Cousins out Sunday night against GB

[VikingLord]

Speaking of Covid, I present to you … your (likely) starting offensive line for the season finale against the Bears.

Oli Udoh, Mason Cole, Garrett Bradbury, Dakota Dozier, and Rashod Hill.

That’s right, Christian Darrisaw, Ezra Cleveland and Brian O’Neill are all on the Covid list.

And to complete the fun, Eric Kendricks and Camryn Bynum will also kiss the game due to Covid.

Since this list came out yesterday, and the mandatory down period for vaccinated players is five days, you may assume all these guys are unvaccinated.

Let the carnage begin.

Cole is on IR, so I think we will get to see the greatest Olineman to never play a snap, Wyatt Davis on the line.

Looks like fans will get their wish and younger players are going to get a shot at significant playing time in this meaningless game.

You know, its funny because one would think a forward-looking organization would begin to evaluate their younger players progression at this point in a season where there is no longer any chance of making the playoffs and the original starters and vets failed at getting the team into the dance. Why not see who has been putting in the work even when they weren't going to get much regular season action? Why not see who might have developed and who wants to play? The vets and established starters didn't get it done. At least start some evaluations for the future.

In my view, this is part of that bigger picture strategic thinking that I mentioned in the next steps thread Kapp started. What is the point of starting Mannion over Mond unless Mannion gave the Vikings an appreciably better chance of winning that game against the Packers? If Zimmer is thinking big picture, Mannion doesn't start that game. Mond has to start it and play it so Zimmer and Spielman can see how Mond has progressed and whether he is viable as a future QB. Zimmer said he didn't need to see that because he sees Mond every day at practice. While that is true, he doesn't see Mond in game conditions and under game pressures. He doesn't see how Mond prepares for and handles that situation. The only way to see that is to give him the chance and put him in there.

Instead, Zimmer starts Mannion. Is Mannion under consideration to be the future at QB for this team? Ever?

If not, then starting Mannion was just dumb. It might have made Mannion feel better. Zimmer knows Mannion knows the playbook at this point. He knows he puts in the work, sure. But is Mannion ever going to be announced as the regular starter at QB for the Vikings, or even for any other team?

Very unlikely.

And look at it even bigger picture. Let's say the Vikings don't like Mond all that much, or they do like him, but in this coming draft they take a guy who they like better. By getting Mond on the field on national TV against the Packers, even if he didn't do all that well he might have piqued another team's interest in a QB-needy league, and that somebody might be willing to make a deal for him in the offseason that might make him worth more than the early 3rd the Vikings spent on him.

Now granted, that is speculation, but is anyone going to do that with Mannion? Even if he played relatively well?

Mond has all the upside. Even if he doesn't know the playbook at all and didn't play particularly well, he's the player who needed the chance to show what he is and where he is in his development, and Zimmer had (and I guess, still has) a chance to do that and passed it up in favor of a guy he feels some greater personal responsibility towards I guess.

This is why Zimmer isn't a great coach and will never be a great coach. He missed a chance to help himself more than anyone by trotting Mannion out there instead of Mond. And if Cousins can play against the Bears, he'll trot him out there as well.

As for Wyatt Davis, I understand your comment about him, but for all we know, Davis might very well be a much better guard than anyone Zimmer has trotted out there yet. He'll certainly get a chance to show it against Hicks who freakin' destroyed the Vikings interior line in the last meeting.

[cmoss84]

A lot of interesting conversations and views in this thread. I guess a combination of a pandemic and love of sports will do that.

I probably have a much different take than many of you...but here are my two cents:

1) I do not understand why people do not want to get the vaccinations/booster (aside from BS political reasons), but I have friends who I respect very much in that camp. To each their own. I am on the side of science and medicine. When people start choosing their political views over science and medicine, many people will be at risk very quickly. For reasons outside of politics, I still do not understand them, but understand they are there.
2) Everyone absolutely deserves the right to decide if they want the vaccinations or not. 100%
3) If players did not want to get the vaccinations, they should have opted out. Pretty sure that most professional athletes had enough money to get by, and players that did opt out were not frowned upon.
4) If I am making millions/year in salary and my boss tells me to do something that I feel is unsafe, I would not do it. But in this case, I would have opted out.
5) Side note here-but I also do not understand a lot of the concussion arguments. If you are a professional athlete, you are always at risk of a major injury. If you do not want those risks, do not play professional sports. If RBs want to walk normal the rest of their lives, then retire early (AKA Barry Sanders and Robert Smith-nobody frowned upon them).

Ultimately, players who did not get vaccinated let their teammates, organizations, and fans down. Yes, they had the choice to do so, but also had the choice to opt out. Yes, to me this sounds selfish. These players wanted to have their cake and eat it too.

[fiestavike]

Most experts believed we would "end" covid if enough people got vaccinated quick enough.

Most experts knew this was going to be endemic pretty early on, vax or not.