Will Wilf roll the dice with Tice?

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 1/04/2006

After Larry Fitzgerald submitted the following column and before we went to press, Vikings owner Ziggy Wilf made his decision. Says Larry regarding an update, “There’s really nothing more to say except that the dice were rolled and, for Tice, they came up craps.”

 

The 2005 Vikings XLV Anniversary Season did not come close to meeting the expectations of winning the Super Bowl. You might say the Vikings whiffed on it, missing the playoffs for the third time in four years under Head Coach Mike Tice and for the fourth time in five years -- a clear indicator that the Vikings are not what they used to be. Since 1961, the Vikings have played in 42 playoff games, winning 18 and losing 24.

 

This is the third-worst Vikings playoff void in franchise history: from 1961 to ’68, one playoff appearance; from 1983 to ’87, one playoff appearance; and from 2001 to ’05, one playoff appearance. The Vikings’ three-year plan has been a complete failure. 

 

In fact, the 2005 year of the Vikings was great theater. It all started in January when the Vikings upset the Packers, winning a playoff game at Lambeau Field against Green Bay. After scoring a touchdown, star receiver Randy Moss huddled up to a goal post and proceeded to fake-moon the Packers fans.

 

That act of comic relief led to a firestorm that eventually brought about the trading of Randy Moss to the Oakland Raiders. Trading Moss was a bad deal, period. Had the Vikings made the playoffs this year, the deal would not have looked so bad. But when you look at that deal now and compare it with, say, the trade for Herschel Walker in 1989, it is among the worst deals in NFL history.

 

At least the Vikings made the playoffs after trading for Walker. Wide receiver Troy Williamson, the number-one pick the Vikings received in the deal with Oakland for Moss, was taken with the seventh pick; he is not a starter and struggled all season. And linebacker Napoleon Harris, who came to the Vikings from Oakland in the Moss deal, seldom played at all.

 

Last year the Vikings scored 405 points and allowed 395. This year the Vikings scored 272 points and allowed 334 pending the Chicago game. No matter how you spin it, 2005 was not a good year. Losing Pro Bowlers Matt Birk and Daunte Culpepper to injury and having Kevin Williams struggle contributed.

 

But it was the off-the-field headlines and issues that have turned the Vikings into the butt of jokes by comedians and sports fans across the country. First there was running back Onterrio Smith and his problems and an NFL-mandated one-year suspension for being a second-time violator of the substance abuse program and being stopped at Minneapolis International Airport when security found a fake penis called the Original Whizzanator in his possession.

 

After first saying he did not scalp Super Bowl tickets as an assistant or as a head coach, Mike Tice was found to be untruthful. The NFL investigation led to Tice being the first NFL head coach to be fined $100,000 by NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue for scalping Super Bowl tickets.

 

On October 6, 17 Vikings players were accused of inappropriate behavior on two boats on Lake Minnetonka while aboard Al & Alma's Chartered Cruises. Four players were formally charged with misdemeanors alleging lewd or indecent conduct: Daunte Culpepper, Bryant McKInnie, Moe Williams and Fred Smoot. The maximum penalty on each charge is 90 days in jail or a $1,000 fine. Court appearances are set for January 5, 2006

 

Tice's record is 31-33 pending the Chicago Bears game. He's 1-1 in the playoffs. Vikings owner Ziggy Wilf will decide Tice's fate at season's end.