http://www.startribune.com/vikings-gm-r ... 417256563/
I was thinking about the last point the other day, realizing the Vikings won as many playoff games under in their first 3 years under Mike Tice, without a GM and with cheapskate Red McCombs stripping the organization down and preparing to sell it off, as they have in the 12 years since the Wilfs bought the team.The Vikings haven’t won a playoff game since Brett Favre led them to a 34-3 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Jan. 17, 2010 — 2,642 days ago. They are 0-3 in playoff games since that day, including one-and-done appearances in the 2012 and 2015 seasons.
With that in mind, Spielman was asked if his faith in his system for building a team ever wavers during these weeks when he interacts face to face with peers who have experienced more tangible successes the past five seasons. The answer came before the question was even completed.
“No,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is you can’t control the uncontrollable. Hopefully we don’t have to go through the adversities that we faced every week last year. That’s part of the business, and you try to adjust the best you can. But I know we have a very talented young core of players on this roster. And we’re still adding talent to it.”
Owners Mark and Zygi Wilf have been coming to these annual meetings since they bought the Vikings from Red McCombs in 2005. As they move among peers who have won one or multiple Super Bowls — i.e. Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who has collected three of his five Lombardi Trophies since ’05 — the Wilfs are 1-4 in the postseason as owners.
Sigh... I see no acknowledgement in that statement of the role management played in what happened last year.“We had a pretty deep roster last year until we got decimated by injuries,” Spielman said of an 8-8 season in which the Vikings used 12 offensive linemen and lost their quarterback for 16 games, star running back for 13 and even their head coach for a prime-time game against the NFC-leading Dallas Cowboys.
“But I think just everybody learned from [going 3-8] after starting out so fast. I think the adversities caught up with us, but as I reflect back on how we handled that … we were still very, very close to being a playoff team even with everything that happened. No one is satisfied. We’re very disappointed. But I think going through that adversity is going to make us stronger.”