Jim Souhan: Given the Vikings' title drought, why are their owners so popular?

Jim Souhan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jun 16, 2026

Published in Football

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MINNEAPOLIS — As the Minnesota Vikings end their Organized Team Activities — in the old days, we called these “practices” — the Wilfs seem to be continuing their reign as the most popular sports owners in Minnesota.

Which prompts a question.

Why?

I give them credit for running a humane organization. There have, are and will be worse owners in Minnesota, in terms of management style and results.

The Wilfs also emphasize yearly competitiveness, refusing to undergo a rebuild even when that strategy might pay dividends.

They have been generous when dealing with the Minnesota Aurora, allowing the pre-professional soccer team to use TCO Stadium, which helped the Aurora become a success story.

In terms of running the Vikings, the Wilfs have won a lot of games, while making a lot of mistakes, and, since 2017, failing to build a team that could contend for a conference or league championship.

They announced the firing of Mike Tice in the seconds following a victory that improved the Vikings to 9-7.

Then they hired Brad Childress largely because they were afraid he was going to interview with and be hired by a rival if they didn’t act immediately.

They fired Leslie Frazier because the quarterback they drafted, Christian Ponder, failed.

To be fair, that all happened long ago.

This isn’t ancient history: The Wilf Vikings, with their state-of-the-art stadium and fabulous practice facility, have not won a playoff game since the 2019 season, and haven’t advanced to a conference championship game since the blowout loss at Philadelphia following the 2017 season.

The Vikings still haven’t achieved their goal of finding a young, franchise quarterback — although I wouldn’t give up on J.J. McCarthy.

The Wilfs hired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to be their general manager. His first draft was terrible; his subsequent drafts were mediocre at best.

After firing Adofo-Mensah at the end of January, the Wilfs decided to have longtime team executive Rob Brzezinski run the team and conduct the draft as an interim general manager, even though it now seems he was never a serious candidate to get the full-time job.

How is this not management malpractice? Having someone you don’t think is qualified to be your general manager run a vital draft, then hiring someone else to manage players he didn’t draft?

The Vikings’ monthslong search — involving everyone on the Wilf family tree, a search firm and a Ouija board — led them to the most obvious hire they could have made.

They chose the assistant general manager of the reigning Super Bowl champs.

Give any of us 15 seconds and a blindfold, and we could have made that hire.

I understand why fans dislike the Pohlads — because they never seem more committed to winning than worrying about finances.

I understand why fans like Craig Leipold, despite the Wild’s lack of postseason success. He acts like a fan and isn’t afraid of bold moves.

I understand why fans like Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez. They haven’t messed up since taking over the Timberwolves, and their one big move — pushing former owner Glen Taylor to hire Tim Connelly — was brilliant.

I understand why Minnesotans didn’t like the way Taylor ran the Wolves; they were a mess for years. The fact that the Lynx were the class of the WNBA for almost a decade indicates that Taylor, who also owns the Minnesota Star Tribune, could run a good shop if he had the right people in charge. But the Wolves’ missteps during his ownership warranted criticism.

The Wilfs don’t deserve to be at the bottom of this list of owners. But do they deserve to be at the top?

Given that Minnesotans spend much of their time complaining about a lack of championships, and that the Vikings are the most obvious example of “good but not good enough to break the men’s championship drought,” isn’t the Wilfs’ popularity confounding?

The 2026 Vikings don’t look like a championship team. The 2027 Vikings probably won’t look like a championship team unless Kyler Murray or McCarthy emerges as a top-10 NFL quarterback. And if neither accomplishes that, the Vikings’ decades-long search for a true franchise QB will continue, along with the never-ending quest for a Super Bowl championship.

But, hey, thanks to the NFL’s incredible profitability, the Vikings do have a very nice stadium and practice facility.

Kudos?

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