We like it. Some things just feel right. We don’t get nice things in Minnesota and this afternoon was just the latest proof. Everyone knew what was coming. That should make it easier, right?

Don’t leave it up to Joseph.

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) September 19, 2021

Field goals make me uncomfortable.

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) September 19, 2021

Greg Joseph misses the kick as time expires and the Vikings lose their second straight game. Yikes. pic.twitter.com/S1kNMiflmX

— Ben Brown (@BenBrownPL) September 19, 2021

ONLY USE WHEN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY

Minnesota Vikings kickers should be seen as fire extinguishers. You only use them when you absolutely have to. Avoid them at all costs. Are you better off using an extinguisher than letting your house catch blaze? Yes, but why not avoid the fire and the extinguisher in the first place?

The last offensive play of Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals ended at the Arizona 18-yard-line with 41 seconds left on the clock. The Vikings still had one timeout left. Instead of rushing to the line and spiking the ball or using that final timeout, they let the clock run down to 4 seconds and sent Greg Joseph onto the field to lose the game.

41 secs left when Obsorn was touched down and you let the clock run all the way down and miss a FG pic.twitter.com/YlVM7KYsWu

— CJ Fogler #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) September 19, 2021

Kirk Cousins is the most careful quarterback in the NFL and 41 seconds is a lifetime. There are so many options that the offense could have taken to the end zone. They could have thrown short anywhere on the field if they wanted to play it safe or they could have taken their timeout and thrown 2 shots at the endzone, if they wanted to play it aggressive.

Anything would’ve been better than, “alright Greg Joseph will take us home from here”. No he won’t. Because he’s a kicker and kickers can NEVER be trusted to win games once they put on a Minnesota Vikings jersey. It’s just science.

Play to win. Go for the end zone.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

*British people spell a lot of words wrong: “graying, defense, and savior” are all misspelled in this piece.

*British men use the c-word as if it’s a replacement for “asshole” in our profanity dictionary, and get away with it for whatever reason… (I’ve seen it in movies too)

*they also use weird words like “twat” and “wanker”

*I have no idea what a “Hokey Cokey” is… sorry.

———-

We are approaching the end of another decade and everyone is doing a top-10 this; or a top 10 that, of the decade. I am different. I am a non-chest hair shaving, *greying, British man; who loves being unique (or a *cunt, whatever works).

So, here is your Minnesota Vikings TOP-6 “Good, Bad and Ugly” of the decade:

Let’s start happy and end in misery. We have had a lot of good this decade, but here is my top 6!

1. The Minneapolis Miracle: It was 2am or 3am or something late am for me on this cold night in January. The kids were asleep, I was lying in bed on my own, sad. Head on the pillow, staring at my phone wondering what happened to the *defence in the second half? And then Keenum steps in to… I do a full-on burpee in bed. My first one ever! Jumping up and down. Silently cheering and punching the air… Vikings win it! Goosebumps. Still. I will be telling my grand kids to tell their grand kids about this one
2. Adrian Peterson MVP season: Purple Jesus ran for TWO THOUSAND and NINETY-SEVEN (2,097) yards! Coming off of a career threatening injury, he battled back to win the league’s MVP, in a year where he carried the Vikings into playoffs. The O-line got some credit for giving him the holes, but boy did he fill them (Giggidy)! I was personally thankful I picked him up in the 3rd round of my fantasy draft that year!
3. Rob Brzezinski: If someone told the 13-year-old me that a Math geek would make some arbitrary top 6 list in 2019, I would have been walking around with even more awkward erections than what I remember (I remember there being a lot)! Instead I got a $0.99 cone from McDonald’s for getting a statistically impossible 103% in the math test. But enough about my awkward and lonely teen years, Mr. B is the hero we don’t deserve. We signed Kirk to a guaranteed deal, extended Hunter, Diggs, Thielen, Barr, Kendricks, Griffen… all thanks to a guy who was good with numbers. Nerds of the world salute you sir!
4. WR bargains: Did you know that Adam Thielen was undrafted? Yeah crazy right! He nearly became a dental equipment salesman. The horror! We also found something called a “Diggs” in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL draft. Both are now absolute cornerstones of the team. You would easily stud them out to mate with your wife or girlfriend. Or both!
5. Aaron Rodgers getting hurt: Now before any of your Boomers/Gen Z (who ever you pricks are) come into my mentions (that’s @UKSkol on Twitter) with “you really gonna celebrate an injury brah?”. I am not celebrating the injury. I am enjoying the amount of whining he did post-injury. I mean, he walked into A. Barr and we all know A-Rod can’t handle his drink. But of course, the NFL sucked him off and changed the rule, and as a result Clay Matthews got punished. It was the gift that kept on giving…
6. US Bank Stadium: What a beaut! It is loud, modern and fucking beautiful! It is better than Wembley, and that is high praise coming from a Brit. My only game at the Bank will forever be cherished in my memory as one of the best days in my life!

Shout out to the UK Skol Squad who made it out to @USBankStadium for the Eagles game ?

?? Vikings fans are taking over ?@UK_Vikings | @UKSkol | @KevinSayer pic.twitter.com/LsvPqAK2Xt

— Minnesota Vikings UK (@UKVikings) October 17, 2019

The bad, ugly, painful, and/or crying in the fetal position Top-6:

1. 27 yard field goal: I don’t want to talk about it. It was TWENTY-SEVEN FUCKING YARDS BLAIR. *Twat. No, I am fine. I am over it. Just kick the damn thing straight. You weren’t even close with-it you *wanker. I am fine. Honestly. Prick.
2. The 2018 offensive line: You spend $84 million on a quarterback and you put a sieve in front of him. You might as well have IR’d the poor fucker, at the start of the season. Poor Kirk stood no chance. We started with Remmers and Compton at guard. Elflein at *centre and Hill at RT! The horror. Anyway, Kirk got to taste the US Bank turf really well!
3. Laquon Treadwell: The *saviour. All we needed was a wide receiver to get us over the hump. Forget the awesome linebackers, Myles Jack and Jaylon Smith. Forget Xavien Howard or Michael “145 receptions” Thomas. Laquon Treadwell was the *saviour. 9 starts. ONE catch. 15 yards… Decent catch radius, though!
4. Brett Favre’s second season: This one just sneaks into the decade. 2009 was great – NFCCG, 4200+ yards and a career best QB rating of 107.2. We had to bring him back, right? No brainer! I mean he is a Vikings HOFer, after all. 13 games, 2500 yards and the worst QB rating of his Vikings HOF career, this went bad quick. But we will always have the 1st of November, 2009 and the four touchdowns you threw at Lambeau.
5. Tony Sparano: No jokes. This was sad. RIP Tony Sparano
6. US Bank Stadium killing the birds: We built this beautiful stadium with 200,000 feet of glass. Apparently, glass reflects the sky. Who knew?! The dumbass birds get confused and crash into the glass and die. Get this, on average 111 birds die every year at the US Bank stadium. Well, that and the hopes of 66,655 Vikings fans far too often…

Ah the ugly. Brace yourself. You are about to enter a dark part of the decade. This section will haunt you.

Maybe grab a strong drink before you read on… whatever skinny-canned seltzer you Americans are drinking this month.

1. 38-7: Sigh. We just came off a miracle win at home. The Eagles had a backup quarterback, Napoleon Dynamite. We are looking at a super bowl at our new home stadium with a win. “Bring it home” is the cover photo for every single Vikings fan on Twitter. First drive was exactly by script, Case marches the team down the field. Rudy scores. Paint the end zone in the purple colours fellas, it is coming home. But then, shit got ugly. Like your wife screaming at you during birth because “YOU PUT THIS THING IN ME!”, ugly. It was all a blur after the interception. I just wanted it to end. Please, make it stop…
2. Adrian Peterson hitting his kid: Why AP? Why? You were league MVP. a hero in every Vikings fans’ eyes. Then you do that shit. I could never wear his jersey again after that shit. This isn’t 1950’s America anymore. It wasn’t just the action that was ugly. It was the ban for the year and how the whole situation just left the fanbase in purgatory. Is he coming back? Do we trade him? Nope, he’s staying… It was U-G-L-Y. We should have just traded his ass to Somali or something.
3. Teddy’s knee: Who got excited for what Teddy could do, after he made those two throws against the Chargers in the preseason? This guy! New stadium, solid team, Teddy firing… Postseason, here we come! — *Beep beep* — ‘Oh I got a text message’, “FUCK! WHAT?! HOW?! Why is Rick is crying??” — Yup, it was Ugly. This didn’t go as planned at all. We are known for our knee injuries but this one was gut wrenching. The guy had potential and the team loved him… it all had so much promise.
4. Zimmer’s eye: Well this was just crazy. Mike Zimmer scratches his eye. Has a gazillion surgeries and still can’t see out of it! What the hell kinda crazy ass shit is this?! For a long time all we saw in the news cycles was news on his eyes. We even had Mike Priefer as acting head coach, for a crucial game against Dallas, because of an eye surgery. You can’t write this shit. Well, I am… But you know what I mean.
5. Sam Bradford’s knee: We loves our knew injuries, amirite? But this was just puzzling. Who got a boner when Sam absolutely torched the Saints on that Monday night in September? I did. I wanked over his throw to Jarius Wright several times. This was the year for sure. Or not.. another freak knee injury, one *Hokey Cokey in Chicago, and we’re suddenly looking at starter, Case Kennum with Teddy as a back up.That lead to our rinsing in the NFCCG. What the hell kind of ugly is this? I still don’t know what happened to his knees? Carpet burns?!
6. US Bank Stadium super bowl: 1.061 billion Dollars spent on the state of the art facility. Bid for super bowl and win the bid. Build a team to win the super bowl. Make the game… well almost. We have covered this already. But we wasted the opportunity to make US Bank the greatest place in Vikings history. Ever.

Sanka | Minnesota Sports Fan

We are nearing the two-year anniversary of former Vikings kicker, Blair Walsh’s missed playoff FG against the Seattle Seahawks. January 10, 2016. People don’t forget.

On Sunday, the 27 year-old, who now plays for the Seahawks (funny right?), had an opportunity to send he and his teammates to the postseason…. That sentence made my palms sweat. With 32 seconds left in the game, and Seattle trailing by 2, Walsh lined up for a 48 yard game-winning attempt.

If he makes it, they clinch a Wild Card birth, pending a Falcons loss. If he misses, season over. Just as it was 700+ days ago, an entire fan base’s hopes and dreams rode on the right foot of Blair Walsh. Knowing how the Seahawks feel as Walsh lines up for this kick ALMOST makes me feel bad for them. Well, without any further ado, let’s go to the tape:

One last LOL BLAIR WALSH for 2017 pic.twitter.com/LleIKvGJpF

— gifdsports (@gifdsports) January 1, 2018

Na, na, na, na – hey, hey, hey, GOODBYEEEE…. He ends the year for the same team he helped advance two seasons prior. Irony at its finest. Karma in action. Whatever, it’s beautiful.

The “season-killer” had a different approach to close out 2017. In opposite fashion to the previous calendar year, he went wide right. As for 2018, call/text your bookie. Walsh is going to be leaving the next one short (if he’s on a roster).

Entering Sunday, Seahawk Nation probably thought the worst Blair Walsh had to offer was behind them. During their Week 11 MNF loss to Atlanta, he missed a 52 yard game-winning attempt. Now, with all due respect, 52 yards is deep. Missing that one is no big deal, right?

Well, it’s no big deal if you’re a solidified kicker in the NFL. It becomes a big deal if you shanked three attempts in a loss, two weeks prior. Yep. That is correct.

Blair Walsh

Missing field goals

Name a more iconic duo. I’ll wait.

— Johnny (@PhongToo) January 1, 2018

The 2012 draft pick missed attempts from 44, 39, and 49 yards in Week 9 vs. Washington. Week 9, 11, and 17; that’s three blown games right there. I’m not going to dive any further into Blair’s season. Doctor’s orders. This topic is terrible for my blood pressure levels.

Given the season of the NFL’s “Black Monday“, for coaches, I found myself wondering about Walsh’s future. He enters this off-season as an unrestricted free agent. Assuming his days in Seattle are done (I’d bet the house I don’t own that they are), will another team run the risk of potentially having the Georgia Bulldog alum decide their fate? We shall see.

Blair Walsh’s Career Stats:

Just like the intensity of this current MN cold streak, he’s on the decline. The 92.1% from 2012 season seems like an eternity ago.

I have plenty of built up animosity for franchises/programs, (what’s up, Badgers?) but not so much for individual athletes. However, there are a few exceptions to that rule. Blair Walsh is one of them.

The missed kick was the missed kick. Shit happens, I suppose. I’m onto the 2017-18 Vikings, you know what I’m saying? It was this damn finger point and head shake he gave our sideline earlier this season that put me over the edge:

Blair Walsh hits FG, points at Vikings sideline & shakes his head pic.twitter.com/JJj9S3hcnH

— Vikings Blogger (@firstandskol) August 19, 2017

What a joke! That garbage was during a pre-season game, nonetheless. PRE-SEASON! Blair Walsh blew a playoff game by missing a 27 yarder! And he gloats over a make in a meaningless game? Screw him. The man’s priorities are ass-backwards.

Blair Walsh’s week at the timeshare must be in mid-January

— Johnny Minnesota (@TheJohnnyMN) January 1, 2018

Johnny Minnesota @TheJohnnyMN
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com

However, just like me on the 18th green, he couldn’t convert. The ball seemed to have a chance for a second. Ultimately, it fell just shy of the crossbar. At least it wasn’t wide left, right? The failed attempt gave the Atlanta Falcons a 34-31 victory on MNF.

That wasn’t very nice of Sean McDonough. There was no need for the announcer to bring up the infamous Wild Card game blowing FG. It got my irrational Purple Pride heated. However, the failed kick twenty seconds later brought me back down to earth.

This November has not been a good month for Walsh. Two weeks ago, the former Viking kicker, missed three field goals in a 17-14 loss to Washington.. Those shanks were from 44, 39, and 49 yards. All three wound up left of the uprights. After that broke ass performance, much of Seahawks Nation wanted Walsh cut. Pete Carroll made the decision to stand by the Georgia Bulldog alum.

Blair Walsh you’re helping out the wrong Washington team ?

— Kyle Moline (@kylemoline) November 5, 2017

Now, fast forward to last night. The game is under the National spotlight. The table is set for Walsh to erase any doubt Seahawks fans have of his ability. Seattle can force OT if Blair can redeem himself. NOT THE CASE (KEENUM). The way his month is going Walsh’s Thanksgiving turkey will be burnt to all hell. We call that “Milwaukee style.” All buzzed up and forget you got the grill/oven going. The meat just comes out charred.

For me, it’s whatever. Don’t get me wrong. I do get some joy out of watching Walsh struggle. That joy doesn’t help erase the memories from the playoff miss. I simply just can’t forget about one of, if not the, worst chokes in playoff history.

A reminder of what this man put us through:

There is only one way for me to move on. A Vikings playoff win is what Johnny Minnesota needs. I need it so fucken bad. We BULLIED the Rams Sunday. The Bank was an absolute electric factory. My kudos and appreciation to you if you were there. Coach Zimmer asked for the noise and the Minnesotans brought it:

Zimmer to fans pic.twitter.com/OksOKdTHdY

— Arif Hasan (@ArifHasanNFL) November 17, 2017

8-2. 2nd place overall in the NFC. It’s on to the Motor City Kitties. It’s weird to think that game is ONLY TWO DAYS away. The Vikings are 3 point favorites for Thursday’s contest. If Minnesota can beat Detroit (6-4), they will have a complete strangle hold on the entire NFC North.

Johnny Minnesota @mnsportsnstuff
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com

Because the Vikings did him so wrong by signing him to a HUGE contract for a kicker who lost Teddy Bridgewater his only playoff appearance. The team that continued to trust you for about 2 years too many. Everyone knows Blair Walsh signed his own letter of resignation by missing important kick after important kick.

Here is what I am talking about:

Well, Blair Walsh had one of those days we’ve seen too many times here in Minnesota. I wonder if he is mad at the Seahawks players and fans for missing this field goal. Maybe Russel Wilson needs to be more politically correct (not sure if that is possible). I don’t hope for players to fail too often… Russel Wilson also falls on this list. Blair Walsh is at the top. He and Joe Buck, holding it down up there together.

I hope you fail, Blair Walsh. And I will post something like this every time. Just know, it didn’t have to be like this. If you would have just shut your mouth and put your little finger away, earlier this year, this wouldn’t even have been posted….

Well maybe… but I wouldn’t have been this mean.

I can’t believe they are all WIDE LEFT too…. Couldn’t have been any better. Enjoy….

Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan
MinnesotaSportsFan.com @RealMNSportsFan

Photo: NFL.com