Is It Baseball Season Yet?

Could the last 12 months be the worst year ever as a Vikings fan? It is a legitimate question for a long suffering fan base. I don’t want to rehash the last 365 days any more than anybody else does, but think about it. 364 days ago the Vikings suffered one of, if not THE, most crushing loss in franchise history, losing to New Orleans in Overtime of the NFL Championship game. The whole Favre interception is often mentioned, but any legitimate Vikes fan knows a stupid 12 men on the field penalty killed us that night. We saw our Super Bowl hopes go up in smoke.
Then we waited.

We waited 8 long months until the 2010-2011 season started. We saw our beloved Chester Taylor sign with the hated Bears. This move turned out to be incredibly hurtful. I was always a big Chester supporter. He was/is a great 3rd down back, and not only did the Vikings miss him immensely this year, but he was wearing the colors of the Bears. The fucking Bears. I hate nothing (except possibly the Cubs) more than the Chicago Bears and their fans. Not all of them mind you, cause I know every team has some solid, die-hard fans, but most of the whiney, uninterested until the team is good, more worried about the beer than the game, Chicago fans, got to watch Chester Taylor catch passes out of THEIR backfield all year. The Vikings countered with drafting Chris Cook from Virginia, who did not impress in his rookie season, Joe Webb, who played good in a win at Philly (that we should have lost for numerous reasons), and Toby Gerhart. I realize Gerhart finished second in the Heisman voting at Stanford, but didn’t anybody notice he is slow and white. He seems like a real good guy. He seems like a hard worker. One day he might be a solid NFL running back. But, after watching Chester Taylor back up Adrian Peterson for the last three years, Toby looked like he was always running in sand.

The running back situation was solved, but yet, we waited. We waited on the Old Gunslinger to make up his damn mind. Favre retired, then he didn’t, then he did again, then he was throwing passes to some pimpled 16 year olds at some high school in Mississippi. All of the media was on Favre-watch, while the Vikings fans got to the point we didn’t care if he came back or not, as long as he decided before opening day. It took a trip by three teammates down to Mississippi to get Favre to decide if he was coming back. Low and behold, after this friendly visit, he was healthy enough to come back and give it one more go-round that day. Everybody knew he couldn’t stay healthy all year, but the QB situation seems to be solved.

The defense was rounding into shape it appeared, the running back was never a question, and now, we had our quarterback. But, the pre-season waiting wasn’t over. Sidney Rice did God-knows-what over the summer. What he didn’t do was get the hip surgery he needed until training camp. This was a blow the Vikings never quite got over. Rice would miss the first 7-9 weeks of the season. A crushing blow. It didn’t help that Percy Harvin was suffering migraines every day and would routinely pass out on the practice field it seemed every day.

Opening night, amid the fanfare in New Orleans the Vikings actually looked alright. The timing with the receivers was off, but that was to be expected because of the late arrival of Favre. Rice was gone, but newly-acquired Greg Camirillo was playing alright, Shianco looked great, and Harvin was headache-free. Then the Saints won. After the Saints won that game, the season was never the same.

The Vikings lost to Miami, then they barely beat Detroit and then had a bye week. By the bye week, most Vikings fans had mixed feelings. It felt like if only Rice would come back, we would have a passing game again and all would be well in Minnesota. We hoped for Vincent Jackson, but it didn’t happen. Then the trade happened.

The acquisition of Randy Moss made my phone blow up like nothing since the Artest melee. I got so many calls that night I had to keep my phone plugged in while talking to people. I was riding high. Moss was my all-time favorite Viking. A 3rd round pick for #84?!? Bring him on! It seemed like it was all too good to be true. Then Randy played a game.

The first game with Moss was a loss at New York against the Jets. It wasn’t what I would call a must-win, but it would have been nice. It was an understandable loss, even if it was coming off of a bye week. The following week the Vikes beat Dallas, before we knew how terrible Dallas was, and were back to 2-3. That was the high point of the season. The Vikings would lost four of their next five to Green Bay, New England, Chicago and Green Bay again. Only a fluke win against Arizona broke up the losing streak. Moss was a nightmare in and out of the locker room. Brad Childress had lost the team and was ultimately fired and Leslie Frazier promoted, and it was obvious Favre was getting too old to play week in and week out.

Frazier took over and went 3-3 in his six games, which was good enough to get the interim tag removed, and good enough to push the Vikings all the way to the 12th draft pick. While all of this was going on, Adrian Peterson suffered an injury, Favre’s streak ended, the Metrodome roof collapsed, the Vikings played a home game in Detroit, Tarvaris Jackson showed he is not an NFL-caliber quarterback, they played their last home game of the year outside at the University of Minnesota’s football field, had a Sunday night game snowed out in Philly, had to play on a Tuesday night, the Packers snuck into the 6th seed of the playoffs, and the Bears won the North, getting a 1st round bye in the playoffs thanks to the Vikings inexplicably beating the Eagles on Tuesday night.

(Sidebar: Since I don’t really have a sidebar, a paragraph with parenthesis will have to do. While the Vikings had their worst season ever by a fans standpoint, the Bears had perhaps the luckiest season ever by an NFL team. In week one they beat Detroit on the crazy Calvin Johnson CATCH that wasn’t a catch. Then they beat Dallas, who turned out to be terrible, beat Green Bay in the MOST PENALIZED GAME IN PACKERS HISTORY, lost to the Giants and gave up 75 sacks, Jay Cutler had a boo-boo, beat the worst team in the NFL, lost back to back games to an awful Seattle team in Chicago and then to an equally terrible Washington team. Their luck had only just begun though, the Packers had a host of injuries which allowed the Bears to stay in 1st, despite the losses. After their two losses, the Bears beat Buffalo, barley, beat Miami with their 3rd string QB, beat the floundering Vikings, had a legitimate win against Philly, then beat Detroit by four with their 3rd string QB playing, got embarrassed by New England, Beat Minnesota again at the University of Minnesota with Favre playing one series, and Adrian Peterson sitting out, and finished with a split against the Jets and Green Bay. Minnesota’s win over Philly got them a 1st round bye, which somehow turned into a home game against Seattle, aka the worst playoff team ever, and then secured a home game in the NFL title game. We will get to that later. Needless to say, I respect the Bears won games, and took care of business when they had to, but my GOD, what a lucky ass season.)

So, when we left the Vikings, the season was over. There is questions surrounding the defensive backfield and the defensive line. Their best linebacker, Chad Greenway, is a free agent. As is their #1 receiver Sidney Rice. Bret Favre is done for. Tarvaris Jackson is not the answer. The QB position is wide open. Leslie Frazier is the head man. Toby Gerhart remains the backup at RB. The offensive line is shaky, same as the Metrodome roof. There are stadium concerns for next year and for many years to come. Will they build a new stadium or repair the old one? Do they want an open air stadium or get a retractable roof? Would it just be easier to move to L.A? Things just couldn’t get worse for the Vikings. Until…

THE BEARS AND PACKERS PLAYED FOR A TRIP TO THE SUPER BOWL! I had to cheer, actually up out of my seat and cheer, for the Packers because I couldn’t stomach a Bears Super Bowl. Luckily, their true colors showed, Jay Cutler revealed, once again, he has a vagina, and the Packers won. I am happy the Packers are going to the Super Bowl. There is something wrong with that previous sentence. What a year it has been as a Vikings fan for me to say that.

I’m moving to L.A. where there is no Bears or Packers fans. And if things continue the way they are going, there will be A LOT more Vikings fans there in a couple years.