Last chance in Minnesota

By John McMullen  |   Wednesday, November 05, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Minnesota Vikings
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Sunday is Brad Childress' last chance in Minnesota.

No, the embattled Vikings mentor is not going to be fired immediately if his team loses to the Green Bay Packers; however, he will transform into a lame duck, coaching out the string while owner Zygi Wilf plots his next move.

By now, you all know the story. Before the 2006 season, Childress was a hot commodity wanted by both the Vikings and the Packers. Minnesota got Childress to interview first and Wilf, then a rookie owner, swooned, giving Childress a sweetheart deal to cancel his scheduled trip to Green Bay to take the Vikings job, which was considered the plumb opening for any coaching candidate that season.

Meanwhile, the Packers looked like a team on the decline and were forced to hire an afterthought, the lightly regarded Mike McCarthy, who had been the offensive coordinator for the woeful San Francisco 49ers.

Since then, that "afterthought" has compiled a 25-15 record and led his team to a 13-3 mark and the NFC Championship Game last season. In contrast, the "the hot commodity" has recorded an 18-22 career record with no playoff appearances.

Perhaps more importantly, when Childress and McCarthy took over their new posts, the Vikings led the all-time series with the Packers 45-44-1. Now Green Bay leads 49-45-1.

Yep, Childress is a woeful 0-for-5 versus McCarthy and the Packers, inventing new ways to lose each and every time. If the Vikings coach was a baseball player, he would be wearing the Golden Sombrero.

In the past two seasons, the few apologists Childress accumulated in Minneapolis pointed out that the Packers had Brett Favre while Childress and his "kick-ass" offense was forced to make do with quarterbacks like Brad Johnson, Brooks Bollinger and Tarvaris Jackson.

So, let's play devil's advocate and forget that Jackson was Childress' handpicked choice to lead his team. Green Bay lost Favre over the summer and did virtually nothing in free agency while Wilf spent millions to bring in the league's best pass rusher, Jared Allen, a big-play receiving threat in Bernard Berrian and a ball-hawking safety in Madieu Williams.

The result in Week 1? Packers 24, Vikings 19.

Not surprisingly, Childress tried to downplay his ineptitude against Green Bay when talking to the media this week.

"I'm not worried about our record against Green Bay this week, really," Childress said. "The past is prologue. [This game] has nothing to do with the past. Those are different circumstances, as this week is a different circumstance. All we are worried about is our record this week against the Green Bay team that shows up with our Week [10] Minnesota Vikings team."

A win gives Childress a reprieve and a chance to save his job during the final two months of the season.

Another loss? That will become part of the past that becomes the prologue of Childress' future -- a future that includes a trip to the unemployment line.
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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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