Interesting take: State of The Vikings

[purplefaithful]

A former GM’s take on this Vikings offseason: ‘They are in a tough spot’

“The middle of the pack is a hard, hard place to be,” Mueller said. “That’s kind of what they’ve proved. To me, the first couple of years (with Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell) have proved that they have a ways to go. They just don’t have the guys to compete week in and week out. Yeah, they’re going to win a few games. And yes, you can blame some of last year on Kirk Cousins getting hurt. But I just think they’ve got to add to what they have. But that may cause them to take a step back to get there — which is a hard thing for anybody in this game to do.”

https://theathletic.com/5291096/2024/02/22/vikings-offseason-quarterback-dilemma/

[Guest]

The picture that this article paints is not where you would expect a franchise to be going into the 3rd year of a new GM and HC.  

[Guest]

I guess we just ignore all the injuries last year and that first year record for KOC. It's ridiculous and lazy from the Athletic. 'Oh yeah, I guess if you want to make excuses and give them a lame ass pass over Cousins injury, then SURE....but I just think they suck and I don't want anything to get in the way of that narrative'. Thanks The Athletic.....

[Guest]

Can't get past the pay wall, but I agree with the initial paragraph and have been saying as much. The Vikings are a team that has great talent at the skill positions but lack talent at the supportive positions that win championships.
 
Their defense in particular has weaknesses and their interior offensive line is mediocre at best.
Neither line can reset the line of scrimmage. They can't run the ball when they need to and the defense is challenged to stop the run in short yardage situations. They only have one consistent pass rusher who may not even be there next year. They have at least one cb that isn't nfl caliber starter playing a lot of snaps and they are challenged to cover receivers in their zones.

You can throw out last year due to Cousins injury but other excuses are just that!

They certainly can turn things around but an inexperienced GM and HC are going to have to negotiate the landscape of some large contracts, and acquire free agents and draft wisely to fill in the gaps.

I think Flores is a real positive and with the right moves they could be pretty good next year; that is my hope.
But things could also go the other way.
I agree with the author, they are in a tough spot!

[Guest]

I feel like people have no concept of reality or remembering
what has happened or what the plans were.

• Year
  1.  Run it back with all the
  Spielman and Zimmer players.
  
• Year
  2.  Tear it down, get right with the
  cap in preparation for a future window. 
  Also, shit ton of injuries to key players.
  
• Well
  here we are.
  
• Year
  3.  Start to build for our future
  window.

People selectively choose to both blame us for not burning
it down hard enough and also choose to ignore that we are rebuilding for like
the first time since the beginning of the Zimmer era.  I feel like people are pissed at Spielman and
Zimmer for limping things along too far and taking it out on KAM and KOC.

[Guest]

@medaille said:
I feel like people have no concept of reality or remembering
what has happened or what the plans were.

• Year
  1.  Run it back with all the
  Spielman and Zimmer players.
  
• Year
  2.  Tear it down, get right with the
  cap in preparation for a future window. 
  Also, shit ton of injuries to key players.
  
• Well
  here we are.
  
• Year
  3.  Start to build for our future
  window.

People selectively choose to both blame us for not burning
it down hard enough and also choose to ignore that we are rebuilding for like
the first time since the beginning of the Zimmer era.  I feel like people are pissed at Spielman and
Zimmer for limping things along too far and taking it out on KAM and KOC.

This. 

[Guest]

Pretty terrible article with few if any insights, but the premise isn't wrong. We are in a tough spot. We have been mediocre. Sadly the article doesn't offer much advice on how to move forward, and that's the most important thing.

[Guest]

I think there's little doubt the Vikings would've been a playoff team without the Cousins injury, but I'm sure it's easy for outsiders to say "middle of the pack" because that's what their record says they were.

I think the "tough spot" comes mostly from the fact that their key offensive player and their key defensive player are unsigned. And one of them is recovering from a serious injury. That, and the fact that their best overall player has been eligible for an extension for a year now and remains unsigned.

So yes, there are an unusual amount of question marks on this team right now. This is why everyone is saying this could be our most important off season in decades. But with the exception of Kirk's achilles, none of these are problems that can't be solved with a ballpoint. 

[Guest]

For what it's worth, Wolfson reporting today that he expects KOC to be signed to a contract extension prior to the 2024 season but doesn't expect the same for Kwesi.

Take that as you will...

[Guest]

Let's look at the last few SB winning QBs that even pre-date the KOC/KAM era:
24: Mahomes
23: Mahomes
22: Stafford
21: Brady
20: Mahomes
19: Brady

These are future Hall of Fame QBs. We don't have one. And I doubt many would argue that Cousins is even a borderline HOF QB.  The least of the HOF QBs on this list is Stafford, and the Rams put a tremendous team around him for that one year. 

So here is my idea for building a SB winning team: get a HOF QB or a borderline HOF QB. Until we do that, we are going to be in the second tier of NFL teams. By the way, every NFL team that does not have a HOF QB or borderline HOF QB is also looking for one.  Do you think this merits an article in the Athletic?