The Minnesota Vikings have officially ended an era and are currently sitting in limbo. The team is set to play the next two seasons at TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota while a new ultra-modern stadium is built in downtown Minneapolis.
One man who may not be there when the ribbon is cut on the new stadium is general manager Rick Spielman. After doing a better job than most thought he would putting together a young roster of talent, Spielman appears to be on thin ice thanks to one glaring flaw on his resume — the failure to ever be able to find a franchise quarterback.
Ben Goessling from ESPN.com states that if Spielman fails to find a quarterback again this year, he may be on the outs in Minnesota.
"But the stigma of his misses at quarterback still follows him around, and if he can’t get the position right this time around — especially if he makes what turns out to be a bad investment with the eighth overall pick — he likely won’t get another chance to change his reputation. General managers can often survive at least one coaching change, but the best ones extend their careers by finding quarterbacks."
Spielman’s failure at finding a quarterback date back to his days with the Dolphins when he shuffled through Ray Lucas, Brian Griese, A.J. Feely and others before coming to Minnesota. Since being with the Vikings, the team has shuffled through Brett Favre, Tavaris Jackson, Matt Cassel, Joe Webb, Josh Freeman and Christian Ponder to name a few.
The Vikings need a franchise quarterback and Spielman needs to break the streak and find the first one in his entire front office career.