Schneid Remarks
I know after the fact it is easy to say I told you so. But I
told you so.
As great as the last second win over New Orleans was, the
loss to Philadelphia was to be expected.
If you look at this team closely over the past month,
something just wasn't right.
They were not scoring like they did earlier in the year.
They were not rushing the quarterback like they did earlier
in the year.
They weren't shutting down teams like they did earlier in the year.
They weren't completing passes to our wide receivers. They
looked like a Brad Childress team, throwing nothing but a short pass.
It was starting to look like five years ago when we were just
mediocre.
They just looked like a team which was tired and lacking
something. I am not sure what that something was, but Philadelphia
certainly knew.
Everything the Eagles did was right. We had no response to
anything they did.
I did not think we would win this game. I also did not think
we would get blown out. I know our offense didn't do much, but our
No. 1 rated defense was awful.
Philadelphia's defense proved to be much better than ours.
Their back-up quarterback proved to be better than ours.
Their coaching proved to be better than ours.
The bottom line is the better team won Sunday.
I think if we played Philadelphia 10 times, we might win
twice. Home field advantage probably would have helped some, but not
the way the Eagles rolled over us.
Maybe we were overrated all season. We didn't play the
toughest schedule in the league, like we will next year.
Maybe our coaching staff wasn't as good as we thought it was.
Maybe we just weren't that good.
High aspirations and low expectations. Maybe that will be our legacy.
Despite being one of the best seasons in Vikings history, the
team has a lot of work to do next year.
They will play the likes of Aaron Rodgers twice, Tom Brady,
Carson Wentz, and Drew Brees.
These are top-notch quarterbacks. We have three quarterbacks,
but are any of them really that good?
I am trying not to be too negative, but it is hard to be. I
was 11 years old when we last went to a Super Bowl.
This was our best chance. Rodgers got hurt. We had a miracle
win over a very good New Orleans team. We were facing an Eagles team
which was without its MVP quarterback in Wentz. We had a chance to
play the Super Bowl in our own stadium. Wouldn't that have been
something.
The stars really seemed to align as the year went by. Then
the Eagles came along a ruined everything.
Don't get me wrong, I will still watch every Vikings game
until I die. I will be a fan win or lose. But it is hard to do that
when you get let down so often.
Positives would be we get Dalvin Cook back next year.
Hopefully we will have selected a solid quarterback who will
not get hurt. If you remember, Case Keenum was our third straight
signal caller.
I think the majority of our defense is signed for next
season. Terrence Newman and Brian Robison may retire, which will
hurt. But bring in a few younger players to battle for their
positions.
Our offensive line played solid much of the year. The Eagles
proved we are not quite there yet as a solid O-line yet.
At least pitchers and catchers report in less than a month!!!!!