mansquatch wrote: ↑Wed Oct 02, 2019 1:20 pmJim, I've said this a lot over the years: There is a lot more to this than just painting with broad strokes. In each of the bad years of Zimmer's tenure there have been circumstances out of his control.
The same can be said for every coach, every season. They all face circumstances beyond their control. That was as true for Leslie Frazier as it was for Zimmer. Ditto for Childress, Tice, Green, Burns... we all know that. I'm not about to write a thesis-level critique of Zimmer and Spielman but you know very well that over the years, I have both acknowledged mitigating circumstances and gone into great critical detail. I'm not simply painting in broad, simplistic strokes when I say the Vikings need a change in leadership at the top.
There are always going to be excuses. There's always a mitigating circumstance of some sort. What counts is what the coach and GM do with the hand they're dealt and how well they're prepared to deal with it in the first place. When we see the same chronic problems year after year, even though the kind of circumstances/explanations you've put forward differ, it speaks volumes about the job team leadership is doing, about their strengths and limitations.
The QB thing is annoying also. Going into 2016, after winning the division and being a field goal kick away from the divisional round in the playoffs the GM is supposed to just scuttle the season when Teddy blows his knee up? Seriously?
No, he's supposed to build a team capable of handling a situation like that without desperately coughing up a first round pick for an expensive, injury-prone veteran who had never had a winning record as a starter. He's supposed to manage resources wisely and have a reasonable handle on the quality of his team.
To not do that is to basically say "well guys, I don't have any faith in you, so we are starting Shawn Hill for 16 games. Hope you all enjoy the season." Spielman would have deserved to be fired if he had pulled that. So apparently any choice he makes there is bad. I guess Teddy blows up his knee and Rick is just hosed all the way around.
Who do you think put the team in that position? Bridgewater's injury wasn't simply a misfortune that forced Spielman to rush, panic-stricken, into a major trade. It perfectly illustrates how poorly Spielman was managing the position.
He put together the roster and decided (presumably with input from Zimmer) that Hill was sufficient as the primary backup. However, he clearly didn't actually
believe that because as soon as Hill was forced into the lineup by Bridgewater's injury, Spielman traded for Bradford. There was no option on the roster, at the game's most important position, who could step in and start for a prolonged period of time. That's not an excuse in Spielman's favor, it's an indictment of his competence.
Again, a GM's job is about team-building. Injuries will happen, Players will miss time for one reason or another so building depth is important. Planning for difficult circumstances is critical, especially at QB, where starters go down around the league every season. I realize some players are almost impossible to adequately replace. A GM won't easily find a backup QB who can step in and play at the level of Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady but Teddy Bridgewater? He was a starter who played like a solid backup. It was hardly impossible to have an option on the roster who might have been able to step in and help the team remain at a competitive level that at least approaches what they could have achieved with Bridgewater starting.
When it comes to Spielman and QBs, the bottom line question is how many years, chances and first round picks should he get to prove he can solve the team's long-standing QB issues?
