QB Kirk Cousins to a fully guaranteed 3-year $84 million contrac...

  Wikipedia

• No playoffs helped seal fate of Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman

  Jan 10, 2022 — MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota Vikings owners Mark and Zygi Wilf had enough of being relevant one year and an afterthought the next.

Spielman was pretty average.  His rosters had star power but weren’t solid all the way through.  Good enough to be in that borderline playoff area where one year you’re in, one year you’re out, never really good enough to compete for a SB.

Hard to ignore the numerous stars he drafted.

He flubbed up the Oline pretty bad and took like 6 years to get it okish, but never really good, because he kept replacing the best players on the line, one player a year, and left bad players in place.

Also the way he handled the Cousins/Zimmer era was pretty despicable.  For all the talk that everyone has about Kwesi and other bad GMs forcing their coaches into rosters they don’t want, Spielman is clearly the most well defined example of this in recent Vikings history.  From day one, Zimmer didn’t want Cousins, but Spielman forced him down that path of mediocrity.  I think if he was going to change the direction of the franchise, he really needed to fire Zimmer, let him get a new job in a situation that suited him and bring in a new coach that matched the philosophy he was trying to implement.

I think in the end the Spielman era is going to be remembered for the stars he brought in, and his lack of getting a QB.  Cousins was fine, but you need better than fine to consistently be pushing for a SB and he had like 2 attempts in his career which is not going to cut it.

To be fair Zimmer had some draft picks that should have been outstanding players for a long time. Matt Kalil could and should have been a Joe Thomas like 12 year mainstay at LT. He just didn't have the heart for it. Very talented. Sharrif Floyd was actually coming into his own as an ELITE DT until a surgeon screwed up a routine knee scope. Bad luck. Xavier Rhodes was elite then dropped off in his prime, again I think a mental issue unless there were injuries we did not know about. Taking Barr over Aaron Donald was a complete WHIFF and should not have happened. He rang the bell with the 2015 draft in my opinion. Waynes, Kendricks, Hunter, Diggs was outstanding. 2016-2019 drafts were completely abysmal. 2020 was highlighted by getting Jefferson, Cleveland, Wonnum, Lynch and Dye were career backups with Metellus being the only true starter after JJ.