2018 Minnesota Vikings failed season.

[VikingLord]

I think more went on behind the scenes this season than we know. The Everson Griffen situation was a mess, and even if there is nothing left out of the 'official story' TM, it clearly took something out of the team. I suspect Griffen will never have his edge when he is on anti-psych meds, nor should he not be on them.

I agree. He wasn't the same. Not even close, actually, and he was one of the defense's emotional leaders prior to his episode. He and Sendejo set the tone for that group, and with neither of them on the field they had zero pop. It contrasted with the Bears. The Bear defense looked like the group that needed this win to get into the playoffs, and they had multiple guys who were hyped up all game. The Vikings defense looked like they were ready to head home before the game even got going.

[PurpleMustReign]

I think more went on behind the scenes this season than we know. The Everson Griffen situation was a mess, and even if there is nothing left out of the 'official story' TM, it clearly took something out of the team. I suspect Griffen will never have his edge when he is on anti-psych meds, nor should he not be on them.

Their leading tackler was out for this game. Their best run defending and cover CB, was out for this game.

With those two guys we only lose 13-10. Book it.

Book it? How the hell would we even know? Are threy hoping to play again?

[halfgiz]

Especially Iloka signing.

The Daily Norseman, a Minnesota Vikings blog
@DailyNorseman
17m
Two of the stranger moves this year: -Signing George Iloka and then not playing George Iloka -Giving up draft capital for Brett Jones and then not playing Brett Jones twitter.com/ChadGraff/stat…

[TheSpackler]

The addition of Cousins reminds me an awful lot of when the Bears added Cutler to finally complement their championship-caliber defense. The missing piece!

Then they languished for years complaining about the OL, the coordinators, the WRs etc.
But like Cousins, as good as Cutler could be at times, he just seemed to crap the bed in all the moments that mattered.

[soflavike]

The dark side:
O-Line is piss-poor. All of them.
Kicking game hurt us early in the season. That tie at GB was due to three missed FG's.
Injuries on defense. Not having Sendejo, Rhodes, Kendricks, Griffen and Hughes hurt us late in the season.
A lack of intensity at key moments: Bills game, 1st half of game 16, etc.
Poor coaching... The OC got fired down the stretch, for a reason.
Cousins not as effective as Keenum was with a lousy OL. Keenum could evade rush and make plays.

The bright side
Mackensie Alexander and Holton Hill emerged as players
Anthony Harris has made Sendejo expendable
Wilson played well enough to get rid of Barr
Dalvin Cook played well down the stretch, so did Latavius Murray
Cousins showed real talent when given time to throw.
Thielen and Diggs 1000 yds x 2
Matt Wile is a stud.
The Packers finished last in the North.

The WTF side
George Iloka... why did we sign him again?
Brett Jones... why did we sign him?

[MrPurplenGold]

No Team is 1 Player Away

During their cap disaster era earlier this decade, the Saints seemed capable of convincing themselves that they were perennially one player or one fix away from winning the Super Bowl. On one hand, we've seen how good they can be with Drew Brees and a good defense over the past two seasons, but the reality was that they were always a few players away. After going 11-5 in 2013, they handed a huge contract to star Bills safety Jairus Byrd, even though the deal required an onerous structure to fit into an already tight cap. He was a disaster in New Orleans and is out of football

With two fully guaranteed years left to go on Cousins' deal, the Vikings are basically tied in with him with precious little wiggle room to make changes for the foreseeable future. (There will certainly be Vikings fans dreaming of a scenario where they trade Cousins and use the freed-up cap space to re-sign Teddy Bridgewater, and while it's theoretically possible given that Cousins' money is tied into a base salary, he would need to give his written consent for any trade.) After thinking they were one player away from a Super Bowl run, the Vikings are realizing that it isn't quite that simple.

Pretty good read

[MrPurplenGold]

The WTF side
George Iloka... why did we sign him again?
Brett Jones... why did we sign him?

The Brett Jones trade i can at least rationalize. They only gave up a 7th round pick for someone that was only going to start until Elflein came back from injury. The Iloka one is a little bit more difficult. I'm not sure if he just wasn't as good as zimmer thought he might be or what, but kearse playing more than Iloka was definitely a curious decision. In the grand scheme of things, neither of these should have any significant impact on the future.

[PacificNorseWest]

I agree on Jones. A 7th round pick isn't a hefty price by any means and the Vikings needed some depth on the Oline and Jones was/is a guy that even though he may not be great, he has experience playing different positions up front.

And with Iloka...I was signed for less than a million, so it was low risk, high reward. If he ended up providing a spark and being great, awesome! That wasn't the outcome though, but it didn't hurt the Vikings at all. They ended up going with Anthony Harris and it worked out and they found a replacement for Sendejo. No harm, no foul and it worked out for that position in the end.

[PurpleMustReign]

Did Iloka even play in the second half of the season?
The Brent Jones trade baffles me. You trade for a lineman and then never play him despite the horrendous play of who you did play? I get that we don't see practice, etc... But how bad can Jones, WHO YOU TRADED FOR, be? If our backups are so bad that they can't beat out who did play as poor as they did, what does that say about Spielman, who assembled this bunch? This isn't the first time they've traded for someone who didn't play either, especially on OL.

[MrPurplenGold]

You trade for a lineman and then never play him

Jones started 3 games at center until Elflein returned

[PurpleMustReign]

You trade for a lineman and then never play him

Jones started 3 games at center until Elflein returned

Fine. My point/question is still valid.

[halfgiz]

I agree on Jones. A 7th round pick isn't a hefty price by any means and the Vikings needed some depth on the Oline and Jones was/is a guy that even though he may not be great, he has experience playing different positions up front.

And with Iloka...I was signed for less than a million, so it was low risk, high reward. If he ended up providing a spark and being great, awesome! That wasn't the outcome though, but it didn't hurt the Vikings at all. They ended up going with Anthony Harris and it worked out and they found a replacement for Sendejo. No harm, no foul and it worked out for that position in the end.

Iloka had higher money offers from other teams. But took less money from the Vikings to warm the bench.
Probably some hard feeling between him and Zimmer now.

[PurpleKoolaid]

I agree on Jones. A 7th round pick isn't a hefty price by any means and the Vikings needed some depth on the Oline and Jones was/is a guy that even though he may not be great, he has experience playing different positions up front.

And with Iloka...I was signed for less than a million, so it was low risk, high reward. If he ended up providing a spark and being great, awesome! That wasn't the outcome though, but it didn't hurt the Vikings at all. They ended up going with Anthony Harris and it worked out and they found a replacement for Sendejo. No harm, no foul and it worked out for that position in the end.

Disagree completely. At some point Rick has to get backups that are better then our current backups, and the backups we have had for years. Problem is, Rick Doesnt know a good Olineman if one bit him in the a$$. Same with QB and WR. And maybe some backup D players that dont commit penalties at the worst time. I cant believe I was arguing in game chat about this with someone.

[chicagopurple]

Hi folks, I stepped away from the Vikes Messge board a year or so ago when it became clear that Spielman was going to continue to neglect the OL by filling it with retreads from other teams and blah talent. Nothing good will ever occur on a team who neglects their OL and Spielman has ALWAYS shown that he believes the OL is an unimportant detail that only deserves second class investments. Since I knew it was all going to be very frustrating and go nowhere, I decided to step back and skip sharing what would be an endless stream of negative comments on my part. I have been a Vikes Fan for almost 50 years. I have seen good teams and good management staff.....right now we have neither.

Until we invest in good young talent via strong recruiting scouts for the OL, nothing worthwhile will happen in Minnesota. This wont happen under Spielman. Astoundingly, he went all in on a middling QB who ONLY can function in an adamantium passing pocket. It is bewildering to me how a NFL GM who has little value for the OL position could make this move. Its like he is working for the opposition. He needs to go. Z Wilf needs to wake the F up and realize that Spielman is not his security blanket and can his azz.

[PurpleKoolaid]

Hi folks, I stepped away from the Vikes Messge board a year or so ago when it became clear that Spielman was going to continue to neglect the OL by filling it with retreads from other teams and blah talent. Nothing good will ever occur on a team who neglects their OL and Spielman has ALWAYS shown that he believes the OL is an unimportant detail that only deserves second class investments. Since I knew it was all going to be very frustrating and go nowhere, I decided to step back and skip sharing what would be an endless stream of negative comments on my part. I have been a Vikes Fan for almost 50 years. I have seen good teams and good management staff.....right now we have neither.

Until we invest in good young talent via strong recruiting scouts for the OL, nothing worthwhile will happen in Minnesota. This wont happen under Spielman. Astoundingly, he went all in on a middling QB who ONLY can function in an adamantium passing pocket. It is bewildering to me how a NFL GM who has little value for the OL position could make this move. Its like he is working for the opposition. He needs to go. Z Wilf needs to wake the F up and realize that Spielman is not his security blanket and can his azz.

I agree. Lets hope the Wilfs do as well, and do something about it.