It is not my intention to rain on the parade of optimism that has engulfed Viking Nation over the past few months. I too am in fact an optimist when it comes to the future of the Minnesota Vikings, and believe there exists a great potential for success with the combination of a Mike Zimmer defense and a Norv Turner offense. There is no question that both of these coaches bring with them to Minnesota a proven track record of long-term NFL success; Zimmer as a defensive genius and Norv as the mastermind behind a highly explosive offense. In other words, both guys know their sh#t and don't mess around. That much has been apparent so far. So much so that despite the fact that Zimmer has yet to ever coach an NFL game, I feel alright about calling this combo an upgrade over Leslie Frazier and Bill Musgrave.
However, there is a point to the post and here it is: everyone needs to chill out and just settle the eff down for a second. I realize that having hope, especially this time of year, is what makes being a fan so great (especially when it comes to the Vikings). But what I'm seeing is much different than hope. Many of you people are acting as though Mike Zimmer is the savior or"the chosen one" sent down from the heavens to lead our franchise to the promised land. What I'm trying to say is that many people, including some of the writers for this site, seem to have somehow already convinced themselves (in August) that success is a foregone conclusion. That the Vikings are going to win games this year and be in the hunt for the playoffs. That Teddy Bridgewater is the QBOTF and will no way not ever be a bust. That our defense is going to somehow jump from 31st in the league into top-half simply because of Zimmer and the additions that we made (Munnerlyn, Joseph etc.). Everyone seems to be focusing on the reasons the Vikings could potentially be successful next season and ignoring the reasons why we probably will not be.
So I will take this time to remind you of the following...The Vikings have pretty much an entirely new coaching staff, with entirely new (and admittedly complicated) systems on both sides of the ball. Furthermore, both systems are very different from what the former regime had in place. These things take time to learn. It takes time to install and develop an NFL scheme. Much longer than one single NFL training camp. Players have to gel and get on the same page, this is particularly true for free agents and rookies (many of whom are the very players the fans are banking on when it comes to our immediate success this season). When it comes to offense we are talking about how great a rookie quarterback is going to be. A rookie QB who fell in the draft and has never ever played even one half of one snap in a real NFL game (pre-season not even close to real). If he isn't as good as our fan-base swears he is, then we have Matt Cassel. On defense we are talking about a linebacker corps that includes a rookie with amazing potential who played running-back three years ago, Jasper Brinkley (nuff said), and an aging vet who was (yes it's true) a straight-up bum last year. We have no effing clue who our second safety is going be, and could likely be a third-year guy who has never played much and didn't even participate in the last 2.5 weeks of camp due to an injury. I could go on...like how Zimmer himself said in an interview that it would be 2-3 years before he even has the players he needs to run his defense properly.
The point is this. I believe it's unrealistic as well as unfair (to the players/coaches) to believe the Vikings will somehow be drastically improved next season. It just ain't gonna happen. Not with the players we have on defense. Even if Teddy is the guy, the learning curve is so steep in the NFL that even if he is as great as so many of you believe, chances are he won't shine consistently as a rookie. Next year is probably gong to be rough. There will be a lot of ups and downs. As I stated before there is a great potential for success in the future (think new stadium) but lets not get ahead of ourselves. I don't think I need to remind folks what the expectations were heading into last season for the majority of Vikings fans. They were pretty high. I read the articles and fan posts that all-but guaranteed playoffs and an improvement upon our 10-6 record the year before. I read the scoffs that were thrown at anyone who suggested differently. An we all saw how that turned out. Granted this is a new year, new coaches, new personnel. Not a fair comparison, I get it. But that's not the point. The point is lets not get our hopes too high and be realistic about what to expect. It could make the season more enjoyable to watch and possibly even a pleasant surprise.