Dear Vikings rubes

[BuckSutherland]

Pretty funny to me how pumped some of you rubes were after we barely squeak out a win vs Jacksonville. It is between them and us for the worst team in pro football. If they come out and lay a complete egg against the 49ers on Sunday it is time for Frazier and Speilman to go, and I would make sure he takes the rest of them worthless coaches with. The only real player we have on the team worth keeping is Harvin. That guy is a real stud, but just watch what San Fran does to him on Sunday. AP is a good player too, but he is not worth the risk or the money he has been given. And Jared Allen in typical fashion is about as worthless as they come. Hopefully Frazier takes him with. They only time I hear his name is when he is committing some dumb penalty or when the commentators are laughing cause there are flies going in and out of his mouth throughout the game. They need to trade Allen and Peterson now while we can still get something for them. MN will never win a championship with either of those players on the team.

Other things I have noticed.

1. When Ponder drops back on play action there is nobody to throw the ball to, or he is not taking a chance. We might as well not even have play action. Teams are going to let him check down and go 25-35 all day, but we wont be moving the ball.

2. We don’t have a RB that can catch the ball out of the backfield.

3. Why did we sign John Carlson? WAY TO GO SPEWMAN! Just worthless.

4. We are still getting dominated at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. For example. If Peterson would have the holes that Frank Gore had to run through last night he probably would have had over 200 yards. And we cant get any pressure on the QB. Where the hell are the blitzes or anything creative?

5. Play calling. Has to be the worst in the league. We score 6 pts in 55 mins against a terrible team when we only have one turnover?? Da horrible bears only put up 41.

6. Penalties. The stupid silly mistakes that have been a constant of Viking football since Bud Grant continue. Yesterday made me feel like Denny Green was back on the sideline.

7. Draft needs in order of Importance:

WR (someone to go deep and let Percy underneath. Our WR picks and puke ups this year are terrible)

OL (Ponder will get knocked out this year, just like Farve, and we cant open a decent hole for AP)

RB (someone that is an actual threat on third down, not Toby Dungpile. He has to be one of the worst waste of 2nd round pick I have ever seen. You can get anyone that ever played RB to do what he does and get them in the 7th round. Our play calling is so obvious on 3rd down cause we don’t have a threat out of the backfield)

DT (Kevin Williams is done. We need major pressure right up the middle to collapse the pocket and stuff the run. We should try to trade some of this old garbage to build up for the draft and try to get 3 picks in the top 40. Look how New England moved up in last year’s draft to fill two needs right away.)

Safety. Enough said

LB. Our LBs are completely incapable of pass coverage.

8. Brain Billick, Bill Cowher, John Gruden, and Tony Dunge are all out there without jobs. Frazier doesn’t seem to have to the backbone to be the head coach. Seems like a really good coordinator. But it appears to me that Spewman forces his will onto Frazier and then he is too much of a sally to speak up. Any of those guys mentioned would use Spewman like a handpuppet.

9. I thought 4-12 was possible. But I don’t think so anymore. Once the injuries start to add up we will be looking really ugly.

10. It would be nice if LIMTOUT could post the picture of our trophy case again. Doesn’t look like it will get anymore hardware this year.

[Antero]

Lots of good points Buck. I do fail to see why anyone thinks that any of those guys listed in point number 8 will stoop to take this job. I seem to recall that some of them have been offered bigger and better jobs and turned them down. And bigger and better jobs will be available again for them if they want to get back in.

[nofishfisherman]

Pretty funny to me how pumped some of you rubes were after we barely squeak out a win vs Jacksonville. It is between them and us for the worst team in pro football. If they come out and lay a complete egg against the 49ers on Sunday it is time for Frazier and Speilman to go, and I would make sure he takes the rest of them worthless coaches with. The only real player we have on the team worth keeping is Harvin. That guy is a real stud, but just watch what San Fran does to him on Sunday. AP is a good player too, but he is not worth the risk or the money he has been given. And Jared Allen in typical fashion is about as worthless as they come. Hopefully Frazier takes him with. They only time I hear his name is when he is committing some dumb penalty or when the commentators are laughing cause there are flies going in and out of his mouth throughout the game. They need to trade Allen and Peterson now while we can still get something for them. MN will never win a championship with either of those players on the team.

Other things I have noticed.

1. When Ponder drops back on play action there is nobody to throw the ball to, or he is not taking a chance. We might as well not even have play action. Teams are going to let him check down and go 25-35 all day, but we wont be moving the ball.

2. We don’t have a RB that can catch the ball out of the backfield.

3. Why did we sign John Carlson? WAY TO GO SPEWMAN! Just worthless.

4. We are still getting dominated at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. For example. If Peterson would have the holes that Frank Gore had to run through last night he probably would have had over 200 yards. And we cant get any pressure on the QB. Where the hell are the blitzes or anything creative?

5. Play calling. Has to be the worst in the league. We score 6 pts in 55 mins against a terrible team when we only have one turnover?? Da horrible bears only put up 41.

6. Penalties. The stupid silly mistakes that have been a constant of Viking football since Bud Grant continue. Yesterday made me feel like Denny Green was back on the sideline.

7. Draft needs in order of Importance:

WR (someone to go deep and let Percy underneath. Our WR picks and puke ups this year are terrible)

OL (Ponder will get knocked out this year, just like Farve, and we cant open a decent hole for AP)

RB (someone that is an actual threat on third down, not Toby Dungpile. He has to be one of the worst waste of 2nd round pick I have ever seen. You can get anyone that ever played RB to do what he does and get them in the 7th round. Our play calling is so obvious on 3rd down cause we don’t have a threat out of the backfield)

DT (Kevin Williams is done. We need major pressure right up the middle to collapse the pocket and stuff the run. We should try to trade some of this old garbage to build up for the draft and try to get 3 picks in the top 40. Look how New England moved up in last year’s draft to fill two needs right away.)

Safety. Enough said

LB. Our LBs are completely incapable of pass coverage.

8. Brain Billick, Bill Cowher, John Gruden, and Tony Dunge are all out there without jobs. Frazier doesn’t seem to have to the backbone to be the head coach. Seems like a really good coordinator. But it appears to me that Spewman forces his will onto Frazier and then he is too much of a sally to speak up. Any of those guys mentioned would use Spewman like a handpuppet.

9. I thought 4-12 was possible. But I don’t think so anymore. Once the injuries start to add up we will be looking really ugly.

10. It would be nice if LIMTOUT could post the picture of our trophy case again. Doesn’t look like it will get anymore hardware this year.

Nice to see everyone's in a good mood today. I could almost feel your blood pressure rising as you typed that.

I'll I'm going to say is that I agree with some of what you said but a few points are pretty absurd. For instance saying Jared Allen is "as worthless as they come". Come on really? You think he's the worst d-end in the league? Straight off a 20 sack season you can actually hold a straight face and tell us all he's completely worthless?

[Dylan33]

A couple of responses...

I guess I don't see the connection to Jared Allen having 22 sacks last year and being worthless. (This year he is being a crybaby about the refs, and that needs to stop) But he is a good player.

John Carlson was hurt all preseason- he is not ready to play a lot yet. (we do need to make the TE's a bigger part of the offense)

We run play action because our only threat is with the run. We know that if Ponder just drops back to pass- and the defense sends everyone into coverage, no one will be able to get open...play action opens things up a bit.

AP is still a GREAT player.

I totally agree with most of your other comments, though.

We lost ONE game. I guess I'll have to be happy with 15-1 this year!

[zepman]

Sounds like you were expecting to be in the hunt for a play-off spot this year?? They are in a FULL BLOWN REBUILDING PHASE. They are at minimum, 2-3 years from contending for anything.

Couple of nice points though...

-Williams AND Winfield should have been moved and/or released in the off-season. They offer zero in relation to their contracts.

-Coaching staff is bottom tier of league...no doubt about this one.

-Ponder has no one to throw the ball to except Harvin...no one.

-Allen is an ELITE player but this will be his last year as a Viking...

Could go on and on but what's the point...they simply had too many needs to fill to get it all done in 1 or 2 off-seasons. Instead of getting upset at the loss, I just choose to see a higher draft slot this Spring and hope that our young guys continue to improve...and they will.

[BuckSutherland]

Sounds like you were expecting to be in the hunt for a play-off spot this year?? They are in a FULL BLOWN REBUILDING PHASE. They are at minimum, 2-3 years from contending for anything.

Couple of nice points though...

-Williams AND Winfield should have been moved and/or released in the off-season. They offer zero in relation to their contracts.

-Coaching staff is bottom tier of league...no doubt about this one.

-Ponder has no one to throw the ball to except Harvin...no one.

-Allen is an ELITE player but this will be his last year as a Viking...

Could go on and on but what's the point...they simply had too many needs to fill to get it all done in 1 or 2 off-seasons. Instead of getting upset at the loss, I just choose to see a higher draft slot this Spring and hope that our young guys continue to improve...and they will.

That "ELITE" player you are talking about has 3 tackles this year and thats it. He did nothing in the first game. 0 stats. That means I could have went out there and did the same thing as him. I prolly wouldnt pick up the stupid penalties though. He has as many penalties as tackles and he is worthless and a cancer to our rebuilding effforts. Just cause he can sack the QB doesnt make him the stud everyone thinks he is. He gets mauled on run defense. Just watch. Teams run right at him. And of course he should have a lot of sacks. Teams usually throw the ball 40 times a game against us. It shouldn’t be too much to ask an “elite” player like him to get a sack a game. He hasn’t even hit the QB other than out of bounds this year in the 70 pass attempts against us. And who was blocking him the last two games? Two guys I never heard of. Give me Chris Doleman over this guy any day. That was an elite player, not some sack specialist who only shows up a couple times a year. Allen reminds me of Mauer. He is there to perform when it doesn’t count. Where was he in the NFC Championship a couple years ago?

You want to see an elite player just look at Percy. Now that’s an elite player. I feel bad for the guy that he is stuck with such a garbage team. He has Hall of Fame talent if he could get on a team that knew how to use him.

And Ponder has his chances to throw the ball. Rudolph is pretty good, they just don’t know how to use him either.

[jwmiller33]

Pretty funny to me how pumped some of you rubes were after we barely squeak out a win vs Jacksonville. It is between them and us for the worst team in pro football. If they come out and lay a complete egg against the 49ers on Sunday it is time for Frazier and Speilman to go, and I would make sure he takes the rest of them worthless coaches with. The only real player we have on the team worth keeping is Harvin. That guy is a real stud, but just watch what San Fran does to him on Sunday. AP is a good player too, but he is not worth the risk or the money he has been given. And Jared Allen in typical fashion is about as worthless as they come. Hopefully Frazier takes him with. They only time I hear his name is when he is committing some dumb penalty or when the commentators are laughing cause there are flies going in and out of his mouth throughout the game. They need to trade Allen and Peterson now while we can still get something for them. MN will never win a championship with either of those players on the team.

Other things I have noticed.

1. When Ponder drops back on play action there is nobody to throw the ball to, or he is not taking a chance. We might as well not even have play action. Teams are going to let him check down and go 25-35 all day, but we wont be moving the ball.

2. We don’t have a RB that can catch the ball out of the backfield.

3. Why did we sign John Carlson? WAY TO GO SPEWMAN! Just worthless.

4. We are still getting dominated at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. For example. If Peterson would have the holes that Frank Gore had to run through last night he probably would have had over 200 yards. And we cant get any pressure on the QB. Where the hell are the blitzes or anything creative?

5. Play calling. Has to be the worst in the league. We score 6 pts in 55 mins against a terrible team when we only have one turnover?? Da horrible bears only put up 41.

6. Penalties. The stupid silly mistakes that have been a constant of Viking football since Bud Grant continue. Yesterday made me feel like Denny Green was back on the sideline.

7. Draft needs in order of Importance:

WR (someone to go deep and let Percy underneath. Our WR picks and puke ups this year are terrible)

OL (Ponder will get knocked out this year, just like Farve, and we cant open a decent hole for AP)

RB (someone that is an actual threat on third down, not Toby Dungpile. He has to be one of the worst waste of 2nd round pick I have ever seen. You can get anyone that ever played RB to do what he does and get them in the 7th round. Our play calling is so obvious on 3rd down cause we don’t have a threat out of the backfield)

DT (Kevin Williams is done. We need major pressure right up the middle to collapse the pocket and stuff the run. We should try to trade some of this old garbage to build up for the draft and try to get 3 picks in the top 40. Look how New England moved up in last year’s draft to fill two needs right away.)

Safety. Enough said

LB. Our LBs are completely incapable of pass coverage.

8. Brain Billick, Bill Cowher, John Gruden, and Tony Dunge are all out there without jobs. Frazier doesn’t seem to have to the backbone to be the head coach. Seems like a really good coordinator. But it appears to me that Spewman forces his will onto Frazier and then he is too much of a sally to speak up. Any of those guys mentioned would use Spewman like a handpuppet.

9. I thought 4-12 was possible. But I don’t think so anymore. Once the injuries start to add up we will be looking really ugly.

10. It would be nice if LIMTOUT could post the picture of our trophy case again. Doesn’t look like it will get anymore hardware this year.

Sounds like someone has been drinking LMIT's koolaid

[LMITOUT]

10. It would be nice if LIMTOUT could post the picture of our trophy case again.

With pleasure.

Looks like they've been in a "full blown rebuilding phase" for quite a while now...

[mrklean]

8. Brain Billick, Bill Cowher, John Gruden, and Tony Dunge are all out there without jobs.

Those are all super bowl coachs, why would they want to come away from a cushy tv job to coach a losing team?

[BuckSutherland]

So they can stamp their ticket to Canton. Can you imagine if one of them would come here and take us to the superbowl and we would win? That would be just like Terry Francona taking the Red Sox to the promise land. I think the first three will coach again. I dont know about Dungy. He isnt the same since his son died.

[nofishfisherman]

The only guy on that list that I like is Cowher. I'd be cool with Dungy as well but I agree I don't see him coaching again. At least not in the pros.

[Antero]

Can you imagine if one of them would come here and take us to the superbowl and we would win?

No and neither can they...

[MontanaMax]

The key to winning any battle is the element of surprise. Vikes predictiblity on offense is a coaching problem.

The key to winning a counteroffensive (defense) is the element of surprise. Vikes prevent cover two hasn't stopped anyone, even the feeblest of quarterbacks> This is a coaching problem.

The key to consistent winning is eliminating players mistakes. This is a coaching issue .

The key to long-term winning is evaluating, drafting and developing younger players. This is a combined front office-coaching issue

The key to elevated play of established stars is motivation and job competition from younger developing players. These are front office and coaching issues.

The key to having competent front office personnel and coaching is a dispassionate competent owner.

The answer to the Vikings current problems lies with the front office and coaching staff, and they are proving they are not up to the task.

In 2009, Brett Favre provided the motivation and surprise that made them capable of winning any game. In 2010 he had neither the motivation nor the past year's surprise, and Chili made sure of that.

Come on Ziggy, if not pulling the trigger on changes yet, at least the hint of doing so will motivate the coachiing staff to take the kinds of chances need to get the players motivated and bring surprise back to the Vikings offense and defense.

[mrklean]

Gruden will never coach again he has had plentymof offers he likes his tv gig billick is the only one i could see coming back

[Scott K]

I know I will be spending my Sundays hunting, and fishing this fall. Instead of watching football. Ohwell, wont be the first year that has happened, and it isnt a bad thing.

I am more hyped about the TWolves, then Vikings.

[Musky Buck]

It aint pretty. If we would've kept Longwell we'd be 0-2. Lots of rebuilding talk, will we ever get rebuilt, by the time we do we'll need a new stud RB, a new QB, new corners, etc. We're built, all these guys have been playing and watching their whole life, I think our fate is in Ponder's hands and if we can build we have always been best when we've had a top notch O line. We are simply weaker than the other teams at too many positions especially the QB. Stud QB's can make average wide-outs stellar. It's why those NFC title game losses sting so bad because it's a marathon to get back to that game. My vikings tickets are belly up in the trash can right now, not paying 4 a gallon to grease my hips and sit in the dome even if it were a good year.

[EBass]

Let's see how this plays out. We all know da Vikes were going to suck, the Q was how bad? I see a repeat of last year and then Frazier/Speilman and crew headed for the exit with a box of personal belongings containing bobble-heads, family pics, poor free agent moves, and a failed playbook from their cubicle.

[FutbolGuru]

Step 1 in rebuilding was eliminating the triangle of authority. Step 1 complete (thank god). Now we have to start drafting well. Thus far, there is a lot to like about our 2012 draft. .... Spielman's philosophy is simple: going forward, bring in as much young talent as you can every offseason and retain the best of the bunch. If the Vikes stick with it, it's only a matter of time before they contend.

The 49er's fans spent the last 10 yrs bi@#$ing about their rebuilding team and look where they are now... The NFL is great because of the turnover in talent. Everyone's favorite team has had chances in the past, and they all will chances again in the future. In other words, it's polar opposite of the MLB!!!

[solbes]

Jeez, lets not slash our wrists after 2 games. I listen to KFAN as well, but there's still a whole season left. We oughta be good for at least 3 more wins

Jared Allen has not had a good start to the season, but I expect he'll turn it around. Not making any moves to pick up free agent CB's is biting us as expected. I blame a lot of what happened on Sunday with coaching. Send 4 guys for most of the game and let a rookie QB get comfortable. Brilliant.

Offense has not been awe inspiring, but Ponder looks decent given his options. This is a rebuilding year (as will be next) and progression is what we want from Ponder. Cheech will be an improved deep threat starting in game #4, but still paltry compared to some teams wide outs.

[Getanet]

I would argue our team is fairly solid on Offense. Ponder needs to develop, but he appears to be on track. We need to either draft or sign one more good WR, and then start pouring our efforts into the defense. Beyond Allen and Greenway, the cupboard is pretty bare. Kevin Williams isn't completely washed up, but he's getting long in the tooth. Jury is out on Harrison Smith. The rest of our Defense is pretty thin and I don't think too many would be starting on quality teams.

[flipper]

rube definition: nounSlang a person from a rural region who lacks polish and sophistication

I think we have the pot calling the kettle black again.

[Alagnak]

I know I will be spending my Sundays hunting, and fishing this fall. Instead of watching football. Ohwell, wont be the first year that has happened, and it isnt a bad thing.

I am more hyped about the TWolves, then Vikings.

Just like all true Vikes fans Scott. :-) FAIR WEATHER BABY

I don't blame you.

[DTro]

What cracks me up is that Bucks original rant was about how fired up the rubes are yet he could probably tell you how many tackles for loss of yards the second string defensive tackle had in the third preseason game. LOL

I have a suggestion for some of you. Instead of the 3 hours you spend every night before bed analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of your awesome fantasy football team, take one night and watch the movie Big Fan. When the credits roll go ahead a take a peak in the mirror.

Other than the drive in (because I enjoy listening to Star and Hawky) I cannot listen to anything else on KFAN. The non stop analysis of not only the local NFL team, but the league in general is totally out of control.

I do have to say though that Commons rant about gobbling up the sports page and eating it for breakfast could be one of the finest moments in sports talk radio history …mostly because it is so true.

I could care less if the team here in MN wins or loses, but man o man its fun to needle the green and yellow folks when the opportunity presents itself.

[harvey lee]

It's pro sports, I could care less.

I enjoy watching the Vikes and others but one has to remember, it's pro sports and leave it at that.

[Scott K]

Pete, I became a fairweather fan in the 2000 season. I was a complete diehard before that. Since then, if they are doing good, I will watch a game, if nothing better to do. The past few years, I have noticed, I always have better things to do.