Bring Me The Sports

Fleck's coaching ability roasted after 'unacceptable' loss to Northwestern

Fans are wondering if Fleck is more of a salesman than a coach after the latest Gophers gaffe.

Joe Nelson

Fleck's coaching ability roasted after 'unacceptable' loss to Northwestern
Fleck's coaching ability roasted after 'unacceptable' loss to Northwestern /

Blowing a 31-10 lead in the fourth quarter to a Northwestern program that was on the ropes is arguably the worst loss of head coach P.J. Fleck's time in Minnesota. Heck, it might rival the painful losses ex-coach Glen Mason's Gophers had against the likes of Michigan and Texas Tech. Remember those?

Northwestern was down 31-10 in the fourth quarter only to shred the Minnesota defense with three scoring drives, including an 80-yard drive ending with the game-tying touchdown with two seconds left in the game. In overtime, the Gophers dinked and dunked their way to a field goal while Northwestern homered on the first play with a 25-yard game-winning touchdown pass. 

"Completely unacceptable in the fourth quarter, period," Fleck said. "We got to give Northwestern a lot of credit. They went out there and got it done. We didn’t."

Minnesota's offense punted on five of six possessions in the second half and tallied just 119 yards in the second half against a Northwestern defense that was scorched by Duke a week earlier.

As wretched as Minnesota's offense was in the second half, the defense was worse, giving up 492 yards, including 400 yards in the air, to a Northwestern team that was averaging 286 yards before facing the Gophers. 

"Speechless. No excuses for that performance. Easily one of the worst Gophers losses in my lifetime as a Gophers fan," said GopherHole contribute Tony Liebert. "Year 7 of the P.J. Fleck era, no idea how that can happen. Inexcusable."

Needless to say, there's a mob of pitchfork-wielding fans angry with Fleck. many of them defining Fleck as more of a recruiter than a coach. 

Published
Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17. 

Home/MN Gophers