Adam Thielen is looking forward to seeing what the change a new regime brings to the Minnesota Vikings organization, but at the same time, he isn’t willing to lay all of the blame for the team’s struggles at the feet of former head coach Mike Zimmer and GM Rick Spielman.
When speaking with media members in the aftermath of the Black Monday firings, Thielen spoke about looking in the mirror and self-improving for the team to get to where it wants to go.
“Everyone has kind of got to look themselves in the mirror. Everyone has to figure out a way that they can individually get better,” Thielen said. “At the end of the day, a coaching change alone or a new GM isn’t going to just automatically bring you to the Super Bowl. Us as players, we have to do our part. We could have all done better this year to help this team get over the hump.”
The GM handles the personnel side of things, and the coaches game plan and handle the playing side. But at the end of the day, the players are the ones actually on the football field competing. They have to go out there on a weekly basis and figure out how to consistently win games.
That isn’t an attempt to absolve Spielman and Zimmer from allowing the team to devolve into this stale state of mediocrity over the last few years. It’s simply a reminder that it takes everyone working together to build and sustain a winning culture.
“I’m looking forward obviously to a new freshness and excitement around here,” said Thielen. “We’ll see what that brings us. We don’t know what that’s going to look like in a month or two, but I’m excited about what that could be.”
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