Randy Moss Apologizes, Still Waiting for Tice and McCombs

Randy Moss walked off the field in Washington last week before the final seconds ticked off the clock. He has now apologized to Coach Mike Tice and his teammates. Randy Moss did NOT walk off the field before the game was over, though. The game was over when Tice decided to punt on 4th and short, in Redskins territory, down by 2 scores, with about 8 minutes left in the game.

Culpepper was on the field waiting for the next play. What he got was the punting unit jogging onto the field. A few short minutes later, the cameras panned the Vikings bench and we saw a dejected team that knew the game was over. The only thing lacking was some assistant coach waving a white flag.

I will not defend what Moss did, but I understand his frustration. He wants to win! What Moss did was a direct result of Tice's foolish, ultra-conservative decision to punt the ball and put the game in the hands of an inept defense. But Moss is NOT the problem with this team.

On HBO's Inside the NFL and in Cris Collinsworth's Superbowl.com article there was much discussion about Moss and it was even suggested that Moss might be traded. That is a ridiculous idea! I can think of 31 other teams in the NFL that would love to have a very talented gamebreaker-type receiver who so obviously wants to win a championship!

Do you think the Ravens would like to have Moss? How about Parcells? Imagine him in a Broncos jersey with an aggressive coaching staff that knows how to win! How about the Falcons? Do you think Moss could put them over the top and into consecutive Super Bowls? Trading Moss would make the Vikings a 4-12 or 6-10 team for the next 3 years, at least. The only people benefiting would be the team he is traded to and Randy Moss himself.

The real problem in Minnesota is ownership and, to a lesser degree, coaching. Moss' behavior was not good, but his frustration is real and to ignore it is to ignore the real reason this team has finished the last 2 seasons 3-7.

Everything starts with ownership and Red McCombs has been more concerned about resale value than wins and losses for the past 2 seasons. He hired Tice to save money and has picked up Tice's option for the same reason. There is no commitment to winning at the ownership level, and that is trickling down through the entire organization.

Mike Tice is a good person and a good coach on the practice field. But, he is a terrible gameday coach! He has a 1974 coaching manual and is following it step-by-step. His real problem is inexperience and there is no longer someone above him to learn from. Going for it on 4th and short in the 4th quarter in Washington should have been a no-brainer. Tice did not seem to even consider it. And why didn't offensive coordinator Linehan suggest it?

The coaching staff is the lowest paid in the league and is fully staffed by castoffs from other teams. The result is consistent mediocrity.

The experts at HBO's Inside the NFL and at Superbowl.com have spent a great deal of time discussing Randy Moss, but not one second talking about the real problems in Minnesota. They should watch the complete Vikings replays for the games at Chicago and Washington before criticizing Moss too much. Those games were two of the worst-coached games you will ever see.

Randy Moss apologized for his mistake. How long will we have to wait for McCombs and Tice to apologize for theirs?