Vikings Fans Can't Help But Be Embarrassed After Team Lost Trae Waynes to Bengals in Free Agency

The Minnesota Vikings are truly an impossible team to figure out.

On Monday, the official start of the NFL's legal tampering period, Minnesota kept busy by inking quarterback Kirk Cousins to a $66 million contract extension, and followed that up by trading wideout Stefon Diggs to Buffalo.

That's a pair of moves that surely left Vikings supporters mystified, and one of their subsequent free agency transactions will only escalate those emotions. NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported on Tuesday that the Cincinnati Bengals signed former Minny cornerback Trae Waynes to a three-year, $42 million contract.

The #Bengals are giving FA CB Trae Waynes a massive 3-year, $42M deal, source said. He gets $20M in the first year and averages $14M over the course of the deal. With two big deals in free agency, Cincy is in the ballgame. ???
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 17, 2020

Is this rock bottom? If not, it's starting to approach it.

General manager Rick Spielman better be scheming up a master plan, because he has a lot of questions to answer right now. The first that comes to mind: Why, exactly, are the Vikings attempting to salvage so much cap space? Cousins' new deal will save the franchise money this year, and Minnesota previously released defensive veterans Xavier Rhodes and Linval Joseph.

The #Vikings have terminated the contracts of DT Linval Joseph and CB Xavier Rhodes.https://t.co/VIg4PYgTK7
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) March 13, 2020

The cherry on top of this mess is the organization's laughable asking price for safety Anthony Harris, who tied for the league lead with six interceptions in 2019. Per Rapoport, the Vikings are asking for a mid-to-late round draft pick for the 28-year-old.

That's a joke, and fans in Minnesota really have no choice but to be embarrassed after the team was outbid by the lowly Bengals for Waynes' services.