The Most Disappointing Vikings Team Ever Has Nothing To Do With Football

Heartbreaking defeats. Devastating injuries. Poor draft picks or trades. 

The Vikings have had them all. I've been sad or disappointed or upset about many of them. But they are football things that can happen to a football team.

This is the dawn of my 34th season as a Vikings fan. I have never been more disappointed in this team than I am right now.

Today we learned that the Vikings are the least vaccinated team in the NFL. In a league with roughly 90% of its players vaccinated, the Vikings sit at about 70% (at least partially vaccinated).

Of course. Of course we have to be the dumbest team. And yes, refusal to get vaccinated is unquestionably a reflection of intelligence. It's August. If you are still refusing to get vaccinated you are dumb. And you are an asshole.

Given those numbers, there are roughly 30 players in camp who are unvaccinated. Most notable is Kirk Cousins, and my disappointment in him is immense. But it's wrong to single him out amidst all the other morons.

So even if, say, most of those players are the types who would be borderline to make the roster anyway (and unvaxxed players are DEFINITELY more likely to get cut), we are still looking at double digit players unvaxxed heading into the season. Where positive tests or close contacts can knock players out for games. Where if enough positives occur, games can be potentially forfeited.

It feels predetermined that this will happen to the Vikings now. Because we have stupid, selfish, idiot players who care more about their nitwit conspiracy theories and political ideologies than helping the team that pays them and who we as fans devote our time and money to.

Mike Zimmer is infuriated by all this and I don't blame him. He gets it. He sees these selfish players for what they are. They are sabotaging a season and a team that held great promise and now feels like it has no chance. Nobody can possibly think the Vikings can get through a 17 game schedule (and beyond?) with so many unvaxxed players and not have chaos.

What happens if Kirk Cousins has to miss a key late season game, or even a playoff game, cause he caught COVID, or even was just a close contact? What is his excuse going to be? How will he explain away how his selfishness sacrificed all the time and effort put in by a whole organization?

Maybe there are always players who don't care. Who truly are just there to cash a paycheck. But they don't deliberately thumb their noses at a whole organization like this. At a whole fanbase.

How do I ever root for these players? I feel most let down by Cousins, just because of the time I have spent defending him the last 3 years. But I will also never  be able to look at Adam Thielen or Harrison Smith the same again. They put their twisted, idiotic anti-science ideology ahead of the team. 

And for what? To not get a vaccine shot that at worst will help them not get a virus they may never have gotten anyway, and at best will keep them, their teammates, and everyone else around them safer AND make it much easier for their team to win games.

I am so disappointed in them. And this season feels over before it has even begun. 

God damn them.