Retool or Rebuild for 2022?

That’s the thing. They swung and missed with Jackson (Fran Foley) , ponder and Bridgewater. They had a top defense we all expected Zimmer to maintain at a high level and they didn’t have time to develop another rookie so what in the world were they supposed to do? After making the NFCCG the fans expected them to be able to build on that but it didn’t happen and the defense regressed. Steadily. Cousins was the best of who was available and clearly was an upgrade over every other QB Zimmer had. It’s his defense that has let the team down.

Miamis Oline is worse than ours, that would be a horrible fit. I dont see them making that mistake with still a young QB in Tua. Denver, Browns , or possibly the Steelers seem like the only options. Hopefully Patton is a  big Kirk guy that would be ideal. Sadly this also means well have to root for Rodgers to stay in GB or retire as he would be the number 1 option this offseason. 

The funny part is everyone who is against a fresh start in GM, HC, QB there main argument is things could be a lot worse. I get it we have had some rough years before Zim whether it be with Frazier or Tice. We have had some terrible QBs in Ponder and Cousins has brought stability since he got here. Rick navigates the draft well and has brought in some consistent talent that the bottom of the barrel teams havent seen in 10 years. But at the end of the day we still havent won anything with these guys. Its been four years with this trio and they have made the playoffs ONCE and had no chance vs a legit team in the 49ers that year. They have even added a 7th wild card team and we still cant get in. We are Vikings fans there is only one goal and that is win the Super Bowl. We have seen everything else and accomplished it all but that. Im not a fan to watch us beat the Packers once a year. Whether we are 1-15 or 13-3 and no Super bowl that is the same to me. If your willing to keep anyone of Rick, Kirk, or Zim around because you are scared their successor MAY not be as "good" as them you are looking at it wrong in my opinion. They have accomplished nothing and trying to pinpoint who is the problem and keeping anyone of them is playing with disaster. They have all gotten a fair chance at this point and its time for fresh start all around. Im willing to trust a new GMs vision and it may take 2 years to be anything but we have been waiting or whole life Im fine with that. None of these 3 will ever win anything here at this point, they had their chances.

I’m not sure what point you are trying to establish. I am dealing in facts and the fact is Favre and Manning were not available. Kirk was. I wasn’t a fan of bringing him in or the contract but we paid the price it took to get him. And less than he could have made elsewhere. Those are facts. We currently don’t have a better QB in the roster. That’s a fact. The defense has regressed since 2017. That’s a fact. Other teams have a high dollar QB and still put together a solid roster with OL that can block. Defenses that can rush and tackle and they get into the playoffs. Fact. The fact that we are not in the playoffs is not solely the result of Kirk or his contract.

So what would you have done?
I agree there were other options. I most likely would have signed Keenum to a contract and drafted but it wasn’t my choice. Still- the team supposedly was ready to win it all and that’s the choice that was made. I was ready to dump Zimmer that year as I believed his team had peaked and that it was unlikely he would ever win a SB if he couldn’t do it with what he had then. So yeah- dumping Zimmer and not signing Kirk is proving to have been the right choice. But that’s not what happened.

Like it or not we are stuck with the contract we gave him and it costs us more to dump it trade and take the hit than we will gain by doing it. So keep him one more year, take the cap hit and figure something else out

The best option based on what the Viking's medical staff was telling them about Bridgewater and Bradford, was for the Vikings to extend Case during the season when it was clear he was at least a viable, bridge starter.  Then I would have drafted the best QB available in the 2018 draft.  

You would have fired Zimmer after he went 13-3 and made it to the NFCCG with a backup QB? 

 

I wish it were that simple, but if Rick is still the GM, I think it is a lock he will extend Cousins.  Not doing so is an admission that not only was the original signing a mistake, but that he doubled down on that stupidity and extended the bum.  

Best case scenario, the Vikings trade Cousins and use 2022 as a rebuild year with a not horrible journeyman QB for half the cost of Cousins.  Gardner Minshew can put up big numbers in losses for us for a lot cheaper than Cousins would.