Vikings should cut ties with Moss

The year was 1998. One of the loudest names in the draft was a lanky receiver out of Marshall named Randy Moss. Moss's skills should have placed him in the top ten, but that "off-field distraction" title was worrisome -- too big of a chance to take for 20 teams. The Minnesota Vikings decided, though, that Moss was too good to pass up, and they took their chances.\nMoss's personality was too much for Bobby Bowden and the Florida State Seminoles. Much of Moss's collegiate career was played in the darkness of West Virginia because of his problematic reputation drove him away from the public spotlight.\nIf Bobby Bowden, king of accepting less-than-perfect people, didn't want to mess with Moss, then you had to know this kid was trouble.\nTurns out, Bowden made the right decision. And all those teams that passed on the talented receiver did too.\nMoss got out of the gate with a roaring start in 1998, helping the Vikings achieve the NFL's best regular-season record, and a near Super Bowl appearance. All around the country, experts called the Vikings' decision wise, and thought of Moss as the steal of the draft. But since then, Moss has been nothing more than a distraction for Minnesota. His fiery attitude did not mix with the rest of his teammates well. When times were tough, fans could count on seeing Moss jawing with somebody on the sidelines; picking fights with ex-coach Dennis Green, former teammate and receiver Cris Carter, and quarterback Daunte Culpepper.\nThe turmoil made its way up to the front office, which again decided to side with Moss as they fired Green. Carter and running back Robert Smith decided to retire, and the dominant Vikings offense was left searching for answers.\nIn a last ditch effort to make something out of the remaining scraps, they decided to create what current coach Mike Tice has dubbed "The Randy Ratio," hoping to get Moss at least 40 percent of the receptions. This cute alliteration is being played as a winning strategy, but in truth it is the only option the team has, and even it is not working as the team struggled to an 0-3 record to open the season.\nNow, Randy Moss is back in the public spotlight -- in two very negative ways. First, he spent last Sunday roaming the sidelines finding people to blast for the loss to Carolina, again showing his talent for helping team chemistry.\nSecond, he spent some time in jail for traffic misdemeanor, and was tested for marijuana for the second time in two years. At the time of arrest marijuana was found in Moss' Lexus and he was formalycharged with possesion on Tuesday.\nWith the team losing, and the Moss headache pounding harder, it is time for Minnesota to put an end to this philanthropic experiment. Their offense needs help, even with him, and they may as well start over completely, and remove the chaos and tension that Moss brings. Even when Culpepper is throwing the ball to Moss, he is unhappy. He wants it more, he wants the passes to be more accurate so that he does not need to work as hard to catch the ball.\nThe problem in Minnesota right now is that there is no sense of team success -- only individual. Coach Tice must try to find players who want to win at any cost -- even if they have to (gasp!) jump for a catch.\nWhether Moss can still be an effective receiver is still up in the air, but it's not something the Vikings can worry about. He is a deterrent to the team, a bad role model for their fans, and he isn't getting the job done on the field.\nIt was a nice try by Minnesota, but it doesn't always work out. It's time for the "Randy Ratio" to drop down to zero if the Vikings want to win.