What's in a Name?

Sometimes I think that the media wants NFL teams to have a designated General Manager so that they have someone to blame when things go wrong. The media has to able to point that finger. For the last six years the Minnesota Vikings have not had a general manager in name. As Vice President of Player Personnel Rick Spielman has often been the general manager in practice. He's shared decision making duties with the head coach. Initially that was Brad Childress. Now that is Leslie Frazier. The area media have been calling for a true general manager the entire time. They need a name to blame. This week the Vikings promoted Spielman to General Manager. He now has the name and the responsibilities that go with it. He has final say on all roster decisions. He has the authority to fire the head coach. As the head coach, Leslie Frazier will make all decisions regarding his staff. As any responsible NFL decision maker, Spielman will listen to his coaches and scouting departments on all decisions. Now, he just has that all important final say. The media now has that all important name.

I have long felt that the head coach should make all personnel decisions. After all, he's the one that has to coach the players. He's the one that best knows his system. He's the one that best understands the players that fit his system. I must admit that my opinions were mostly cultivated in the years prior to free agency. There's no offseason now. There's so much to do. Its asking a lot of a coach to coach the current players and pursue new ones. Install and tweak the offense and defense and scout college players. My football team management ideal kind of falls apart in an era of free agency and non-stop evaluation and scouting. I still think that the most successful teams have the most cooperative relationship between coach and general manager. Some coaches want all decision making responsibilites. Some even demand it. The New England Patriots have long been the front office ideal. Coach Bill Belichick has the final vote and loudest voice in the room. One of the few coaches that has that type of authority these days. To his and the team's credit Belichick has always been very open to the people around him. He has always surrounded himself with incredible football minds. His working relationship with Scott Pioli built championships. No matter the names on the office doors coaches, executives and scouts all should have a say in personnel decisions. What's the point of being around if no one listens. Smooth cooperation is always the hope. Cooperation in decisions has always been the source of success on the football field. I thought that the Vikings had that cooperation between Spielman and Childress. Rumor has it that Childress took more than he gave. They still worked together to built an incredibly talented team that peaked in 2009. It shortly crumbled for a variety of reasons but there's no denying the talent that they put together. The mistake made in signing Donovan McNabb prior to this past season may have been the catalyst of this weeks managerial change in Minnesota. Frazier pushed for the signing of McNabb. That one move doomed the Vikings 2011 season. The Wilf family decided that one person needs to be making roster decisions moving forward. They chose Rick Spielman. New title. Same objective.