With O'Connell over Harbaugh, Vikings are forced to revamp
Feb 6, 2022 9:59:00 GMT -6
winatnoon likes this
Post by RickHasBeenFired on Feb 6, 2022 9:59:00 GMT -6
From the Wednesday high of thinking we would have a better coached team with a veteran coach like Harbaugh, the idea we could make a push with Cousins seemed plausible. But with Vikings fans feeling like they missed out on a homerun hire, and instead we wait almost two weeks for our first glimpse of the vision of Kevin O'Connell as new Vikings coach, it's hard for Vikings fans to not feel a bit of emptiness and frustration.
It's as if we were allowed to open one Christmas gift a day early, and we picked the package with socks in it.
I understand Vikings fans, those patient, and those not as patient, will want to provide Kevin a fair shot, but the picture of a Harbaugh led Vikings team has already been painted. There's a sense that we missed out and a wish to rewind the clock. For whatever reason, the hire that would have emotionally won many Vikings fans over has been missed.
Instead now we wait for Kevin, and then we wait more. We wait for patience. Mumblings now have it that Cousins needs to go. Cousins leaving is probably best at this point to remove comparisons of what Kevin will do compared to Zimmer. A sure-fire way to sink a new head coach is to give him the same roster as the previous coach and have him not measure up. Kevin isn't just competing against Zimmer however, he's also competing against the vivid pictures of certainty many Vikings fans painted of Jim Harbaugh pushing this team into the playoffs in 2022 with Kirk or with someone else, with Vic Fangio leading the defense to be a top 15 defense.
Just with the Harbaugh flirtation, Kevin O'Connell already has big shoes to fill, and the best way to reset expectations is to completely change the identity of the team, which means moving Kirk Cousins and officially declaring a rebuild. Not rebuilding at this point would put Kevin in an unfair position with a defense that is old and often injured. The early word on defensive coordinators is Mike Pettine will be the DC. A DC who has had a couple successful seasons, but never seems to last long enough to have his contract renewed, even in his most successful locations.
We've officially entered rebuild mode in a year where the best QB in the division could be Jared Goff.
It's as if we were allowed to open one Christmas gift a day early, and we picked the package with socks in it.
I understand Vikings fans, those patient, and those not as patient, will want to provide Kevin a fair shot, but the picture of a Harbaugh led Vikings team has already been painted. There's a sense that we missed out and a wish to rewind the clock. For whatever reason, the hire that would have emotionally won many Vikings fans over has been missed.
Instead now we wait for Kevin, and then we wait more. We wait for patience. Mumblings now have it that Cousins needs to go. Cousins leaving is probably best at this point to remove comparisons of what Kevin will do compared to Zimmer. A sure-fire way to sink a new head coach is to give him the same roster as the previous coach and have him not measure up. Kevin isn't just competing against Zimmer however, he's also competing against the vivid pictures of certainty many Vikings fans painted of Jim Harbaugh pushing this team into the playoffs in 2022 with Kirk or with someone else, with Vic Fangio leading the defense to be a top 15 defense.
Just with the Harbaugh flirtation, Kevin O'Connell already has big shoes to fill, and the best way to reset expectations is to completely change the identity of the team, which means moving Kirk Cousins and officially declaring a rebuild. Not rebuilding at this point would put Kevin in an unfair position with a defense that is old and often injured. The early word on defensive coordinators is Mike Pettine will be the DC. A DC who has had a couple successful seasons, but never seems to last long enough to have his contract renewed, even in his most successful locations.
We've officially entered rebuild mode in a year where the best QB in the division could be Jared Goff.
... and neither is this Chris guy.