Vikings do the expected and make Rick Spielman their general manager

Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf finally did today what team observers have been asking him to do for years now – hire a general manager.

But the good vibes wore off quickly when everyone learned Wilf had promoted the man some hold chiefly responsible for the Vikings 9-23 record the past two seasons and two consecutive last place finishes in the NFC North – Rick Spielman.

And fans of our opponents are loving the move. As one poster at the National Football Post wrote today after reading a story about the Spielman promotion on the site:

"As a Packer fan I thank the Vikings for this promotion. This guy couldn't pick talent at a Strip Club."

Ouch.

Anyway, I am not thrilled with the move, but it also wasn't unexpected. Wilf has had Spielman on board since he fired Fran Foley in 2006. He is familiar with Spielman's work and has watched him draft Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin, Brian Robison, John Sullivan, Sidney Rice, Everson Griffen, Kyle Rudolph and Christian Ponder. There are some pretty good players in that group. Wilf also watched Spielman orchestrate the Jared Allen trade. So he knows Spielman and trusts his judgement. If he didn't, he would have fired Spielman today, not promoted him.

We can debate how good Spielman has been as the Vikings vice-president of player personnel. And we'll debate how good he will be as general manager. We also know he carries the stain of being turfed by the Miami Dolphins after a less than glorious run with that franchise.

But the biggest problem I have with Spielman being promoted by the Wilfs is not his draft or free agent signing record, it's that there was a more qualified candidate available – Bill Polian – and Wilf and his brother Mark do not appear to have even considered the Hall of Fame executive.

Now it's possible Polian – who you might have heard was fired by the Indianapolis Colts on Monday – might not have had much interest in coming to Minnesota. And at 69 years young, he may not have been interested in the GM job (apparently, if you want to hire Bill Polian, you've got to hire his son Chris as well). But couldn't the Wilf's have at least explored the possibility?

In Polian, the Vikings would have got a guy who built Buffalo into a four-time Super Bowl participant, led the Carolina Panthers to the NFC Championship game and won a Super Bowl with the Colts. In Rick Speilman, the Vikings now have a guy in charge of their football operations who hasn't won anything.