Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Columnists want excitement; fans want winning

Last football season, Tom Powers seemed to frequently complain about how boring the Vikings were. It wasn't that the Vikings were bad--it was that they lacked excitement, making Powers bored with his job.

Jim Souhan picks up on this theme in "Kids Could Change Everything," where he says that

"Last year, as the NFL reigned as the most popular sports league ever, the Vikings fielded the least interesting team in franchise history."

That's the problem: the Vikings "fielded exactly zero stars worthy of a magazine cover." He says at training camp we'll be "hoping at least one of the wide receivers can keep fans from flipping the channel during the middle of passing plays" (doesn't it seem like he wants to say "reporters" or "columnists" instead of "fans" in that sentence? I doubt "fans" are desiring to watch something else).

Were the 2006 Vikings "the least interesting team in franchise history"? I can't say for sure, but for laughs, let's look at the 1967 Vikings, which happened to be Bud Grant's first season coaching the team.

The 1967 Vikings went 3-8-3. They ranked 14th out of 16 teams in points scored. Their leading passer was Joe Kapp, who completed 47.7% of his passes for 1,386 yards, 8 TDs, and 17 INTs.

I have to believe that team was probably pretty dull watching. In hindsight, Grant was building a team ready to consistently compete. At the time, I suspect people found the team frustrating and boring.

So, Viking fans (the ones that don't want to just fire Brad Childress, but want to FIRE BRAD CHILDRESS NOW!!!!!!), before you get too worried about Childress and the Vikings, look back to legendary Bud Grant's first season with the team. The team was bad, the passing game was atrocious, the offense was boring and unproductive.

And don't worry at all about anything Jim Souhan says.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:26 AM

    While I won't deny that the 1998 brand of Vikings football was an absolute blast to watch, I would be just as happy watching chester and AD get 15-25 carries each per game while the defense grinds the opposing offense down.

    I want to be competitive year in and year out. I want to be in the playoffs every year. I want to be one or two FA pickups away from being a super bowl favorite.

    Look at the Steelers for so many years, Run the ball, stop the run, throw 13-18 times a game, maybe with Tjack mix in a bootleg off of playaction.. I just want to win.

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  2. Anonymous7:26 PM

    BUSTER RHYMES SAYS - FIRE CHILDRESS NOW = He is a loser and making the Vikes follow in his suit -

    FIRE CHILDRESS NOW !!!!!

    ReplyDelete