Vikings are already in last place
OUT FOR A WALK
KEVIN O’BRIEN
E DITOR
The regular season hasn’t even started, and already, the Minnesota Vikings are finding new ways to embarrass me.
With all of the will-he-or-won’t-he drama surrounding Aaron Rodgers since July, it was nice to be able to sit back and watch Packers fans squirm for a change. The peak of my offseason delight had to be when Green Bay frantically drafted less-than-stellar quarterback Blake Bortles. My friends from back home even left me a voicemail chanting “Bortles, Bortles” just so my wife could listen to it and shake her head.
But, then, of course, A-Rod strutted his way back into Lambeau Field, with his favorite wide receiver Randall Cobb in tow. Still, the show was fun while it lasted.
Then I heard a stat from my co-worker Ross that just made me cringe. Apparently, my home state Vikings have the lowest COVID vaccination rate in all of the NFL. It’s around 65 percent, well below the league’s overall rate of 90 percent. Way to go, Vikes! You found your way to the bottom of a 32-team list, and we haven’t even played any games yet.
“Those percentages suggest that 32 of Minnesota’s 90 players are not fully vaccinated and 27 have not received a single shot,” reads an Aug. 3 article on the website FanNation.
As always, our fearless quarterback, Kirk Cousins, is leading the way. His anti-vaxxer stance forced him to miss five practices because he came into close contact with another quarterback, Kellen Mond, who tested positive for COVID-19. A third QB on the roster, Nate Stanley, has also refused to be vaccinated, and he too was forced into isolation. It was so bad, the Vikings had to quickly draft a couple of untested QBs just to get through their practices.
Missing out on practice is one thing, but once the regular season starts, the strict COVID protocols for non-vaccinated players could actually cause the Vikes to lose or even forfeit games. Head coach Mike Zimmer, who has consistently advocated for vaccinations, acknowledges that the team could end up losing some important games if some of his more thick-headed (my word, not his) players don’t get vaccinated. The sports media has already picked up on this thread, and are pointing out how some Vikings would rather shoot themselves in the foot than get a shot in the arm.
“The refusal of players to get vaccinated is something that legitimately threatens to derail a promising season for the 2021 Vikings,” wrote Will Ragatz at FanNation.
According to some reports, one or more of the players would rather sit out the season or quit football altogether than get a COVID shot. Talk about ingratitude. Only a small sliver of football players ever make it to the NFL, and fewer still get to see playing time. You’re tell- ing me you’d flush that down the toilet at U.S. Bank Stadium because you don’t want to get a shot?
Now, I understand that plenty of people have good reasons for not getting the COVID vaccine, but I have yet to hear any from the guys wearing purple. Is there is a risk in getting the shot? Sure. But how can the risk possibly compare to all of the other physical risks football players take every time they strap on their pads and head out onto the field. Football is a grueling, full-contact sport known for traumatic brain injuries and lifelong medical conditions caused by repetitive collisions.
Perhaps the Vikings are just looking for an early excuse to have a losing record again. That’s my best guess for why a 300-pound professional athlete is afraid of a little needle.
