For desperate Childress, the heat is on

By John McMullen  |   Thursday, September 18, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

Minnesota Vikings
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Brad Childress is a tough guy to figure out.

Thirty-four games into his disastrous tenure in Minneapolis, the coach has finally pulled the plug on Tarvaris Jackson -- the overmatched former Division I-AA quarterback whom Childress, in an inexplicable move, handed the keys to late in the 2006 season.

Considered an offensive genius from his days in Philadelphia with Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook, Childress arrived in the Land of 10000 Lakes with a healthy dose of arrogance and egoism. He was the hard-liner the team needed to clean up the alleged mess Mike Tice left behind.

And Childress was handed a looooooong rope by neophyte owner Zygi Wilf, a free spender who has given the coach everything he could ask for both on and off the field.

Wilf's reward? A 14-20 record after the team's embarrassing loss to the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday and an 0-5 mark versus archrival Green Bay. For comparison's sake, in the 34 games before Childress took over, the easygoing Tice racked up an 18-16 mark and actually won a road playoff contest in hallowed Lambeau Field against Brett Favre. Tice accomplished all that with a penny-pinching owner, Red McCombs, looking to cut costs everywhere.

Of course, Childress has at least cleaned up things off the field with his vaunted "culture of accountability," right?

Scratch that. Thanks to just the latest incident on Childress' watch, Pro Bowl-level left tackle Bryant McKinnie is currently in the midst of a four-game suspension. In the offseason, McKinnie tried to club a Miami bouncer over the head with a pole. Nice.

Few have to dig deep in the memory banks to remember ex-safety Dwight Smith's amorous adventures in a downtown Minneapolis stairwell or the fact that Darrion Scott, a former defensive end for Childress, was arrested for placing a plastic bag over the head of his own child.

So what has Childress actually brought to the table in Minnesota?

To be blunt, nothing. And Wilf, intent on becoming the next Jerry Jones and not the second coming of Daniel Snyder, is finally figuring that out. After giving Childress one of the league's most impressive rosters, Wilf is again getting no results.

Jackson, who Childress once said picked up things like a sponge, regresses on a week-to-week-basis despite the presence of the NFC's most dangerous runner, Adrian Peterson, behind him. Mediocre NFL quarterbacks would have a field day passing against the eight- and nine-man fronts the Vikings see on a weekly basis. Jackson is more like a baseball pitcher who can't find the strike zone, missing his frustrated receivers by embarrassing margins.

But perhaps the most daunting criticism of Jackson actually comes from his own coach. Again and again, Childress and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell dial up a simple roll-out pass that's designed to cut the field in half and narrow Jackson's options to two levels.

The implications are obvious: Three years into his professional career, Jackson still hasn't picked up things well enough to go through a simple 1-2-3 progression.

So, with the noose tightening around Childress, he finally acquiesced on Wednesday and gave the starting job to journeyman Gus Frerotte.

A desperate move by a desperate coach.

The heat is on.
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About John McMullen

John is the managing editor of The Phanatic Magazine, the assistant managing editor of The Sports Network and the co-host of the highly rated 'Johns on Sports' radio show on WTBQ in New York. Every Saturday from 6:30-9 p.m. (et) you can hear John along with his co-host, John Gottlieb, talk to the...
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