Vikings coverage teams are anything but special

By John McMullen  |   Wednesday, October 08, 2008  |  Comments( 2 )

Minnesota Vikings
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A scapegoat needs a scapegoat, I suppose, and that's why Vikings head coach Brad Childress threw his punter, Chris Kluwe, under the bus after Monday's embarrassing performance in New Orleans.

The normally stoic Childress was uncharacteristically angry after the Vikings surrendered 354 return yards, including two punt returns for touchdowns by Reggie Bush in the second half. In fact, Bush should have had a third scoring return had he not tripped himself up on the Superdome turf.

Despite all of that, Minnesota won the game thanks to a late Ryan Longwell field goal. Childress, however, likely embarrassed by another subpar performance from his "talented" team, was quick to point out that Kluwe was instructed to kick the ball out of bounds on two of Bush's returns.

"If he can't do that, I will find somebody who can kick the ball out of bounds," Childress spewed.

Of course, that doesn't explain why Childress has built a team that can't cover a kick. The Vikings rank last in the NFL in punt return coverage and are 30th in kickoff coverage.

New Orleans averaged a ridiculous 35.2 yards on punt returns and another 33.6 on kickoff returns when Kluwe, the supposed problem, was safely on the sidelines.

In truth, much of the problem stems from the loss of special teams star and 2007 Pro Bowl alternate Heath Farwell -- who suffered a torn ACL in the preseason -- and Childress' refusal to allow regulars who have excelled on specials teams in the past, players like Antoine Winfield and Cedric Griffin, to be regulars on the coverage units.

The result is a group of undisciplined young players who rarely stay in their lanes and often make Kluwe look much worse than he is.

However, rather than look in the mirror and address the deficiencies of his team, Childress continued to deny a far deeper problem when he addressed Minnesota's special teams woes again on Tuesday.

Instead, the lame-duck coach continued to point at Kluwe.

"You can help your guys that are covering the kick have an idea of where the football is going to be as opposed to just kick it and see where it goes, which is a little bit scattershot," the coach said. "We've got a ton of stuff that we can correct, and I expect us to correct it because the punt returners are pretty good in this league."

Of course, none of that explains why Childress and his handpicked special teams coordinator, Paul Ferraro, have done such a poor job preparing their players.

Wednesday summed up Childress' deficiencies as a coach. He brought in four punters to audition for Kluwe's job. He didn't bring in anyone who might be able to cover a kick.

While Bush is certainly an electric player, the Vikings also couldn't stop Pierre Thomas and they have given up a big return in every single game this season. In other words, Monday's debacle wasn't just an elite player having a career day.

The Vikings' special teams haven't just been bad; rather, they have been consistently and historically bad. Does anyone really think a new punter will change that?
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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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