2022 Vikings Off-Season Thread

[nicksaviking]

I know I’m an outlier on Pederson, but he seems kind of dopey to me. I may have still been on his bandwagon if I didn’t later start suspecting his early success was due mostly to his coordinators.

Even if he’s less dopey than I’m envisioning, he was super run heavy and I want to sling the ball all over the field.

[Vanimal46]

It’s official. Zimmer AND Spielman are fired. A new era of Vikings football begins! 

[Vanimal46]

Nagy is out in Chicago. 

And here’s your surprise firing…

Brian Flores is out in Miami. Wow! 

[nicksaviking]

Hmmm, I might be able to be talked into Flores making my short list. Miami is a really, really untalented team that he somehow managed to make somewhat relevant.

[nicksaviking]

I've been calling for Spielman to get the boot for about three years now, but I acknowledge that this could backfire.

I really don't think he can figure out the QB or OL spots enough to win a championship, but he sure was good at getting elite skill position players.

[Vanimal46]

2 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I've been calling for Spielman to get the boot for about three years now, but I acknowledge that this could backfire.

I really don't think he can figure out the QB or OL spots enough to win a championship, but he sure was good at getting elite skill position players.

Too many negatives added up for him. His last couple of draft classes have been awful. Too many panic trades, and continuing to not identify QB and OL. 

[nicksaviking]

35 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Too many negatives added up for him. His last couple of draft classes have been awful. Too many panic trades, and continuing to not identify QB and OL. 

Yeah, and kicking the can down the road on the aging vet salaries. Too desperate.

I mean I really liked the days where you kept players for 10+ years, but it's just not smart football to pay most of those guys top end salaries in this age of football. 

[TheLeviathan]

2 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Nagy is out in Chicago. 

And here’s your surprise firing…

Brian Flores is out in Miami. Wow! 

I would hire Brian Flores yesterday.

Is the new top candidate for me.

[gunnarthor]

20 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

I would hire Brian Flores yesterday.

Is the new top candidate for me.

Yeah, 24-25 in three years with that group? 

The owner hinted that there was some "key dynamics" weren't working. Could be that he wants a high profile coach (Harbaugh) or that Flores and the owner didn't see eye-to-eye on their QB?

Looking at the Dolphins SN site, fans seem pretty angry over the move while mentioning that Flores had trouble putting a staff together. Even though he's a defensive minded coach, I think I have him #1, too. 

[TheLeviathan]

2 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

I've been calling for Spielman to get the boot for about three years now, but I acknowledge that this could backfire.

I really don't think he can figure out the QB or OL spots enough to win a championship, but he sure was good at getting elite skill position players.

I put the QB on Spielman, I put the OL on Zimmer.  I would've been ok hanging on to Spielman, but my biggest complaint is he gave Zimmer too much.  He let him hire his own kids and his friend's kids.  He sank every pick into Zimmer's precious DBs.  He needed to be Zimmer's boss and he wasn't.

[Vanimal46]

9 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

Yeah, 24-25 in three years with that group? 

The owner hinted that there was some "key dynamics" weren't working. Could be that he wants a high profile coach (Harbaugh) or that Flores and the owner didn't see eye-to-eye on their QB?

Looking at the Dolphins SN site, fans seem pretty angry over the move while mentioning that Flores had trouble putting a staff together. Even though he's a defensive minded coach, I think I have him #1, too. 

I read Flores and the GM didn’t see eye to eye. And the owner sided with his GM buddy that’s been in the organization for 20 years. Flores will be a HC again very soon. He’s on my short list of candidates to interview for sure. 

[nicksaviking]

39 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

I would hire Brian Flores yesterday.

Is the new top candidate for me.

I do like Flores, but I'll also acknowledge that the Miami fans and owner may know better than I do. Miami just seems like they should be a 3 win team each of the past three seasons, so Flores does look like a miracle worker.

But maybe he does have some personality issues that are hard to overcome? He might be too Zimmer-ish for the Wilfs to go back down to the surly and stubborn well again. But maybe not.

[cHawk]

Don’t forget about a new GM. What are y’all’s top candidates for that position?

[Vanimal46]

21 minutes ago, cHawk said:

Don’t forget about a new GM. What are y’all’s top candidates for that position?

That’s a tough one. I don’t know who was a catalyst for their team’s success, and who was along for the ride. All I would do is look at media guides like the Pohlads when they found and hired Derek Falvey. 

[nicksaviking]

41 minutes ago, cHawk said:

Don’t forget about a new GM. What are y’all’s top candidates for that position?

Yeah, no idea.

I bet it would have been George Paton though if he had stuck around one more year. No idea if that would have been good or bad.

 

[TheLeviathan]

i think you look at organizations that have achieved what you're trying to achieve period they state they want year in and year out success so you start at the franchises that have been able to achieve that.  I guess to me those teams would include the Steelers, the Patriots, the Chiefs, the Packers, 49ers, etc

[nicksaviking]

4 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

i think you look at organizations that have achieved what you're trying to achieve period they state they want year in and year out success so you start at the franchises that have been able to achieve that.  I guess to me those teams would include the Steelers, the Patriots, the Chiefs, the Packers, 49ers, etc

Yeah, and the Steelers will be looking for a GM now too.

Although.....considering their 50-year history of consistency, maybe it's worth waiting to see who Pittsburgh plans on signing as GM, then swoop in and double their offer.

[Danchat]

On 1/10/2022 at 4:04 PM, nicksaviking said:

Yeah, and the Steelers will be looking for a GM now too.

Although.....considering their 50-year history of consistency, maybe it's worth waiting to see who Pittsburgh plans on signing as GM, then swoop in and double their offer.

Note that the Steelers are going to wait until their playoff run is over to start their search, and we're waiting on a GM to start interviewing HC candidates.... there's only so much time to do this. I wouldn't be surprised if they've been grooming someone to take Colbert's place, like how Baltimore had DeCosta ready to take Newsome's place when he retired.

As for GMs, right now they are bringing in Eliot Wolf (NE), Glenn Cook and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (CLE), and John Spytek (TB) for interviews. 

[TheLeviathan]

9 hours ago, Danchat said:

Note that the Steelers are going to wait until their playoff run is over to start their search, and we're waiting on a GM to start interviewing HC candidates.... there's only so much time to do this. I wouldn't be surprised if they've been grooming someone to take Colbert's place, like how Baltimore had DeCosta ready to take Newsome's place when he retired.

As for GMs, right now they are bringing in Eliot Wolf (NE), Glenn Cook and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (CLE), and John Spytek (TB) for interviews. 

One trend is clear as another pile of names emerge.....the Vikings are looking at young candidates.

[cHawk]

I can’t be the only one shocked at this result.

[TheLeviathan]

14 hours ago, cHawk said:

I can’t be the only one shocked at this result.

Not shocked.  In fact, profited off expecting exactly this.

Mac Jones is not special and this Pats team had a breezy schedule.  Total paper tigers.

[Vanimal46]

A couple of duds so far in this SUPER Wild Card Weekend. Philly as the 7 seed as expected gets demolished by Tampa. And the Buffalo vs. New England game was over at halftime. 

[cHawk]

4 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

Not shocked.  In fact, profited off expecting exactly this.

Mac Jones is not special and this Pats team had a breezy schedule.  Total paper tigers.

IK but a 30 point final? That defense was still one of the best.

[TheLeviathan]

19 minutes ago, cHawk said:

IK but a 30 point final? That defense was still one of the best.

My personal opinion is they had a cake schedule made even cakier by Covid and some well-timed matchups.  

[cHawk]

3 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

My personal opinion is they had a cake schedule made even cakier by Covid and some well-timed matchups.  

TBF the Bills’ schedule was about as easy as NE’s.

[cHawk]

Why the **** would you kick a FG in the 4th Quarter down by 16 in a playoff game?

Seems like a Zimmer thing to do.

[Vanimal46]

I’m that petty where I cancel Kellen Moore’s interview solely for the QB draw play call with 14 seconds left and 0 timeouts. That was mind boggling bad. 

Also, weird, both 7 seeds are getting smoked. 

[cHawk]

48 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

I’m that petty where I cancel Kellen Moore’s interview solely for the QB draw play call with 14 seconds left and 0 timeouts. That was mind boggling bad. 

Also, weird, both 7 seeds are getting smoked. 

Both 7 Seeds were obviously getting smoked.

Adding a 7th Seed has given us 4 more playoff games the last two years. One of them was good. The other three? Not so much.

[TheLeviathan]

13 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

I’m that petty where I cancel Kellen Moore’s interview solely for the QB draw play call with 14 seconds left and 0 timeouts. That was mind boggling bad. 

Also, weird, both 7 seeds are getting smoked. 

That Dallas game should effectively end the idea Moore is ready for that promotion.  

Brian Daboll literally did nothing short of coordinate the perfect offensive game.  They didn't punt, kick a field goal, or have a turnover.  They scored touchdowns or victory formation'd.  Hire the man!

[Danchat]

Sounds like Dabboll is the favorite for the Giants job, Flores is the favorite for Texans and possibly the Bears, and Quinn is the favorite for Denver. It’s still very early and these could change, but I think Dabboll and Flores are locks getting HC jobs.

I have to wonder why Leftwich and Bienemy aren’t on the Vikings interview list… not sure if Pederson needed to be listed, but he should be on there too.