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Vikes offer few reasons to be optimistic
 Adam Czech
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Here we are more than three months removed from football season with the weather outside rapidly heating up and a baseball team that is one of the most exciting in the major leagues and what do I see nearly every day on the front page of the Star Tribune sports section? Some sort of story about the Vikings.
So I sat down to write this column with the intention of writing about anything other than the Vikings. Should I write a column about the Twins or maybe something about basketball? I asked myself. Nah, my colleagues and I have covered that enough already. How about Tiger's big win at the Masters? Yawn, nope.
Finally, I figured what the hell? I might as well write about the Vikings, too. Or as I like to call them, the Queens.
Throughout my life I have always been very pessimistic about the Queens. This was mainly due to Dennis Green's ineptitude as a coach. No matter how talented of a team the Queens had, I always knew Denny would find some way to screw things up. Kneeling on the ball with a chance to go the Super Bowl being one example, having no clue whatsoever when it came to defense being another.
But there's a new man in control this season. His name is Mike Tice and he appears to be a guy who has the tools to turn things around after last season's debacle. So will my pessimism finally subside this season? Well, lets see.
Quick, name three guys who will start for the Queens on defense this season. Name our second and third receivers. Can't do it, can you? With the players that the Queens will have this season, not even Vince Lombardi himself could make them a good football team.
I'd be really surprised if Mike Tice is able to last beyond his second year as a head coach in Minnesota. NFL fans and owners expect wins immediately no matter how terrible the players on their team are. Immediate victories are something that just will not happen for Tice this season. In fact, I think I have a better chance at dating Britney Spears than the Queens do of winning more than six games this year.
That's not a knock on Tice, either. He seems to know what he's doing and I'm sure he's a good coach. But when your biggest free agent acquisitions are D'Wayne Bates and Kenny Mixon and your best player doesn't even make an effort to try half the time, there is little chance of winning many games no matter who's calling the shots.
But, as mentioned before, this means nothing to fans and owners. If an NFL team made up of zit-faced high school freshman goes 0-16, the first thing the owner would do is give the head coach the boot. Giving a coach more than two years to re-build an ailing franchise is inconceivable to NFL team owners and armchair quarterbacks everywhere.
The same impatience will ring true right here in Minnesota with Tice as the Queens are at least three years out from returning to the playoffs. Even trying to gain a quick fix through free agency will be difficult as it usually takes a year of playing together as a team to become truly effective. Also, I can't picture the big name free agents lining up to play alongside Randy Moss.
Hopefully, the one thing the Queens can improve on this season is public relations. Led by Green, the Queens were probably the most aloof and rudest franchise in the NFL. Fans tolerated this coldness only because the team was able to put some W's on the board. Red McCombs has also made it clear that he wants a new stadium. Getting a new stadium is not exactly going to be easy with a team full of jerks and a record of 5-11.
So, am I still pessimistic? Unfortunately, yes.
Adam Czech can be reached at: [email protected]
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