The toxicity of the fan base...

When I read the details of the Walker trade in the Star-Tribune at a downtown St. Cloud Hemsing's Deli, I knew it was going to be a death knell for the Vikings for years to come, and the archnemesis Cowboys would benefit greatly. Almost every Vikings fan I talked to at that time had no idea what the details of the trade actually meant and were happy to bring in Walker. It wasn't until later that Vikings fans actually understood what a debacle the trade was.  

When the Vikings were looking at signing Kirk Cousins, I stated that he makes slow reads, get flustered, and makes too many mistakes in the red zone and under pressure. He had top 12 stats, but he wasn't a winner because he couldn't seal the deal. I also was wary of him preaching and proselytizing during his college and NFL career and believed him to be a poor locker room influence. Most fans wanted the Vikings to sign Cousins, and they thought Spielman had made the right move and even stated that Cousins' 100% guaranteed salary was market value.

Cousins is everything I'd thought he'd be, and his salary will be an anchor on the Vikings until he is gone - which should have been after three seasons, but for that awful extension. Spielman and Zimmer stated they were tied to Cousins, and that should be enough to fire both Spielman and Zimmer because they couldn't see what kind of player Kirk Cousins really is.  Any quarterback who throws the ball away on the last play of the game to save his stats when a potential game tying TD is within reach deserves to be benched and traded from the team. Any quarterback who checks down again and again on third and long, or even fourth and long, needs to be benched and traded. The Vikings don't need a grimace; they need leadership. Mistakes will be made; that is part of the game, but the great quarterbacks overcome, show confidence, and motivate others to do the same.

During the first week of the season, the Cowboys and Bucs had a shootout. In the final game winning drive, Tom Brady purposefully threw the ball away on three straight plays to run the clock down prior to a Bucs field goal try with no time outs. He didn't care that his stats would look worse because of those incomplete passes. He didn't care that tips and bounces had put extra interceptions on his stats earlier. He overcame that. He took control. He motivated his team with his skill, situational knowledge, and field command presence. Brady is what Cousins will never be: a natural leader.

I watched Kirk lead us to a comeback/last minute/game winning drive against:
Cinncy-until Cook fumbled in OT
AZ-until Joseph missed a short FG
Detroit- Last minute drive for FG
Carolina- Another OT winning drive
GB- Game winning drive for a FG
Detroit- Game winning drive until the defense decided it shouldn't be

That's a lot of clutch moments for him this year.

Anyone else think the toxicity of the fanbase is at an all time high?

It's so strange that Kirk Cousins has really brought out the absolute worst in people in the fan base these past couple years. Has anyone read the comments just on like Twitter under any post the simply talks about Kirk Cousins? Or just the cheap shots from media also and guys like Mike Florio love to throw out any chance they get. And I know Florio is just a strange dude and he has certain overtones about him that you know he holds stuff against Kirk Cousins because he played a round the golf with somebody that really bothers Mike Florio in the past...

But even like if you read the comments like on Twitter and you see the stuff here. It's just nauseating, The toxicity and the infighting in the fan base is something I've never seen before so polarizing.

Here's a dead on fact... Kirk Cousins is probably the second or third best quarterback this franchise has ever had.. And people want to hold the contract against him and I get it. But if anyone thinks that you're going to sign a legitimate quarterback on the free agent market and get a good deal you're just not. Your expectations were flawed in the beginning. Free agency especially at the quarterback position is the tax you pay for not being able to draft a franchise quarterback in 50 years. That's just how it works.

So for every person that said oh we just need a decent quarterback and some steadiness at the position. This is what you are asking for. Maybe you didn't think it out that great. But you got exactly what you asked for at the price point that it cost. Kirk Cousins merely just signed the contract that was offered to him. I don't veiw Kirk Cousins as a "jerk" or "rude" or a "locker room cancer", he's not a "bad person". But that's the way he is treated by a good portion of this toxic fan base.

I mean for example Dalvin Cook gets covid, misses the Rams game, and that probably cost us the season, More so than Kirk Cousins getting covid and missing the Packers game. And nobody is sh*tting all over Dalvin Cook. Nor should they be.

But I am so tired of just people crapping on some of the best players on our team let alone the quarterback who is one of the best players on our team. Let alone being happy for one of our main players to get hurt or be ill. That's insane to me.

This fan base has gone full on wonky and toxic and I wonder if we part ways with Kirk Cousins who's going to be the next guy to get the brunt of it.

If anything with this regime change that's going to take place one of the best things I look forward to is hopefully a reduction in toxicity. Because I literally can't stand half of the fan base and it clearly wasn't always like that. A simple browse of Twitter makes me want to jump through my computer screen and choke people. We are all supposed to be at least roughly on the same page with the same goal. I'm just tired of the infighting...

I've been following this team since the mid-80s I can't remember a time where the fan base was lower quality than it is right now.

Can anyone else think of a time that the fan base was so divided?

Huh? Dude you need to chill with the vaxx gibberish.

You couldn't be more wrong. Please keep your political stuff to the OT section as we've been advised.

Just for future reference how should I respond to political talk in the football section other than asking to move that debate to the OT section. Even when I'm trying to walk on ice I can't do that properly it seems... I don't know what you want me to do? I invited that conversation off the football side. Isn't that the right thing to do?

Can't really do anything right anyway I try. No pun intended...

I watched Kirk lead us to a comeback/last minute/game winning drive against:
Cinncy-until Cook fumbled in OT
AZ-until Joseph missed a short FG
Detroit- Last minute drive for FG
Carolina- Another OT winning drive
GB- Game winning drive for a FG
Detroit- Game winning drive until the defense decided it shouldn't be

That's a lot of clutch moments for him this year.

People remember the late drives that put us in position but how come they forget how often he disappeared after the opening TD drive and then didn't show up again until the last drive? You don't need comeback drives if you play a full 60 minutes. Someone making what Kirk is making should have a lot more double digit wins under his belts. Instead we're debating about games he almost won. He's a career .500 QB who has only made the playoffs twice in 7 seasons as a starter, with 2 different teams. That's not bad luck, that's a disturbing trend.