For Vikings, New Isn’t A Sure Thing [OPINION]

In a lot of ways, Vikings fans are kind of spoiled. As fans, we feel like the team always lets us down generation after generation, leaving the suffering to innocent children and grandchildren of those who came before us.

I definitely can understand that point of view. I'm 40 years old and I have never seen the Vikings even make it to the Super Bowl in my lifetime let alone win one. It seems almost mathematically impossible that the team hasn't at least appeared in one for nearly 50 years but here we are, sad and lonely and afraid.

(No? Just me?)

With the Vikings again performing below expectations in 2021, a familiar refrain can be heard echoing around social media and talk radio: Fire the coach. Fire the GM. Fire the quarterback. (I know you can't 'fire' a quarterback).

That's all fine and dandy, but what if you miss? What if the Vikings clean house and bring in a new coach and general manager who then draft the wrong quarterback? If the team brings in a new coach and a new front office, it will likely want to overhaul the roster to their liking. That process can take years to come to fruition and again all depends on everything going according to plan.

If it doesn't, you start all over again. Rinse, repeat.

The Vikings are generally a team that is built to win and does so at a pretty good clip when you consider the alternatives like being Detroit or Jacksonville. In seven seasons with the Vikings Zimmer is 71-56-1 (.576), third best in team history. He has won two division titles with the team and posted a pair of playoff wins.

Sure, the Vikings could do better but what are the odds they do?  The odds are better that they end up with Mike Tice or Leslie Frazier, two very accomplished coaches that were more successful as coordinators for whatever the reason.

I understand the desire to switch gears after a disappointing season, but new doesn't automatically mean better.