Wilf Woes

The ownership group led by Zygi Wilf and his family bought the Minnesota Vikings in 2005. Nine years later, they may finally have this NFL-thing figured out. Well, that still has be proven with sustained on-the-field football success but this offseason seems to be the first offseason in which some stability has been shown in Minnesota. The first step to this apparent stability was the promotion of Rick Spielman to general manager. The Wilf's had never hired a true general manager. They had never given decision-making power to one person. They finally gave that power to Spielman last year. He then went out and found his head coach this offseason in Mike Zimmer. It's an absolute must that a general manager and head coach be on the same page. The best way for that to happen is to have the general manager make the decision on a coach. Then there has to be an understanding and an acceptance of the respective roles of the general manager and the head coach. If the first few months are any indication, it looks as if Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer will form a beautiful relationship. The Wilf family had eight years of missteps but it looks as though they finally have things going in the right direction.

The Wilf family purchased a Minnesota Vikings team that was led by head coach Mike Tice. While Tice was, and is, an excellent offensive line coach, he ran a fairly loose ship as the head coach. He was an interim coach whose title became permanent in 2002 when then-owner Red McCombs decided to fill the position cheaply. Tice lasted through the 2005 season and was then fired. The Wilf's first stab at a coaching search was rushed, at best. They interviewed one coach, Brad Childress. They hired him quickly because the Green Bay Packers were next on his interview tour. About three weeks later, the Wilf's hired Fran Foley as Vice President of Player Personnel. This is the position that owners created when they didn't want a general manager. A VP of Player Personnel has general manager responsibilities without general manager decision-making power. With Childress and Foley in place the Vikings formed the poorly named and horribly conceived "Triangle of Authority." Head coach Childress, VP Foley, and cap guru Rob Brzezinski as the three-sided, decision-making mess. The one brilliant move made by the Wilf's from the very beginning was retaining Brzezinski through it all. He's one of the best, if not the best, at what he does. As long as Brzezinski is calling the "money" shots the Vikings will always be in fine salary cap shape. Foley's tenure with the Vikings was a disaster. He lied on his resume'. He was a pain-in-the-ass in the office. He was fired right after the 2006 NFL Draft. Three rocky months was all it took to see enough of Fran Foley. Rick Spielman was hired to replace him. The Wilf's still held to the clunky "Triangle of Authority." The trouble was that each side of the triangle didn't seem to carry the same weight. As the years went by it seemed that Childress grabbed greater say in personnel matters. He became the king in Minnesota. All was cheery when the Vikings win total improved two games each season of Childress' reign. In 2006, the Vikings were 6-10. In 2009 with Brett Favre leading on the field, the Vikings were 12-4 and a play away from the Super Bowl. It all came tumbling down the next season. The Wilf's fired Childress midseason. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier was named the interim coach for the rest of the season. He had the interim title removed after that dreadful season finally ended. The players loved Frazier. Everyone loved Frazier. He was the nice guy after the mean guy Childress. It was easy to make Frazier the head coach. From all appearances Spielman had a warmer relationship with Frazier than he ever had with Childress. The "Triangle of Authority" name might have been dropped somewhere along the way but it still remained in practice. It just wasn't working. If the Wilf's were sold on Spielman as the decision-maker of their franchise they had to give him the power to make "his" decisions. They had to give him the authority to hire "his" coach. They had to make Rick Spielman the general manager and turn him loose. They finally did just that last year. And here we are today with Mike Zimmer leading the Minnesota Vikings on the football field and Rick Spielman getting him the players to win.

The current state of the Minnesota Vikings looks great. It looks stable. A, long-sought, new stadium is being built. The Super Bowl is coming to that new stadium. There's a lot of optimism in Minnesota right now. None of it will be considered a success until the team is holding up a Lombardi Trophy. That's the only judge of NFL success. Despite nine years of a few thrills and mostly missteps, I applaud the Wilfs for feeling their way through the growing pains of NFL ownership. They did things their way. They learned. They changed the things that clearly didn't work. They didn't keep making the same mistakes. They did what seemed impossible when they finally brought a new stadium from fantasy to reality. A Super Bowl is even coming to Minnesota. Now, the Vikings have to get in that big game. Despite the stumbles, it was easy to see that winning was always the Wilf's goal. They may finally have the pieces in place to do just that.