The Friday Link for 1/7/22

Oh my! It's a Friday Link on a Friday! 

Okay, I take the holiday card and play it. By the way, this week's Friday Link is going to have a sports theme!

This week, we look back in time to when the Minnesota Vikings were good, and at times, scary good!  This year's team is a freaking mess.  I know there is a lot of debate out there but I think Rick Spielman, the Vikings General Manager, is the main problem.  He knows talent, but he needs to learn he's not the coach. 

Next up on the problem brigade is Kirk Cousins, our quarterback.  He's had a decent year, but he still doesn't know how to win close games late.  And then there's the COVID debacle.  The Vikings were the worst team in the NFL for common sense vaccinations against COVID, and it seems Kirk led the charge against vaccination.  I made the point in August; 'God help you if you end up sick and it costs the team a playoff spot.'

Cousins came down with COVID last week and so the Vikings went into a must win game at Green Bay with our highly inferior backup QB. After we lost and were eliminated from the playoffs, Cousins came back, cleared to play this last inconsequential game, and tried to smooth things over with Vikings fans by saying he wants to spend the rest of his career in Minnesota.  Thanks, but no thanks.

Last one up is Coach Mike Zimmer.  I like Zimmer, although I can't stand when the team calls for a 2 year pass when it's 3rd and 8.  If your game plan for a first down includes the defense blowing coverage or someone missing a tackle, it's a bad plan.  

Zimmer is stuck between two obnoxious forces in Spielman and Cousins, and I frankly think he did the best he could with what he had, and with the limitations thrust upon him.  If I were the Vikings, I'd get rid of Spielman and Cousins and keep Zimmer, but watch them do the exact opposite. Then next year we can be eliminated from playoff contention early to beat the holiday rush!

Also, for the record, stadiums CLEARLY don't get you championships.  I think we can put that lie to bed.

This week let's look back on the past and find truly great Vikings games of yore!  One side note, the games will have to be viewed on You Tube due to the videos containing content from the NFL.  First up we go back to a Monday Night matchup (Hank Williams Jr.? YIKES!) when Monday night's game was THE game. The Vikings went into Green Bay and introduced the world to Randy Moss. 

Next up is the dismantling of the Dallas Cowboys from the Playoffs in 2009!

The game where Randy Moss mooned the Packer fans in Green Bay is up next. Although everyone remembers that game for that one gesture, that was a REALLY good game for the Vikings in Green Bay.

And of course this would not be complete without the Vikings miracle win verses the Saints. I loved watching this happen to Sean Payton, the head coach of the Saints. He is REALLY a horrible coach. 

Don't be like Kirk Cousins.  Get vaccinated.  Wear a mask.  Social Distance. 

Be safe.