Vikings fans are well aware of the pain that comes with being a loyal fan of the purple and gold. It seems as though the team is always locked in a kind of mediocrity purgatory. The team is always good enough to grab your attention or make you think the future will be great but can never make the leap to competing for a championship. The 2023 edition of the Minnesota Vikings does not look like it will break this mold. They are stuck between being a contender and heading toward a rebuild. While nobody wants to see the team launch a full-on rebuild when they have so many great talents on offense, it might be the only way for the team to vault itself into that contender echelon.
The Kwesi and O’Connell Era Might Not Stand a Chance
Head coaches and general managers seem to have shorter and shorter leashes these days unless they are given the keys to a rebuild. The Vikings’ GM-Head Coach tandem is a fan favorite and has the potential to build a championship roster. Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell came in with a decent roster and decided to build on it and stay competitive in their first year. Hopefully, their first season will buy them enough credit to stay around for a while since this roster does not seem ready to make a run for a Super Bowl. However, if the duo keeps deciding to strive for the Super Bowl every year, they could end up falling into the same trap of mediocrity we see every year with the team.
It may seem like I am arguing for a complete rebuild here and, honestly, I might be. Championships come at a cost, if we want a Lombardi in Minnesota it may take a couple of years of suffering. Before the Patriots and Chiefs started their dynasties they had had quite a few years of losing records while building up their rosters and ultimately, finding their star quarterbacks. The Vikings can never grab their star quarterback or climb out of mediocrity because they are never bad enough to do so. Aside from Tom Brady and Brock Purdy, star quarterbacks come from the high end of the draft, but the Vikings have had only 2 top-ten picks since 2008. The Vikings have not had a star quarterback since the team nabbed a washed-up Brett Favre.
The Justin Jefferson Issue
Justin Jefferson is a generational talent, no doubt, however, he may be the team’s biggest roadblock in heading for a full rebuild. Jefferson is the type of player that can drag a team into relevancy every year and win games, largely, by his own efforts. Fans and the team alike would love to keep Jefferson around for his entire career, however, stars like Jefferson tend to value winning above all else. The team cannot sell on everyone and rebuild with a young, star-filled roster and keep Jefferson. It would be a crime to waste Jefferson’s talents in a Calvin Johnson-type manner, though it seems to be more likely than Vikings fans would like to admit.
The best-case scenario here for the Vikings might be taking a Los Angeles Rams route to grab their first Super Bowl. The Rams traded away a ton of first-round picks and acquired huge stars on both sides of the ball to capitalize on the talents of Aaron Donald. The Rams went all in and snagged a Lombardi, then they fell off a cliff just a year later. Ask any Rams fan and they will tell you it was well worth it to watch their team reach the promised land. The flip side of that strategy is what happens when it does not work. You sold off your future, failed to grab a Super Bowl and now you are in a full-fledged rebuild without assets. It is a risky approach, but for the Vikings to ever leap out of mediocrity with Justin Jefferson on the roster, it might be the only way.
I would love for Justin Jefferson, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, and Kevin O’Connell to be mainstays for the Vikings in their respective positions since they have great football minds and bring a fresh take to the team. However, if Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell keep trying to push a struggling team into contention, the duo’s seats might start to get hot even though a rebuild might be what the team needs. It feels as though these guys are the right guys at the wrong time. It may take a large change in methodology for this team to get out of their mediocrity purgatory and not waste Justin Jefferson’s generational talent.
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