Let the excuses begin

@"TBro" said: The Bears dominated on both sides of the ball. They punched us in the mouth and we never responded. You are not going to win too many games if your OLine is below average at best. If you can't protect your QB in a pass first league, you have no chance. Our defensive line was exposed all year by teams that could run the ball effectively. Richardson and Joseph did not create the force in the middle I thought they would and once again we could not get off the field on 3rd down letting Trubisky escape time after time only to find an open receiver. Something is just off with this team. They have never been in sync all year. 

Its this simple-  1) We brought in a premium pocket passer and seldom provided clean pockets due to is totally ignoring the interior line.  

2) We whiffed hard on hiring flip over Stef.  in Flips defense our interior line cannot run block or protect.  We lost a great coach in Shurmer and that is hard to replace

3). We totally overestimated the value of kicker with experience.  Carlson was a good draft pick value but you cannot trust a rookie kicker for a super bowl run. If we dont blow all the kicks at green bay, we win that game and are in the playoffs.  

Time to evaluate our personnel people starting with Spielman. i would give him one more year. I still feel pretty good about Zimmer as our leader but he can improve

@"1VikesFan" said: Getting real tired of hearing about the loaded roster when they have the worst offensive line in the NFL.  If it isn't the worst it is close.

Preaching to this one man choir, my friend. 

You CAN NOT claim to have the best roster in the NFL without the commenserate PLAYOFF WINS to back up that statement. 

It's pretty apparent to me that this "great" TEAM is actually incredibly mediocre, but at least capable of USUALLY beating inferior teams. When this team NEEDS to beat a good or great team, they require a miraculous, once-in-a-lifetime play to squeak out a win. Otherwise, they shit the bed. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

I grew tired of this repetitive script in January, 1999. 

I'm pleased to see other fans finally expressing the "enough is enough" attitude that might force some REAL changes in the organization. The only thing blind allegiance to mediocrity gets you is......continued mediocrity.

@"ArizonaViking" said:e From Pop Warner football to the NFL pros...you build a team from the inside (offensive & defensive lines) out and games are won or lost in the trenches.

AZ, I agree wholeheartedly.  All the talk about the new "offensive gurus" in the league never involves them featuring saloon door guards and tackles.

Excuses?  No...reasons:

1.  The OGs are basically shit, and that didn't change.  Most playoff QBs don't deal with the interior pressure ours have had all decade.

2.  Cousins...I just don't know.  The arm talent isn't the issue, and he dealt with a lot that wasn't squarely on him.  That said, great QBs find ways to overcome issues.  He's good, but not great.

3.  The team just isn't...clutch.  Take away Thielen and Diggs (which defenses learned to do) and you haven't got enough to win with.  Cook, Robinson, and Diggs all had drops/mistakes today.

4.  Intensity.  Where is it?  The teams that are in the playoffs have an edge that the Vikings haven't shown much all season.  Coming out of the tunnel seems to be all the aggression we have until well into the 2nd quarter.

5.  Coaching...is a huge part of the problem.  I prefer Zimmer over his last few predecessors by miles, but he's not getting better as younger HCs are coming on.  He can coach DBs, not argument, but his game planning seems completely decoded by most of our opponents.

6.  Team personality is maybe the single biggest issue, as I couldn't begin to tell anyone what ours is.  We're not a typical NFCN team, as those are built around toughness and invoking their will against opponents; the Vikings were essentially timid this season.  OK, fine, maybe more about poise and finesse, like 1998?   Errr...no.  The offense has been a mess despite some magnificent players and the defense took a definite step back this year.

With all considered, at this moment, I consider #6 to be the biggest problem.  A team is built around a set of priorities and desires, a central theme that guides them into and through their season.  I couldn't begin to tell anyone what that was for the Vikings this season.

I'm pissed and disappointed right now, and likely will be for weeks...but I'm also aware that many very solid pieces of this team are guaranteed to return, so I'm not dealing with Frazier-era negativity.  I just hope that Zimmer and Spielman find the philosophical changes they need to make within themselves to truly lead the 2019 Minnesota Vikings to greatness.

Not an excuse but the truth is that this OL sucks ginormous ass. That's on the coaches and the front office. Let them sit and spin with how much of a negative impact that has had on the team as a whole year after year. Until that is addressed, nothing else matters. 

@"Vikergirl" said: Not an excuse but the truth is that this OL sucks ginormous ass. That's on the coaches and the front office. Let them sit and spin with how much of a negative impact that has had on the team as a whole year after year. Until that is addressed, nothing else matters. 

Exactly what I've been saying.  Fix the fuckin OL.

@"Zanary" said: Excuses?  No...reasons:

1.  The OGs are basically shit, and that didn't change.  Most playoff QBs don't deal with the interior pressure ours have had all decade.

2.  Cousins...I just don't know.  The arm talent isn't the issue, and he dealt with a lot that wasn't squarely on him.  That said, great QBs find ways to overcome issues.  He's good, but not great.

3.  The team just isn't...clutch.  Take away Thielen and Diggs (which defenses learned to do) and you haven't got enough to win with.  Cook, Robinson, and Diggs all had drops/mistakes today.

4.  Intensity.  Where is it?  The teams that are in the playoffs have an edge that the Vikings haven't shown much all season.  Coming out of the tunnel seems to be all the aggression we have until well into the 2nd quarter.

5.  Coaching...is a huge part of the problem.  I prefer Zimmer over his last few predecessors by miles, but he's not getting better as younger HCs are coming on.  He can coach DBs, not argument, but his game planning seems completely decoded by most of our opponents.

6.  Team personality is maybe the single biggest issue, as I couldn't being to tell anyone what ours is.  We're not a typical NFCN team, as those are built around toughness and invoking their will against opponents; the Vikings were essentially timid this season.  OK, fine, maybe more about poise and finesse, like 1998?   Errr...no.  The offense has been a mess despite some magnificent players and the defense took a definite step back this year.

With all considered, at this moment, I consider #6 to be the biggest problem.  A team is built around a set of priorities and desires, a central theme that guides them into and through their season.  I couldn't begin to tell anyone what that was for the Vikings this season.

I'm pissed and disappointed right now, and likely will be for weeks...but I'm also aware that many very solid pieces of this team are guaranteed to return, so I'm not dealing with Frazier-era negativity.  I just hope that Zimmer and Spielman find the philosophical changes they need to make within themselves to truly lead the 2019 Minnesota Vikings to greatness.

Z, you are right on.  I know the premiere pass rushers in the league are going to get theirs.  Mack is a beast but we've had our own over the years.  It's that constant pressure up the gut that our less-than-mobile QB gets week in, week out that has to be addressed.

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"FSUVike" said: Let's hear what you got. Me personally, can't defend anything or anyone. Loaded roster. All In moves early in the season. No Playoffs. I can't possibly figure out why I should trust Rick, Mike or Kirk. There's a foulness in Denmark,.and the stench is sticking to the entire organization.

Yup - something very wrong with the chemistry, schemes etc. I'm trying to come-up with 10 things I liked about the 2018 season or team, and I can't. 

Gonna be tough going forward.  They have about 7.3 mil in cap space (according to spotrac) next year right now and have Barr, Richardson, Murray, Harris, Easton, Compton, Jones, Bailey, Wile, and some others as free agents.
They could cut Sendejo, Remmers, and maybe Griffen to get an extra 20.75 mil in cap space bringing them to 28 mil.
Who do they try to extend?  Defensive line class in this next draft is loaded.  Offensive line free agent guards are not too attractive to say the least but maybe they can sign a Andy Levitre for 3 mil or so.
I really cannot see improvements coming next year and even if they reach for a guard in the first round (I think it would be), then the hope is that guard comes out the gate red to go.
I think some continuity is in order but Stefanski has only 3 games experience calling plays and he has Zimmer looking over his shoulder.  He knows if he does not call enough runs he could get fired. 

Which brings me to what OC would want to come work for Zimmer?  Vikings fans will tell me it is a primo job.  Maybe so.
But when you have a well respected former head coach leave you when you are 5-2 and then you fire a young OC after week 14, well it does not really make me believe candidates would feel any security.
Something is wrong when this stuff happens no matter how you slice it.  At least to me.  I know there will be retorts and reasons/explanations but I am not going to but those. I respect them but wont buy into them.
I always look back at who is doing the gosh dang hiring in the first place!

No excuses. The offensive line is a joke and the D-line does not match up well with Chicago, but can anyone with a straight face tell you the Bears aren't the dominate team in the NFCN and look to be for the foreseeable future? They bitch slapped Minnesota around twice.

@"StickyBun" said: No excuses. The offensive line is a joke and the D-line does not match up well with Chicago, but can anyone with a straight face tell you the Bears aren't the dominate team in the NFCN and look to be for the foreseeable future? They bitch slapped Minnesota around twice.

I think the Bears have a very real shot at winning it all.  They remind me of Philly last year.  Their defense is the best in the NFC (or NFL), they can run the ball and have a smart passing game.

@"StickyBun" said: No excuses. The offensive line is a joke and the D-line does not match up well with Chicago, but can anyone with a straight face tell you the Bears aren't the dominate team in the NFCN and look to be for the foreseeable future? They bitch slapped Minnesota around twice.

I'm not ready to crown the Bears anything other than NFCN Champs this year. I think what happens in GB will be fascinating to watch - they still have the #1 or #2 best player in the NFL @ QB to build around. 

Mitch T will get overmatched week 1 or wk2 of the playoffs. Bears are a cute little team with a nice D and I like their RB's too. And Nagy, I like what he's done. 

But I don't see a juggernaut in the making. A dynasty. 

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"StickyBun" said: No excuses. The offensive line is a joke and the D-line does not match up well with Chicago, but can anyone with a straight face tell you the Bears aren't the dominate team in the NFCN and look to be for the foreseeable future? They bitch slapped Minnesota around twice.

I'm not ready to crown the Bears anything other than NFCN Champs this year. I think what happens in GB will be fascinating to watch - they still have the #1 or #2 best player in the NFL @ QB to build around. 

Mitch T will get overmatched week 1 or wk2 of the playoffs. Bears are a cute little team with a nice D and I like their RB's too. And Nagy, I like what he's done. 

But I don't see a juggernaut in the making. A dynasty. 

How big was losing Berger?  He at least provided stability at RG.  Remmers proved to be a swinging gate.

But the loss of Easton and pushing Compton in at LG was a disaster.  Easton was no all-star but had at least proven to be serviceable, meanwhile Compton proved to be even worse than Remmers.  Vikes gameplan was so focused on #52 and Khalil Mack and giving help to the OT's that they moved Elflein away from giving help to Compton and Remmers.  Compton single-handedly destroyed 3 of the first 4 drives.

Coupled with the loss of Sparanao ... the O-line was destined to fail.  And VIkings had no way to scheme around it.  It was like Norv not recognizing how bad LT Matt Kalil was and continuing to call for 7 step drops.  Now our OG's are awful and our bonehead OC's kept calling for Jet-sweeps and stretch plays that take forever to develop and OG's can't hold the point of attack for shit.

@"StickyBun" said: No excuses. The offensive line is a joke and the D-line does not match up well with Chicago, but can anyone with a straight face tell you the Bears aren't the dominate team in the NFCN and look to be for the foreseeable future? They bitch slapped Minnesota around twice.

Agreed. PA said we will probably be picked to finish 3rd in the NFCN next season and I can't argue with that. In a draft that is stacked with defense this year, how are we going to fix our offensive line?

@"TBro" said:

@"StickyBun" said: No excuses. The offensive line is a joke and the D-line does not match up well with Chicago, but can anyone with a straight face tell you the Bears aren't the dominate team in the NFCN and look to be for the foreseeable future? They bitch slapped Minnesota around twice.

Agreed. PA said we will probably be picked to finish 3rd in the NFCN next season and I can't argue with that. In a draft that is stacked with defense this year, how are we going to fix our offensive line?

Only in Minnesota can you have a QB post a 70.1% completion rate for 4300 yards 30td’s against 10 int’s for a 99.7 rating and still be called a bust and/or blamed for being the team’s main reason for losing. It’s absurd. 

The man was sacked 40 times and we all know it could have been much much worse. The most recent stats I can find are through the end of November.

Cousins under pressure: sacked 28 times on pace for 41. 

As of December 1 Kirk Cousins was the most pressured QB in all of the NFL according to PFF.

At the time he was their 4th most efficient QB under pressure despite the continual onslaught most other successful QB’s simply don’t see.

As of the end of November Cousins was pressured an astounding 201 times. 40% of his drop backs! This number of pressures was nearly as much as our QB’s faced all of last season. The Vikings still had 5 games to go! I’m not sure the final tally but he was likely to face 300 pressures which would have come out to 50% of the time. He faced north of 50% pressured on 3rd downs. 

I know some of you as well as the media poo poo stats but stats matter - especially pressure when talking about a QB’s performance. When I evaluate a QB’s performance/draftability under pressure it’s the first thing I look at. It’s the one area that an elite QB will outshine others. 

Aaron Rogers was shown to be human this year seeing more pressure. He still saw less than Cousins yet posted a less than impressive 33.6% completion rate while under duress as of Dec 1. Tom Brady does not perform as he does seeing the onslaught Cousins faces every game. This is an extremely important facet for winning or losing.

Is this team stacked? Yes but only at certain positions. Our offensive line (kicker close second) is the number 1 reason this team is not in the playoffs. The stats are clear on this. It wasn’t that it made Cousins job difficult it made our running game implode. It’s super hard to win in the NFL without a running game. If one pays attention to what it takes to be a successful NFL QB you will realize how much of this team’s deficiencies were hidden by Cousins and our WR’s. 

I love Mike Hughes but like many of you desperately wanted another top lineman investment. This team MUST improve this line. Did losing their coach make a difference? There’s no way to know for sure but I think this team was better with him.

My point is there is much more to why this team didn’t make the playoffs. Coaching must improve  - having the guys ready to go and the line must be fixed. We keep a lot of our players next year. The right decisions must be made and it starts up front. 

Personally I wouldn’t touch our head coach or GM for at least another year but I get the angst. Just one guy’s opinion. Thanks for reading.

@"SFVikeFan" said: How big was losing Berger?  He at least provided stability at RG.  Remmers proved to be a swinging gate.

But the loss of Easton and pushing Compton in at LG was a disaster.  Easton was no all-star but had at least proven to be serviceable, meanwhile Compton proved to be even worse than Remmers.  Vikes gameplan was so focused on #52 and Khalil Mack and giving help to the OT's that they moved Elflein away from giving help to Compton and Remmers.  Compton single-handedly destroyed 3 of the first 4 drives.

Coupled with the loss of Sparanao ... the O-line was destined to fail.  And VIkings had no way to scheme around it.  It was like Norv not recognizing how bad LT Matt Kalil was and continuing to call for 7 step drops.  Now our OG's are awful and our bonehead OC's kept calling for Jet-sweeps and stretch plays that take forever to develop and OG's can't hold the point of attack for shit.

I think you have given a good synopsis of the primary excuse plan that will be presented. It's probably being preached to the Wilfs this morning and I won't be surprised to see OL coach Clancy Barrone fired today or tomorrow as the official scapegoat of the 2018 season. I wouldn't be shocked to see Spielman with a picture of Sparano's grave behind him at every press conference as a means of saying, "How could I have prevented this OL problem??"
But, sad as Sparano's death was, Spielman has been under-supplying the line for a decade and the guys he has brought in for that position have mostly been BAD selections. Yes, his supporters will call out O'Neill, Elflein, and Reiff - but he missed badly using the #3 pick in the draft on Kalil and then picked a bunch of crappy guys like Beavers, Clemmings, Yankey, Baca, Boone, Compton, Remmers, and repeatedly counted on injured guys like Sullivan, Loadholt, and Fusco coming back good as new. Even Elflein now looks like only an average player, and Reiff has been better than Kalil but he's not a top 5 LT, which is how we pay him.
Part of me thinks Spielman will now sign a UFA lineman and use his first rounder there too, hell or high water. OTOH, I wonder if he'll claim that Collins and Easton will return, hire a new OL Coach, and continue to be stingy for OL, because he truly does not like picking linemen (and isn't good at it).
Moreover, as many have aptly pointed out, there are many problems besides the offensive line. But I expect the blame and scapegoating will not go beyond that unit.

Well hopefully we can field a decent enough OL so that Cousins won’t be closing his eyes when he chucks it next year... 

@"Jor-El" said:

But, sad as Sparano's death was, Spielman has been under-supplying the line for a decade and the guys he has brought in for that position have mostly been BAD selections. Yes, his supporters will call out O'Neill, Elflein, and Reiff - but he missed badly using the #3 pick in the draft on Kalil