3 Kwesi Adofo-Mensah mistakes that led to Vikings meltdown

2. Allowing key contributors like Dalvin Cook and Adam Thielen to leave

It wasn't just Spielman and Zimmer who made the previous era of Vikings football so consistently strong. It was key contributors like running back Dalvin Cook and wide receiver Adam Thielen. While both are past their primes, you have to wonder losing them in the locker room has created some level of a leadership void. Kirk Cousins is a solid leader, but Cook and Thielen were dudes for them, bruh!

While their on-field production was probably never going to equate to what it was or has been, seeing Cook play for the flightless New York Jets and Thielen suit up for that bag of crap known as the Panthers cannot sit well with you. No matter how you feel about it, their departures have put more on the plates of Alexander Mattison and Justin Jefferson, respectively. Maybe they could have helped?

I get that Adofo-Mensah may want to build this thing as he sees fit, but he is losing a lot of support from the Vikings fanbase in how he is going about this. Cook and Thielen were massively popular players. Although selling jerseys is not the same thing as winning games, you cannot really sell the idea of draft picks to legions of this rabid fanbase. Until they draft Cousins' successor, they are toast.

Cook may be cooked and Minnesota might not be Thielen this, but they have a bad football team.