Jim Souhan : Vikings lead league in underachieving and embarrassments
MINNEAPOLIS - If only the NFL would change the rules of the game, the Vikings would be Super Bowl-bound. If only throwing helmets and sideline fits could propel a team toward the top of the standings, the Vikings could start selling playoff tickets today.
Under the current rules governing football competence and decorum, though, what we witnessed on Sunday afternoon at Mall of America Field qualifies the 2010 Vikings only as the most embarrassing team in the NFL. An embarrassment to the owner who funded a talented roster, to the players who showed more fight on their sideline than on the field, and to the coach who so recently brought his team to the brink of a Super Bowl.
Now that the Dallas Cowboys have fired a coach and won two straight games, your bickering Vikings qualify as the biggest underachievers in football.
Their 31-3 loss to the Packers on Sunday ranks as the Vikings' worst home loss since Dec. 23, 2001, when Jacksonville won 33-3, leading, a week later, to the firing of Denny Green.
As they were losing in historic fashion Sunday, at least five players threw their helmets in frustration. Another, Visanthe Shiancoe, spiked his water bottle in front of the bench. Defensive end Ray Edwards screamed at two young defensive backs, one of whom cursed him in return, and Brett Favre blew off offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell in the second quarter.
Playing at home against their primary rival in a game they needed to win, the Vikings took a 3-0 lead, then, from 9:44 of the second quarter to the 9:42 mark of the fourth, were outscored 31-0 before the Packers lost interest.
While a few players spoke of winning the final six games and hoping for a playoff berth, Favre, the creases on his forehead looking deep as ravines, said, ``I know there's still a slim chance, but c'mon.''
Asked if his team quit, Favre said: ``I don't know. I can't answer that. The score would indicate that.''
The score, and the Vikings' 3-7 record, tells you that owner Zygi Wilf has no choice but to make changes. And the only two changes that can transform a team, or enable an owner to assess the moves he'll need to make during the offseason, are at coach and quarterback. Benching the right tackle won't do it.
Monday, Wilf should announce the firing of coach Brad Childress and the promotion of defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier to replace him.
Then Frazier should step on the podium, express regrets that his defense has been every bit as responsible for the 3-7 record as Childress' offense, and announce that Tarvaris Jackson will become the starting quarterback.
Those moves won't save a lost season, but they would:
- Give this expensive, veteran team a shock worthy of a defibrillator, a shock that may at least cause players to display some pride for the rest of the season.
-Give Wilf a glimpse of Frazier as a head coach and Jackson as a starting quarterback, to gauge whether either deserves consideration to keep his job next season.
Jackson would be a long shot, but there is nothing more to be gained or learned with Favre as a starting quarterback this year.
-Establish that Wilf has standards. He once commissioned a Code of Conduct pertaining to the team's off-the-field behavior; now he needs to establish a Code of Competitiveness for his organization on the field.
To make those moves, Wilf would have to stomach paying Childress not to coach and Favre not to play. At this point, he could probably take a collection from fans willing to pay both of them to disappear.
Neither Favre nor Childress is solely responsible for the disintegration of a good team, but their failed relationship has contributed heavily to the most disappointing season in franchise history.
The head coach and quarterback must provide leadership. This year, their failures have been intertwined ever since Favre broke his promise that he would tell the Vikings early in the offseason whether he would play in 2010.
Favre flaunted the wishes of Childress and the rest of the organization, implicitly telling his teammates that practice and team unity mattered little, that this team was good enough to draw plays in the dirt and win a championship. His disdain for Childress eventually infected other players.
Is it any wonder that Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian subsequently displayed little interest in either playing or practicing, or that Adrian Peterson avoided offseason workouts?
Talking Favre into playing before the 2009 season took Childress to the NFC title game; sending teammates to talk Favre into playing in 2010 may have cost Childress his job.
Sunday, it became indisputable that Childress had lost his players. After watching them bicker, the question about a lot of these gentlemen is: Who would want to keep them?