Vikings Wait Until Worst Possible Moment To Implode

The Minnesota Vikings fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in the middle of the day on Friday. The timing of the move was curious, given that Minnesota’s season ended nearly a month ago and that Adofo-Mensah, right up until the moment of his ouster, was conducting business as usual, scouting out draft prospects at the Senior Bowl. Also: considering that Sam Darnold, whom the Vikings let go in free agency last offseason, is playing in the Super Bowl for the Seattle Seahawks this weekend, common sense dictates that the Vikings franchise should have kept as low a profile as possible throughout the lead up to that game.

But the Minnesota Vikings don’t do common sense. In fact, every report in the wake of Adofo-Mensah’s firing suggests they avoid common sense any chance they get. After all, you don’t become the winningest franchise never to win a Super Bowl by having a fucking brain in your head.

Adofo-Mensah was hired by owners Mark and Zygi Wilf in 2022, after the Wilfs dismissed then-GM Rick Spielman, along with head coach Mike Zimmer. Adofo-Mensah, a former Wall Street trader turned analytics specialist, worked in the front offices of the 49ers and Browns before being put in charge of the Vikings' roster. His reported first choice for head coach, Jim Harbaugh, was spurned by the Wilfs at the last second for reasons that have still not been fully explained. The Vikings instead hired Kevin O’Connell for the job and then promised a “culture of collaboration” between all parties, in order to help prevent the serious internal acrimony that defined the end of the Spielman-Zimmer era.