When you're talking about a defense that ranks 30th out of 32 NFL teams in points allowed, usually there's plenty of blame to be spread around between the players and the coaching staff.
How, then, is the blame to be spread when the players, apparently, take it upon themselves to ignore the coaching staff all together?
According to two sources, a group of defensive backs raised concerns about Pagac's play-calling -- specifically, the timing and frequency of blitzes and man-coverage calls -- within the first month of the season.
At times, some players simply refused to play the defenses called, yelling out their own coverages as they broke the huddle. Tension mounted among players who felt the issues weren't run up the flagpole and coaches who disagreed on how to proceed with an increasingly depleted group.
"There's so many different ways to do it to protect themselves, especially with a beat-up secondary," a source said. "(Players) don't want to play some of the calls, just because they don't have confidence in it."
Wait, wait, wait. . .the defensive backs on this team are concerned with Fred Pagac's play calling? The freakin' defensive backs? Are you freakin' joking me? Every single non-Antoine Winfield member of Minnesota's defensive backfield this season has looked like absolute garbage, and they want to try to overrule the coach?
I get that Fred Pagac isn't going to be back as Minnesota's defensive coordinator next year. There might not be a single coach on Minnesota's entire defensive staff that is in the employ of the Minnesota Vikings in 2012. But if this is even remotely true, there had better be a huge damn line of people following Pagac and company out the door, because that is absolutely unacceptable. The coaches are the coaches for a reason. . .run the damn defense that's called and try doing your damn jobs. If you were good enough to freelance, you wouldn't be 30th in the NFL in points allowed.