Last week I suggested that Vikings coach Mike Tice, who had expressed interest in the University of Washington job, should go ahead and grab it, leaving the Minnesota job open for recently deposed Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham. Unfortunately, UDub decided to cut out the middleman (Tice), and name Willingham coach themselves. Then Sunday, for good measure, the unfortunately-still-Tice-coached Vikings lost to a Seattle Seahawks team that shares a stadium with the Huskies.
The bright side is that the bizarre, Tice-approved call for a reverse in which receiver Randy Moss threw the ball for an interception – on first down with just over two minutes left and the Vikings behind- has been so roundly criticized that legitimate Tice-will-be-fired talk is circulating through the league for the first time. I’ve been calling for Meathead's ouster for three years.
Yet despite all that, the Vikings- at 7-6 while in the midst of their third consecutive late-season collapse- remain the top wild card contender in the NFC, and would make the playoffs if the season ended today.
Posted by Stephen Silver at December 13, 2004 06:15 PMI think it's a bit much to make a huge deal of the play where Moss threw an interception. If it had worked, it would be called brilliant. Just look at the successful halfback option play in the Steelers-Jets game. Everyone talked about how they just completely fooled the Jets into thinking it was a run. Yet, if Bettis hadn't gotten the ball to Tuman it would have been criticized no matter how much the Jets were fooled.
Posted by: Ron at December 13, 2004 11:32 PM