The running back chose to make the same dumb mistake many before him have, and dropped the ball just as he was approaching the goal line. Replay showed that he hadn’t yet entered the end zone, and the ball was fumbled for a touchback.

ESPN reporting the #AZCardinals are fining head coach Jonathan Gannon $100K for his sideline exchange with RB Emari Demercado.

Gannon apologized to Demercado and the team yesterday… and said Demercado wouldn't face any punishment for dropping the ball before the end zone.… pic.twitter.com/lwqgPfo7Zz

— Cameron Cox (@CamCox12) October 7, 2025

Head coach Jonathan Gannon lost his mind and smacked his running back after a heated conversation. Gannon earned a $100,000 fine for the altercation. Not everyone agrees with the outcome.

Mike Tice shares opinion on Jonathan Gannong situation

The Minnesota Vikings employed Mike Tice as their head coach from 2001-2005. Tice owns a 32-33 record as a head coach. The former tight end was largely seen as a no-nonsense leader. He offered his thoughts on the Gannon situation, and former Vikings running back Leroy Hoard echoed the sentiment as well.

you guys dont understand that football is a negative reinforced sport. We strive for 100% not like other sports . The discipline looks different. No one takes it personally. Even though Gannon couldve handled it different. The play couldve been avoided

— Leroy Hoard (@BigMouthLeroy) October 8, 2025

The gist of both Tice and Hoard’s comments are that Gannon was reacting to what one of his players did, and within the realm of normal coaching. Obviously if you want to extrapolate this situation to an office cubicle situation, and your own boss, it would be entirely out of line. However, it’s hard to see what Gannon did and not think that hundreds of high school and college coaches around the country operate similarly.

Emari Demercado is a professional, playing a physical sport, being paid nearly $3 million. It’s hardly unexpected for a football coach to show a level of anger, and physicality is part of the expectation. It’s not as though Gannon assaulted his player in some negligent or completely unexpected way. He reacted to a mind-numbingly silly play in a way that showed emotion and desire to correct things going forward.

As Hoard also points out, the way in which Gannon went about things could have been different. It should have been. It’s also in the heat of the moment. There are plenty of examples across football in which emotion during a physical and demanding sport overtake someone. To blow that out of proportion is largely a reflection of society today as opposed to dealing with what is actually in front of us.

Let us never forget that time Richard Sherman went off on Michael Crabtree while a terrified Erin Andrews stood next to him. pic.twitter.com/graJKFvxg5

— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) March 9, 2018

In the moments following their interaction, I’d guess Demercado thought nothing of his coach’s reaction, and was more reflective of the mistake he had just made. Mike Tice, Leroy Hoard, and countless others connected across the league probably would agree.

Excitement has been building and the red blood normally flowing through the Minnesota body is slowly dulling and darkening into the deep, thick purple that flows through a Vikings fan for 6 months of the year. Scrolling through Twitter, as social media tries its best to bring me down like the rest of society, I can’t help but notice all of the Vikings’ record predictions I’m seeing. Naturally, Minnesota fans are tempering expectations. It’s the easy argument this year. Nobody is calling for an epic collapse, with the Vikings returning 19 of 22 starters plus Kirk Cousins, but you’re seeing a lot of rational thought around the idea that a 13-3 season is just a difficult thing to bring to fruition, especially two years in a row.

Fair.

Plus, we don’t have to look any farther than our own recent history to give even more credibility to that difficulty. The Vikings have had 3 NFC Championship Game runs since their dominance in the 70’s (which also ended in heartbreak as most know). The three seasons that followed those heartbreaking games ranged anywhere from disappointing to downright disastrous.

So, let’s look back; shall we?

The Disappointing (1999-‘00):

Following the great 1998 season, where an infamous missed FG (one of them) in the NFC Championship proved to be the only force that could stop Randy Moss & Co. that season, the Vikings entered Training Camp 1999 as bigger favorites than Hillary Clinton at the start of the 2016 election season. Both scenarios also ended quite similarly. After beating the Falcons in a Week 1 revenge game, the Vikings lost 4 of their next 5 and were bitch-slapped by the reality of life in the NFL. You need to bring it every game and every season. Nobody walks through that league.

However, the team would rebound to make the playoffs and even secure a victory in the Wild Card round over the Cowboys. But, that’s all the further they’d make it as the St. Louis version of the “Greatest Show on Turf” outscored them in an epic dome shootout that ended with a ridiculous playoff score of 39-47.

I started with the letdown of the ‘99-‘00 season just to get you lubed up. Because, it gets a lot worse from there.

The Disastrous (2001-‘02):

After the frustration of the season referenced above, the Vikings came back for vengeance in the ‘00-‘01 season. The focus out of camp was much more evident as they started the season with a perfect 7-0 record. However, they finished in frustrating fashion, losing their last 3 games, but still backed into a first round bye with an 11-5 record.

After disposing of the Saints with ease in the Divisional Round, we all know what happened in New York the next week vs the Kerry Collins-led Giants…

41-DONUT

Returning most of the key pieces from that NFC Title game squad, the Vikings had high expectations again, entering ‘01-‘02. When you have Randy Moss, Cris Carter, and Daunte Culpepper coming off of 4K yards and 33 TD’s the year before, that’s what happens. This time however, the disappointment of a year that fell far-short of our expectations didn’t linger into the playoffs. It sucker punched us like a bad WWE script.

The team started 1-3 and it didn’t get much better from there. After a 5-10 start, Dennis Green was fired and so we began the Mike Tice era. He would only go on to ruin the rest of our time with Randy Moss, coaching 4 seasons, and finishing over .500 only half of the time with uber-talented teams (9-7 record both years over) and only making the playoffs once (2004 | 8-8).

2010 Brett Favre (2010-‘11):

And that, of course, brings us to the Brett Favre saga. He came in the most dramatic of fashion to play Jesus for a wine-thirsty franchise he once despised for a legendary 2009 season that will forever live in Minnesota infamy for many reasons that we don’t need to live through again. Favre should have done two things after that Saints game. He should have called the New Orleans police and charged their football team with multiple accounts of assault and attempted murder (among possible other charges), AND he also should have retired FOR GOOD. Instead, he popped some more pain meds and let his teammates drag his old ass onto the field for one more comeback season. I mean, it was most of the same characters so what could go wrong, right?

Brett should have realized his mistake and slipped back into hibernation after the first game vs New Orleans, when the offense was only able to muster nine points in a loss. It didn’t get much better from there. Favre would lose his consecutive games started streak after getting beat to shit for 13.5 games and the team would stumble to a 6-10 record that would bring an end to Brad Childress’ head coaching career and result in the drafting of Christian Ponder and the free agency signing of Donavon McNabb…

Minneapolis Miracle to Philadelphia Letdown (2018-‘19):

And here we are again. Another life-changing Minnesota Vikings season, that ended in another mind-numbing NFC Championship embarrassment, brings on a new year with most of the same team and VERY lofty expectations. Are we in for another heartbreak season after an entire offseason of hype and….. hope?

You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. I’ll drop my record projection in part 2 of this article. Come on, this is already almost 1000 words. Nobody wants to read more than that in one sitting.

See you tomorrow…

Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan @RealMNSportsFan

This type of shit is par for the course. When you start blowing up like our 2017-18 Minnesota Vikings, people are going to air out your dirty laundry. That’s the way todays internet driven world works.

No Purple laundry is dirtier, pun intended, than that associated with the 2005 Love Boat Scandal. The vast majority of Skol Nation is acclimated with the infamous true story of the Lake Minnetonka sex party. Barstool Sports’ upcoming documentary will once again shed light on a dark day in Vikings’ history.

FYI – Cover your ears, kids

Coming Soon..Barstool Sports Documentaries Presents…This is the Minnesota Vikings Love Boat Scandal pic.twitter.com/0IkDuWFWqz

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 18, 2018

Our viewpoints on the pending release of the above short film may drastically differ. Before I express my stance, I want to convey that I DO NOT condone what happened that evening. With that piece of information said, get your popcorn ready. Like Bart Scott, can’t wait.

In no way, shape, or form should you be concerned about this release making the Vikings look bad. The actual event took place over a dozen years ago. The New England Patriots are considered by many as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Aaron Hernandez was on their team in 2013. During that time, the former NFL TE was smoking joints with a guy one second, and murdering him the next. They’re fine. We’re fine.

“We had $80,000. For one night, one party” – Fred Smoot

As confirmed by Smoot, our former DB was the “mastermind” behind the operation. The party took place on October 6, 2005. At the time of the incident, the StarTribune reported 17 Minnesota players present on either one of the two yachts. After complaints from crew members regarding being offered money for sex and concern for their own safety, what was to be a 3.5 hour journey was cut short after just 40 minutes.

In regards to what EXACTLY took place during that short period of time on the water, I’ll let the people over at Barstool take care of that realm. After spending the last couple of hours re-educating myself on the incident, just a heads up, shit gets aggressive.

If you don’t believe me, then wait for the Bryant Mckinnie details when the documentary is released on 1/23/2018. Thus far, there is no indication that it will be available for viewing outside of the media company’s website or app.

The aftermath from the Love Boat Scandal included four Vikings’ players receiving misdemeanor charges. The crimes, which ranged from indecent conduct, disorderly conduct and lewd or lascivious conduct were brought forth against Smoot, Mckinnie, Daunte Culpepper, and Moe Williams.

If it’s not Minnesota sports or news/crime related, I’m not watching it. The good folks involved in the production of Game of Thrones seem to be doing just fine without my support. This soon to be released documentary is going to involve all three of my preferred topics. In the State of Hockey, I believe that’d be referred to as a hat-trick.

In case you forgot, the 2005 Minnesota Vikings had a hat-trick of their own: Love Boat Scandal, Ontario Smith Whizzinator, and the Mike Tice ticket scalping fiasco.

Rather than illegally sell his Super Bowl Tickets, Mike Zimmer is taking a different approach than our former HC. Rather than avoiding the big game, he’s trying to take the entire franchise…… and he doesn’t have to travel far.

#SKOL

Update (1/23/2018): To view the entire documentary, click here: The Vikings Love Boat – A Barstool Sports Documentary

Johnny Minnesota @TheJohnnyMN
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com