Tice gone?
 

Interesting article on KFAN.com

They make it sound like he's gone. Oh well...........Don't let the door hit you in the ass.

And here I thought the owner's pep talk after the first loss of the season was the real reason this team went in the tank.

As much as it pains me to defend the Vikings coach in any way, i think Red is the one responsible for the teams collapse. Its interesting that everyone (up here anyway) is saying he should be fired because of not making the playoffs when at the beginning of the season this team wasn't even supposed to contend.

Look at it this way...the Packers also lost to the Cardinals. No excuse for that, either, it just didn't happen to be the last game of the season, so no one quite remembers it happening. If you give both of them mulligans on the Cardinals' games, the Packers still make the playoffs, and the Vikings are home with a 10-6 record.

Edit: Or would they have made it as a wild card? Bah, I hate these damn things.

I'm rather tired of people ripping on teams for losing to the Cardinals AT HOME. Yes the team was horrible on the road, but they did pretty good at home except thier first game against Seattle.

Lose 38-0 to Seattle
Win 20-13 over GB
Lose 28-16 to Baltimore
Win 16-13 over SF in OT
Win 17-14 over Cincy
Lose 30-27 to St. Louis in OT
Lose 20-17 to Carolina
Win 18-17 over Minn.

4-4 at home, one win over a playoff team (GB), 2 wins over teams in the playoff chase until week 17 (CIN, MIN) and then almost pull off wins against 2 division winners (STL, CAR).

No they are not a good team, but for whatever reason played good at home this year.

I say all this because I just don't think the guy should be canned based on this game.

Ok, let's base it on the other 3 games he lost to 4-12 teams. Face it, the players made plays when they were put into position to make them. But the coaching in Viking land this year overall was horrible. Linehan has to go for sure. Think what you want.

Oh i completely defer to you in this situation, you obviously followed them a lot more closely then i would have. I just wanted to show that i don't think losing to the Cards at thier home is such a complete disgrace.:)

Yeah, Peter King noted that the Vikings lost to the 4 teams holding the 1st through 4th draft picks. That's hard to do and still be in competition for a playoff spot, let alone make it to the playoffs.

I guess I have troubles blaming Tice for a defense that was 1 deep at best. I have troubles blaming Tice for having one reciever that can get open and runs routes correctly(Moss). The guy took a team that should have been 5-11 at best if you look at the roster and with smoke and mirrors got them to a 6-0 start. Injuries to LB's put in some very young fast LB's that ran all over the place, but didn't do much until late in the season. I also have troubles blaming Tice for the front office giving him Denard Walker and saying here, this is the shut down CB you wanted.

Do you have a problem with Tice passing on what would have been the game winning FG to go for it on 4th down early in the game? You ALWAYS take the points. Always. Poor coaching.

I'm just sayin'...........

I followed this team all year. I saw all the mistakes. Good coaches, like Parcells and the guy in NE, take ho hum teams to the playoffs. I'm just sayin'.

The way it happened was a complete disgrace. Playing like that with everything on the line, playing an inferior opponent, with the lead and having the season on the line is indication of either lack of talent or lack of focus.

You never see good teams or good coached teams lose that game...

I'd say the same about the Rams...no excuse...

Exactly. So here's what i'd do. Fire everyone, pack everything up, move to LA and go win a Superbowl. Then i can get Wild season tickets. End of story.

I'd be really surprised to see Tice go after two years. He was clearly hired by an owner knowing that he was a "project" as a head coach, a guy who would be learning on the job for the first few years. You hire someone like that to get the finished product, which you expect to be great, not expecting immediate results, which you should expect to be questionable. You can only afford to take that chance when you know your talent level is in a rebuilding stage (at least the defense is).

Given those things (which I realize may be misguided impressions of mine) I don't see where it makes sense to fire Tice. It would seem to be that they should not really begin to see results next season or possibly later.

They shouldn't fire him; the players like playing for the guy but clearly he needs to get better.

He's the type who is great in non-pressure or good situations. I think the questions come when the chips are down or things aren't going well...

Well, we aren't getting Parcells or any great coach in Minnesota. He is the least paid head coach in the league.

It matters not a jot if the Vikes lost some games to supposedly inferior teams. Remember they beat the Packers on the road and had notable wins against KC, Seattle and Denver. Look at the season as a whole - did they do better than you would have thought before the season kicked off? I suggest they did, 9-7 is a credible improvement from 6-10. What makes the season seem a heck of a lot worse was that dragster start - it set expectations too high for a team of limited talent. If Tice is gone then he is unlucky IMHO.

BTW, the Vikings led the league in penalties this year. They had more than the Raiders, for Christ's sake.

That's bad coaching my friends.

Here's a quote from Startribune.com..........Make of it what you will.

"There have been whispers around Winter Park for some time that McCombs does not like Tice all that well personally. Obviously, if Tice had taken the Vikings back to the playoffs in his second season, Red would look like an idiot to fire him.

Now, after a last-play loss to an injured, inept Arizona team, McCombs has his opening to dump Tice. With Red, we should know quickly -- maybe before noon -- if he plans to take it."

That can be bad coaching, a young team, or just a bad team.

Red is not the sharpest tool in the shed so it wouldn't be a total surprise...

BTW, it just occurred to me...didn't the Vikings pull something like this on the Giants in the playoffs a few years ago?

41-0? How can i forget?

Yeah, that had to have hurt. I know the Packers getting spanked my the Rams a couple years ago in the playoffs still hurts and brings up nightmares.

The great thing about the 41-0 loss was that it was over early and the healing was able to begin sooner. ;)

No, that's not what I'm talking about, I'm talking about the Vikes being behind late in the game and scoring twice to win.

hmmmmm.....Yeah, i guess i remember that game, in New York, right?

So what's your point chief?

Firing Tice would be a huge mistake, one that would require nothing short of hiring Bob Stoops as a replacement to make up for.

The team lacked depth with the restrictions on spending they had, something you cannot blame Tice for. Give Tice some time and resources and he can do great things with this team.

It would seem however, that they need to hire a real QB coach for Dante. They also need a new kicker and a right tackle who isn't constantly penalized. The defense is showing promise on the line and if they're allowed to spend to add a few new players, they could have a very solid team next year.

Know what? You may be 10000% right, but tell Red that. He's the one with the trigger finger. At this point, i couldn't care less what the hell they do. The team is cursed. It's futile.

Red also needs to sell the team to Glen Taylor, as he has probably learned by now he will not be able to move this team as easily as he thought.

Nothing really, it just hit me that the Vikings experienced the same thing they did to the Giants a few years back, that's all.

While we're all sitting here reminiscing, i find myself having flashbacks of the old Tommy Kramer to Ahmad Rashad hail mary that beat Cleveland in 1980 and propelled the Vikings into the playoffs. Ah yes.........The good old days of Viking football.

I think the Vikings should fire Tice. There is no reason why this team should not be in the playoffs after starting 6-0.

There are good replacements out there that I think would do a great job. Tom Coughlin comes to mind. Dick Jauron. Dave Wannstadt.

Dennis Green. ;)

There is the answer! Dave Wannstedt for Randy Moss!:D

Are they really cursed, like Curse of the Babe or the Billy Goat Curse?

Or is this some curse made up by bitter Viking fans, kind of like the Saints curse?

:D

They didn;t fire Dave yesterday.

Damn it. I lost $5 on that....

Thought it was a given.

Hell yeah!!!!!! Hop onto the Fire Tice Bandwagon!!!!!!! Come one, come all!!! Don't be shy.

Coughlin would be perfect. I 2nd the motion.

Actually, it's been about 42 years in the making.

And any of those are supposed to be an improvement? :confused:

Yea. Except for Dennis Green.

Coughlin is a proven winner, 2 AFC Championship appearances.

Jouron even took the Bears to the playoffs with a average team. Were they 13-3 a couple years ago?

How about Jim Fassel? He's been to a Super Bowl.

I've never been a fan of Tice. But the collapse this season was too much.

I'd rather have Tice, only rational you're offering is Tice hasn't had a chance to prove himself.

Oh, quite the contrary, he HAS proven himself.

Maybe that will work, I don't know for sure. But what I do know is that the Vikings had the talent and opportunity to make the playoffs this year and they didn't get it done. This will go down as one of the all time collapses in NFL history.

Right, just like the 98 Vikings, the 87 Vikings, the 89 Vikings, the 2001 Vikings, etc, etc.

I won't argue the opportunity portion of this, but to say that the talent on this team is playoff level is wrong IMO. The offense was average without a 100% Bennett and other than Moss, no reciever could get open.

I don't think so. I think there is a good team. Certainly playoff caliber, given their division. They beat some good teams as well. I wouldn't say they are Super Bowl caliber yet, but they have the talent to play with just about anyone.

Right, now all they need is a good coaching staff and they'll be all set. :rolleyes:

That is because the offense played some good ball this year. Defensively, they were weak most of the season. Until the last few games, they had at best 2 LB's who you could put on the field and expect to make tackles. One was slow(Biekert), one injured(Claiborne) and the others were too young and inexperience(Henderson, Natiel, etc). The D-line was greatly improved once Williams was put next to Hovan, but the Lance Johnstone couldn't stop his mom from running the ball by him. The secondary was hit and miss. It was either INT or TD.

Maybe.

Are you saying there is some other reason why they didn't make the playoffs?

The lack of a efefctive #2 reciever?

I don't think so.

I think it was a poorly coached and led team.

Parcells took the Cowboys to the playoffs and the Ravens rode the arm of Anthony Wright to a division title.

:)

The Vikings have abetter offense than both and their defense, while not as good as Baltimore or Dallas, can shut down good a good offense, like Kansas City, Green Bay...

Right now the vikings need to take Dewayne Washington behind a shed and shoot him.. he's a lame horse db :)