During his tenure with the Minnesota Vikings, Mike Tice wasn't someone who was ever afraid to speak his mind. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that the former Vikings head coach didn't hold back when recently sharing his thoughts online about the controversy currently surrounding Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon.
On Tuesday, Gannon was reportedly fined $100,000 by the Cardinals following his sideline altercation with Arizona running back Emari Demercado during the team's Week 5 loss to the Tennessee Titans this past Sunday.
Video captured from the stands was posted online after the game, and it showed the Cardinals head coach getting in Demercado's face and then striking him near the midsection as he walked away.
Gannon apologized for his behavior on Monday, but that clearly wasn't enough to avoid getting fined by his own team.
Plenty of people have voiced their opinions online since the report about Gannon's fine was shared, and Tice was among those who disagreed with Arizona's decision to penalize its head coach.
Jonathan Gannon is totally correct and within his realm as a Head Coach. What the RB Demercado did was unacceptable and in the end, cost the Cardinals the football game. Welcome to 2025 America.
— Mike Tice (@miketice86) October 8, 2025
Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Tice disagrees with Arizona Cardinals fining Jonathan Gannon
Tice was Minnesota's head coach from 2001 to 2005, but he also spent 16 more years around the NFL as an assistant coach, so he has plenty of experience when it comes to the profession.
In the case of Gannon, he doesn't think the Cardinals head coach did anything that was worthy of his own team fining him $100,000. Arizona obviously didn't feel the same way, and now Gannon has to give money back to the organization that hired him in 2023.
It's an interesting situation because on one hand, a team wants its head coach to hold his players accountable for their mistakes, but they would also likely prefer the coach not to get physical with any members of the team's roster when confronting them about a mistake.
In the loss to the Titans, Demercado made a gigantic mistake when he dropped the ball before crossing the goal line at the end of a 72-yard run. His decision resulted in a touchback, and it was the start of Tennessee putting together a 15-point comeback in the fourth quarter, and eventually leaving the field with a win.
For someone like Gannon, who is attempting to lead Arizona to a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2021, he knows a loss like that is one that could potentially be the difference between his team making or not making the postseason.
Those thoughts were likely going through Gannon's head when he confronted Demercado on the sideline, and an argument can definitely be made that his emotions got the best of him. Some teams (and some former head coaches) are likely fine with the way he acted, but the Cardinals are obviously not one of those teams.