Every season that ends without a championship is a failure. That's the plain & simple truth.
As bad as the 2020 season started, it nearly ended the worst possible way.
Instead of rolling with the 1-5 start, trading away the players who were on short-term deals and making it one-year rebuild, coach Zimmer in his infinite wisdom figured out how to get some wins. That got the team close to the playoffs but also to the point which it finished at - around .500. In a hardily-proved, non-championship-caliber season, the rally and the wins became an anchor.
Sarcasm aside, the wins do show that the staff is one of the better ones in the league. But with financial and roster size limitations there were only so many plugs available and not enough for the holes that kept opening up. I remain resolute that a 2 or 3 win season every 7 or so years is an acceptable outcome when all the others are 10, 11 or 12 win seasons. The worst thing to do is finish in middle.
A home win against Chicago would have put them in the playoffs. Maybe Kendricks would have been available today or tomorrow. Maybe Cook would have returned to the team, but no one should expect that. The "maybes" could go all day.
LIKELY they would have been a one & done. Because as explosive as the offense showed it can be this year, Kirk Cousins does not have the magic of Aaron Rodgers as he lead them to the 2011 championship.
And considering how both Case Keenum & John DeFilippo were handled, even if Cousins did have the ability to take over a game to that degree the head coach would find ways to stifle it. Call it playing it safe if you like, it's antithetical to the way that the team which are able to win it all operate.
He did enough to not get fired and as I said, he showed that he can find ways to overcome some absurd odds. Let's not forget, though, that he still has the same flaws that he did much earlier in his tenure.
Or have you forgotten that the common denominator in all the recent kicking issues are him? It reached a head with the 54-yard attempt in Tampa but goes all the way back to Blair Walsh. He never recovered from the infamous miss but you're fooling yourself if you think MZ was of any help to Walsh's psyche in the immediate aftermath.
So those are some of the downsides to the season
But are there also some things to be very excited about!
At the top of the list is the history maker.
I was skeptical about Jefferson after the draft but he erased all that over the course of the season. The records that he broke are enough for most people. But to put his season in a little sharper context, JJ put up the 1,400 yards despite having five games with less than 50/game. Every receiver gets shutdown sometimes but the way that he was able to overcome those weeks should make people even more excited. Give him a regular offseason and dude may blow past that number!
I was also not on the 'Dalvin extension' train. I wouldn't have been mad at the decision makers if they had waited to pay him and possibly even let him walk. But now he's put in another healthy season and showed that he's deserving of the deal. Only time will tell if his high usage will catch up to bite the franchise. At this point we can all be cautiously optimistic that Sugarman & his staff have figured out how to keep him not only on the field but producing at a MVP-level.
The 2020 also served as a coming-out party for Eric Kendricks. Even he had already been an all-pro linebacker that isn't just a figure of speech. He exceeded that level and took his game to the stratosphere. I'm talking DPotY levels. Without the wins and with the late-season injury he was never going to get that award but as starters kept dropping he continued to be a pillar keeping the structure upright.
With the salary cap implications of his contract, some have already come to the conclusion that Cousins will remain the guy in MN. There's logic to that presumption but I have the same gut feeling about it as I had before the draft about the Vikings selecting 15 players. Not ready to say I'll nail another significant prediction with nothing but a feeling to go off of but I'm not ruling out the possibility of a shakeup at this time either. The fact of the matter is that it's been a 3 year experiment in which the return has not matched the investment. You can play the maybe game again if you like as to what this team could have done had it stayed more healthy but we're still talking about the guy who single-handedly tanked the game against Atlanta. He improved after that but championship caliber quarterbacks don't fail that completely very often.
Beyond all that is the coaching staff.
It's already been confirmed that there will be someone new in charge of the third wheel. There is also plenty of smoke surrounding the idea that a different coach will be picking the plays for Cousins next Fall. With the top receiving tandems, running back room and up & coming tight-ends, there will be plenty of interest in the job.
But there remains the problem
Cousins is the quarterback version of the guy you would love to have driving your kids to school, mini-van and all. It makes the debacle against ATL even more confounding. I can't explain it. But despite him, The Tesla hummed nicely for stretches this season. A new perspective in the coaches box and some much-needed enhancements to the OL could make it even better with Kirk at the wheel. But is that really the guy who can get the job done without an all-world defense setting him up? As I was with Jefferson 8 months ago, so I am with the quarterback now.
There are plenty more items to think, talk & write about this team but I've just about hits all the notes that I wanted to. Talk about the draft and other things related to the future will begin in earnest soon. For now, try to enjoy a great, long weekend of playoff football!
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