The coach looked overmatched. The general manager’s offensive line fluttered like tattered flags in a strong wind. The expensive quarterback barked at the state’s most popular athlete. The owner left the locker room looking grim.
A season that began with Super Bowl expectations ended in vivid frustration on Sunday, when the Minnesota Vikings, needing the slimmest of victories to make the playoffs, instead produced the most timid of losses, one pointing blame directly at the team’s leadership troika.
The coach, Mike Zimmer, didn’t have his team ready to play, evidenced by the Vikings amassing two yards on their first four drives en route to a 24-10 loss.