2021 season thread

[Worm Guts]

Zimmer was pretty negative about Mond after the game, but I don't know if he'll be the one making the decision.

[Sedale Threatt]

Pretty frustrating effort. It seems like the reason they started Mannion is because he has a better command of the offense, but then they spent the first half playing super conservative. Then when they come back from half, Zimmer's complaining that they didn't even try to run the ball. I was pretty confused by that comment. You don't get much of a chance to do anything when you're not getting first downs. When we did run the ball, we were getting stuffed, forcing us to throw on other downs.
I don't know, it just felt like we had no game plan without Cousins.

I think you can criticize our staff for a lot, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they get canned so I definitely don't want to sound like I'm defending them in any way. But the last thing on my mind during the game was coaching or game planning. Unless you're good-to-great in pretty much every other area, there's not much you can do to overcome poor quarterbacking in the NFL, especially on the road against an elite team. Hell, I don't think Kirk is much of a ceiling raiser, but he's definitely above average, and look at how inconsistent we are even with him. Frankly, I thought it was a small victory to score a touchdown.

[Worm Guts]

Pretty frustrating effort. It seems like the reason they started Mannion is because he has a better command of the offense, but then they spent the first half playing super conservative. Then when they come back from half, Zimmer's complaining that they didn't even try to run the ball. I was pretty confused by that comment. You don't get much of a chance to do anything when you're not getting first downs. When we did run the ball, we were getting stuffed, forcing us to throw on other downs.
I don't know, it just felt like we had no game plan without Cousins.

I think you can criticize our staff for a lot, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they get canned so I definitely don't want to sound like I'm defending them in any way. But the last thing on my mind during the game was coaching or game planning. Unless you're good-to-great in pretty much every other area, there's not much you can do to overcome poor quarterbacking in the NFL, especially on the road against an elite team. Hell, I don't think Kirk is much of a ceiling raiser, but he's definitely above average, and look at how inconsistent we are even with him. Frankly, I thought it was a small victory to score a touchdown.

It seems like we liked Mannion, so I don't know if the criticism should be that we made the point to get him back or that we just didn't let him play. If we had put Mond out there and got this type of performance, I probably would have been less bothered by it. Mannion has been in the league for 6 years, and if this is what he's got, it's been a waste of time.

[Sedale Threatt]

Pretty frustrating effort. It seems like the reason they started Mannion is because he has a better command of the offense, but then they spent the first half playing super conservative. Then when they come back from half, Zimmer's complaining that they didn't even try to run the ball. I was pretty confused by that comment. You don't get much of a chance to do anything when you're not getting first downs. When we did run the ball, we were getting stuffed, forcing us to throw on other downs.
I don't know, it just felt like we had no game plan without Cousins.

I think you can criticize our staff for a lot, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they get canned so I definitely don't want to sound like I'm defending them in any way. But the last thing on my mind during the game was coaching or game planning. Unless you're good-to-great in pretty much every other area, there's not much you can do to overcome poor quarterbacking in the NFL, especially on the road against an elite team. Hell, I don't think Kirk is much of a ceiling raiser, but he's definitely above average, and look at how inconsistent we are even with him. Frankly, I thought it was a small victory to score a touchdown.

It seems like we liked Mannion, so I don't know if the criticism should be that we made the point to get him back or that we just didn't let him play. If we had put Mond out there and got this type of performance, I probably would have been less bothered by it. Mannion has been in the league for 6 years, and if this is what he's got, it's been a waste of time.

I don't know if "letting Sean Mannion play" is really a thing given his track record. I think he came into last night's game with 0 career TD passes, and he was pretty crappy in his one start with us last year so I'm not sure what anyone was expecting. Including us, so if you want to levy criticism for poor talent assessment/management, by all means.

It's just that, look how hard it is just to find a decent starting quarterback, let alone 2s and 3s. Not like it's never happened before -- we set the NFL record for points scored with our backup in 1998 -- but having a backup QB you can plug in and win games is one of the biggest luxuries in sports. They're very, very few and far between. There have been guys who lasted 10-plus years in the NFL just because they can absorb the playbook.

So I guess at the end of the day they thought he had a better chance of pulling a game out of his ass against a Super Bowl favorite in Lambeau Field than a rookie who hadn't taken a regular season snap yet.

[Worm Guts]

I just would have liked to see him play in the first like he did in 2nd half, where he pushing the ball downfield at least a little bit. I’m sure it wouldn’t have changed the outcome at all, but I need to let some frustrations out.

[hermes]

do you guys view starting mannion over mond for this game as a signal of not giving up on slim playoff odds? (like would starting mond be interpreted as waving the white flag on the season?)

i say interpreted because we were done once cousins was out, its in lambeau at night for crying out loud. the whole packers team would have had to play the worst game of their lives for us to pull that out

[Worm Guts]

I'm sure we started the guy we thought gave us the best chance to win. No matter what the odds are of beating the Packers are, it's one game, and you have to try. Bigger upsets have happened.

That being said, it doesn't sound like Zimmer is all that interested in playing Mond even when it doesn't matter.

[hermes]

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-week-18-power-rankings-titans-will-be-a-tough-out-especially-if-derrick-henry-returns-cowboys-plummet/
looks like zimmer's days might be numbered as vikings head coach

[Worm Guts]

Looks like Cousins is back for the Bears game.

[hermes]

jefferson almost got the record

osborne and smith-marsette both played alright. might finally have some wr depth on the team

[hermes]

big question now is: is zimmer and/or spielman gone

seems like zimmer might be at least. would both getting fired be best for a more complete culture change? (if that is what the wilfs want)

[hermes]

where is everyone at on zimmer? do you think he should come back or should they fire him?

what about spielman?

[hermes]

we pretty much played this year on a coin flip

[Worm Guts]

Looks like both Spielman and Zimmer are out. I don't like seeing these fired just because I've spent the last 8+ years rooting for them, but they both had long runs and we seem to be stuck in a rut. It was time for new direction.

[hermes]

I liked rick's draft philosophy, so i'll miss all the excessive draft day trades

zimmer turned our defense around and had a great run for 5 years.

i like them both, but things did get stale and the team was treading water for a couple of years. it was time for a new direction