Death, taxes and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah wanting to blow things up. Not since Sam Hinkie was running the Philadelphia 76ers to the ground have we seen a general manager want to see his once-competitive team lose game after game after game. The Minnesota Vikings are a rudderless 2-4 in the worst division in football. With little chance of catching the Detroit Lions, it is time to blow it up.
While 2-4 is not out of playoff contention by any means, just look at who the Vikings' two wins are against the 0-6 Carolina Panthers and the 1-5 Chicago Bears. Those might be the two worst teams in the league, even worse than the spoiled milk Vikings. Although Minnesota won the division a year ago, it has been abundantly clear what Adofo-Mensah wants to do from his ivory tower: Blow. It. Up!
Assuming another primetime beatdown with Kirk Cousins as their quarterback, look for the Vikings to be 2-5 after the San Francisco 49ers coming off their first loss of the season come to Minneapolis for some Monday Night Football. While pretty much everyone would be losing to the 49ers in this spot, much of what happens to Minnesota depends on how the Green Bay and Atlanta games go for them.
And to make matters even worse for Minnesota, Marcus Davenport will be going on injured reserve.
If the Vikings were to drop games to San Francisco, Green Bay, Atlanta and then New Orleans, they would be 2-8 heading into their mid-November road game at the toothless Denver Broncos. Yikes!
Marcus Davenport injury may force Minnesota Vikings to blow it all up
Look. The Vikings have been mostly good, but not great throughout my life. Their best team was the 15-1 squad in 1998 that lost at home in the NFC Championship Game to my beloved Atlanta Falcons. Thank you very much, Gary Anderson! With all pettiness aside, this is the team that I want USC star quarterback Caleb Williams to go to. Organizationally, I trust the Vikings above all other awful teams.
So yes, I get the idea of bottoming out for one season in you are the Vikings. As long as Adofo-Mensah continues to have a good rapport with head coach Kevin O'Connell, I would be on board with going something like 4-13 this fall to be in position to possibly trade up for the No. 1 pick and draft Williams. Even if the Chicago Bears do not want to give up the Panthers' selection, draft Drake Maye.
Overall, we have seen other well-run organizations hit the reset button and be rewarded for it. The San Antonio Spurs did it most famously in the late 1990s when star center David Robinson was injured. It allowed them to be able to take former Wake Forest star Tim Duncan at the top of the draft. As much as I hate to see NFL teams tank, Williams is the best quarterback talent I have seen in years.
If Williams were to go to the Vikings, it would be like getting a 21st century Fran Tarkenton of sorts.
