Childress draws ire of fans in sloppy win

By Eric Krupka  |   Wednesday, October 15, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

Minnesota Vikings
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The Minnesota Vikings, currently on a two-game winning streak, are .500 and in a three-way tie atop the NFC North with Green Bay and Chicago. The Vikings' 3-3 record is thanks to their latest victory, a 12-10 squeaker against lowly Detroit last weekend.

And the fans aren’t happy.

It wasn’t the prettiest victory or most satisfying and the fans let head coach Brad Childress hear it -- sort of. “Fire Childress!” chants and boos rang throughout the Metrodome and the end of the first half and in the second, but Childress insisted he didn’t hear anything.

“I don't hear all that stuff. I'm working," said Childress.

With the Vikings heading to the locker room down 3-2, a score resembling a Tigers-Twins baseball game, the boos started.

After the Lions opened up a 10-2 lead in the second half, the chants grew louder.

“I heard it. I think it’s unfortunate because the times that I heard the chants there was still a lot of game to be played,” said Vikings linebacker Ben Leber.

It wasn’t just the fact that the Vikings were losing that had the fans so upset. It was how they were losing, and whom they were losing to -- the winless Lions, who were helmed by a quarterback, Dan Orlovsky, making his first start. This is the same Detroit franchise that hasn't won in Minnesota since 1997.

And it’s not that the Vikings were being outplayed -- in fact, they weren't. It was the mistakes they were making that were unacceptable -- turnovers, blown blocking assignments and penalties.

Despite trailing 3-2 at half, the Vikings had advantages in nearly every statistical category, but the mistakes were costing them. They had held standout receivers Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson to a combined two receptions for 21 yards. The Lions didn’t gain a first down until there were nine minutes left in the half and finished the first half with just two.

Detroit's run defense, which was Swiss cheese heading into the game, held Vikings running back Adrian Peterson to 47 yards on 12 carries in the first half. The Vikings had turned the ball over inside the Lions 10-yard line, and had only one drive last longer than six plays (it ended with the aforementioned turnover). The Lions' defense sacked quarterback Gus Frerotte four times in the first half, matching its total through four games coming in.

It was truly a sloppy half of football.

“I definitely understand [the fans'] frustrations,” said Leber. “They are paying good money for these tickets to come watch what they expect is a great product on the field. But, at the same time, we are getting wins; they are somewhat ugly, but we still have a lot of football to be played and anything can really happen at the end of the season.”

Leber wasn’t the only Vikings player to hear the indignation of the home crowd. Defensive end Jared Allen did, too, and he wasn’t happy about it.

“[Childress] is my guy," Allen said. "Chill out, people. We have a lot of season left. Just chill out.”

Safety Darren Sharper added, “"That's just frustration. When we start winning more games, those chants will change to positive chants."

The players handled it well, though. They fought hard to get an important victory, but were not satisfied with how they played.

"This game should've been a blowout," receiver Bernard Berrian said.

Allen added, “It's not how you like to win, but it's a win."

Regardless of the first-half performance and dissatisfaction from fans, Childress was happy with his team.

“I’m tickled to death with our guys the way they competed all the way across the board,” said Childress. “We got a ton of stuff to clean up, but a win is a win in this league.”

Defensively, Minnesota was good as usual. And a large chuck of credit can go to tackle Kevin Williams, who had another outstanding game in racking up eight tackles and a whopping four sacks.

“[Kevin] played outrageous today,” said Vikings DT Pat Williams.

And even though the scoreboard didn't show it, there was offensive improvement in the game -- if you look hard enough.

Minnesota had a rusher and receiver eclipse the 100-yard mark; moreover, Frerotte had a 300-yard passing day in the bag until a completion went for minus-5 yards and dropped him back to 296. Had Frerotte finished above 300 aerial yards, he would have been the first Viking quarterback to do so since Daunte Culpepper in 2004.

Regardless of the numbers, in order to take some heat off their head coach, the Vikings will need to clean up the mental errors this week in a pivotal road game at Chicago. A third consecutive win could help turn the boos into cheers.
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About Eric Krupka

Eric Krupka joined RealFootball365 as a Vikings columnist in November 2005.
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