Vikings football boss Kwesi Adofo-Mensah delivered an idealistic message this week at his end-of-season press conference.
“We’ve laid the foundation for a really competitive, sustained team,” he said.
What is that? It sure sounds nice.
The thought of a professional football team that sustains excellence is a foreign concept around these parts. While the Vikings don’t frequent the NFL’s cellar, their stays in the League’s upper tier are similarly brief.
Since 2000, Minnesota has won nine-plus games in consecutive seasons exactly once — when the Tarvaris Jackson/Gus Frerotte tag team won 10 games in 2008, and Brett Favre turned back the clock in 2009.
For reference, this is Andy Reid’s 12th season as head coach of the Chiefs, and Kansas City has won nine-plus games in each of those campaigns.
Let’s call it the Curse of Denny Green, who delivered winning seasons in seven of eight years from 1992-2000 (the outlier was an 8-8 campaign), and was fired the second a speedbump was hit in 2001.
Of course, everyone around here recalls what happened after Minnesota’s magical run to the 2009 NFC title game. Favre turned back into dust the following fall, the Vikings allegedly got bad takeout (source: one disgruntled wide receiver) and Childress was fired midseason.
That’s been the pattern for the Vikings for the past two and a half decades, blips of success followed by heightened expectations the organization inevitably fails to acheieve.
Case Keenum’s horseshoe season was followed by Kirk Cousins’ Year 1 disappointment. Minnesota’s competitive rebuild was exactly that in 2022, and not so much in 2023.
The 2024 season was another unexpectedly fun one for the Vikings. A team featuring a journeyman quarterback and a preseason over/under of 6.5 wins stunned the football world week after week and, in the process, again captured the hearts and minds of the local faithful. While the final two weeks of the campaign did signify quite the fall from grace, it was understandable. The Vikings aren’t yet one of the League’s true elites.
But they should be in seasons to come. That foundation Adofo-Mensah mentioned is firmly in place. The salary cap space exists this offseason to address needs. Should Minnesota make the expected transition to J.J. McCarthy at quarterback, Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell will have their hand-selected man under center to steer the ship.
Everything is aligned for this team to continue trending in the right direction. This is as well positioned as the organization has been since Teddy Bridgewater’s debilitating knee injury prior to the 2016 season.
Progress should be evident in terms of the continued climb toward a championship. There are no excuses to not meet heightened expectations.
Get back to the playoffs, maybe win a game while you’re there. And should a postseason loss occur, it would be refreshing for it to be because of a dropped pass or missed call instead of getting blown off the field in a performance that suggested you didn’t belong on the same stage as your opponent.
Yes, the 2024 campaign was enjoyable and successful. The same — for once — should be true next season. Sustain success and, if you’re feeling frisky, perhaps even take the next step.
Related Articles
Five questions the Vikings need to answer this offseason
Who will be the next starting quarterback for the Vikings? They are keeping their options open.
Kevin O’Connell wants to sign a contract extension with the Vikings. Will it happen?
Sam Darnold or J.J. McCarthy? Justin Jefferson won’t involve himself in Vikings’ decision
The Loop NFL Picks: Divisional playoffs
Leave a Reply