In today’s Star Tribune, Jim Souhan makes a strong case for the Vikings to deliberately tank the rest of the 2013 season:
Let’s give the Vikings the benefit of the doubt, and assume they are trying to lose.
There is no reason to play Christian Ponder in a tackle football game unless you’re aggressively pursuing the first pick in the 2014 NFL draft.
While Vikings fans spend today watching Ponder run for 5 yards on third-and-10, remember that this, too, shall pass, even if the Vikings can’t.
Starting 1-6 should prompt Vikings management to orchestrate the first one-win season in franchise history.
It’s important to set goals.
Losing big doesn’t guarantee future success, but it gives an intelligent management team a chance. That’s been proved in every sport, every decade, and the best example of losing to win might belong to the franchise the Vikings will face today in Texas.
In 1989, Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys and hired Jimmy Johnson as his coach. Texans were appalled at Jones’ glib firing of the legendary Tom Landry, and at Jones’ clownish demeanor. Jones actually said he would be in charge of all phases of football from “socks to jocks,” even though Jones’ football experience was limited to playing in college and watching on television.
The JJs played up their chances of winning immediately. Then Johnson got halfway through his first preseason game and ditched all immediate ambition.
He tanked his first season, trading away his only name player, Herschel Walker, before finishing 1-15. He used prime draft slots and the bounty from the Walker deal to build a roster that won three Super Bowls and might have won more if Jones hadn’t fired him.
If the Cowboys had tried to contend in 1989, they might not have considered trading Walker, and wouldn’t have drafted near the top of each round. Inept play and intelligent management led to championships.
An interesting theory, but I really doubt that the Vikings are deliberately failing (although it would explain a few things like the quarterback controversy), and as with any conspiracy theory it’s hard to believe that such a design wouldn’t be leaked by at least a few disgruntled players and/or coaches (since the coaching staff is most likely to be negatively impacted by a terrible season).
I’d love to see the Vikings draft a genuine franchise quarterback next year, but I don’t want the team to quit playing this year.
