Some Vikings Fans Are Fundamentally Fed up with Current GM and HC
Never mind a teensy 14-15 months on the job, and forget about the 13-4 record in 2022, plus the first division title in five years.
Some Minnesota Vikings fans have turned heel on the current leadership regime and are ready to be done.
Some Vikings Fans Are Fundamentally Fed up with Current GM and HC
Remarkably, the honeymoon has ground to a screeching halt, and a handful of folks already want change. The schism seems derived from an unsurprising topic — quarterback Kirk Cousins. One faction wants Cousins to lead the team indefinitely. Another wants to move on with “the next guy.” And an extra section believes general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah doesn’t know how to scout talent.
Sounding like the resentments of a team that finished 2022 with a losing record, fans used Thursday’s pre-draft press conference presented by Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell as an apparent tipping point. The Vikings leadership merely stated it was open to drafting a Cousins replacement in 2023 or 2024, and those statements opened the floodgates.
The Purple Code’s Rick Sosa tweeted Thursday, “You tell me which QB after helping his team go 13-4 with 8 game-winning drives including the greatest comeback in NFL history doesn’t get extended […] Kirk, please waive your no-trade clause, go to San Francisco win a Super Bowl, and let Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell sink with their ‘Quarterback of the Future’ plan. Skol.”
Twitter user @RandySavage_69 echoed a similar sentiment hours later, “Kwesi will be fired within 2 years and I cannot wait. This dude has no clue what he’s doing and once he bombs this draft like he did last year people will see. Hiring anyone from the Browns should’ve been a red flag from the beginning.”
Piggybacking on Sosa’s tweet, @SWFLVIKINGS tweeted, “I love it that there is someone out there that thinks like me!! I don’t think the Vikings win 5 games next year. The whole front office is soft. I’m ready to move on from Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.”
And pivoting to an alleged deficiency regarding Adofo-Mensah’s ability to scout talent, @shreddervike posted, “Kwesi is in over his head! Anyone in the know or who has sources knows this. Other organizations know this. He can’t evaluate talent, hence the ‘team effort’ slogan for the draft.”
Of course, angst aimed at the Vikings leadership is nothing new. Down the stretch of their tenures, former general manager Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer encountered the same criticisms. The Vikings own the third-best regular season winning percentage in the Super Bowl era but frustratingly haven’t won a Super Bowl.
So, folks’ opinions fundamentally splinter when mammoth matters arise, such as the direction to endorse at quarterback. One camp wants Cousins in the saddle until he’s no longer any good, while another wants the Vikings to do both — employ Cousins for another year or two and plan for the future like Kansas City Chiefs did in 2017 or Green Bay Packers in 2005.
The Vikings own the 23rd pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, an undesirable spot to nab an upper-echelon quarterback prospect. Therefore, the team must hope a Will Levis or Anthony Richardson tumbles down the board, trade up and perhaps into the Top 10, or reach for Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker (who was a 3rd-Round prospect one month ago).
Minnesota hasn’t drafted a quarterback who stayed with the franchise as a starter for longer than six seasons in 46 years.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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