Nero fiddled......

In the old days, the Minnesota Vikings played NFL football in Metropolitan Stadium, an outdoor facility in Bloomington, MN. Even though the Vikings hey-dey during those years was under the leadership of "Nice Guy" head coach Bud Grant, the Vikings were a bunch of tough, cold and ruthless overachievers. Playing outdoors in Minnesota in December will do that to a football team.

Then the Vikings moved indoors into the Metrodome; and they got soft. They've had some good teams, but have yet to win a big football game in the indoor era. Not one.

Vikings management in the indoor era has fiddled around, coddling players and coaching staffs, ignoring weaknesses on one side of the ball or the other and never demanding accountability from anyone in the organization.

Yesterday, the Vikings whipped the division champion and hated rival Chicago Bears 34-10 to finish with a 9-7 record after a 2-5 start. A nice turnaround, but, apparently nice isn't going to cut it anymore.

Zygi Wilf, who bought the Vikings this past summer from former fiddler Red McCombs, fired head coach Mike Tice after the victory. Before the locker room had even cleared. Tough, cold, ruthless. Accountability demanded.

No more fiddling. Zygi plays guitar.