Diggs asks for patience, but the Vikings are running out of time

The window to capture a Super Bowl is still open for the Minnesota Vikings, but there isn’t much time left before it closes back up again.

Following the additions of quarterback Kirk Cousins and defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson in free agency last year, the belief by some was that the Minnesota Vikings added the right pieces during the offseason to get over the hump and earn a spot in Super Bowl LIII.

But that’s not what ended up happening. Instead of fighting for a spot in the Super Bowl last season, the Vikings didn’t even qualify for the playoffs.

Blame for Minnesota’s disappointing year can be handed out to a variety of people. But the fact is that the Vikings were constructed to win a championship in 2018 and they came up very short.

During a recent appearance on PFT Live, Minnesota wide receiver Stefon Diggs attempted to ask for a bit of patience from those on the outside whose expectations for the team were not met last season.

"“There’s a lot of room for improvement. We’ve had a lot of sparks. We had some good games. Some things that you saw that we could be really special. And doing it on a consistent basis is something that’s going to come with time.You can’t look forward to time. It’s not working against us, it’s working with us.”"

That’s nice and all, but patience isn’t really something anyone can afford to have in this day and age of the NFL. Windows to win Super Bowls are normally only open for brief periods of time before teams have to go back to the drawing board and start all over again.

For the Vikings, they signed Cousins last offseason with the hope that he would be able to help deliver a championship to the franchise sooner than later. After their first year with the veteran quarterback and no Super Bowl win yet, Minnesota is already beginning to feel the effects of some of their biggest roster investments.

A number of longtime Vikings including Anthony Barr, Andrew Sendejo, and maybe even Everson Griffen or Kyle Rudolph, are not expected to be back for 2019.

This roster purge is only going to continue in 2020 for Minnesota as well. So that window to a championship that used to feel wide open less than a year ago for the Vikings is quickly closing.

Even with some of their expected departures this offseason, Minnesota still has the talent and the pieces to win a Super Bowl in 2019. But if the Vikings come up short once again next season and in 2020, it may be a long time before the team is set up to contend for a championship again.