Rosenfels is Childress’ latest answer

By John McMullen  |   Wednesday, February 25, 2009  |  Comments( 2 )

Minnesota Vikings
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Sage Rosenfels is about to become a starting quarterback in the NFL.

The Minnesota Vikings have been after the highly regarded Houston Texans backup for two years. Last year, trade talks broke down when Minnesota offered a third-round pick and Houston insisted on a second-rounder. This time around, with Rosenfels' contract set to expire after the 2009 season, the Texans will let him walk for a fourth-round pick.

The Vikings will then sign Rosenfels to a three-year extension and hand him the keys to a franchise most think is a legitimate Super Bowl contender if it can just get some competent play at the quarterback position.

But is Rosenfels the answer in Minnesota?

Brad Childress' resume screams no.

Childress came to the Twin Cities with the reputation as something of a quarterback guru.

In the three years since, he has done everything to destroy that reputation.

One player (Donovan McNabb) made Childress and one player (Tarvaris Jackson) has exposed him.

In his first year with the franchise, Childress quickly butted heads with the injured and enigmatic Daunte Culpepper and decided to move on. Cutting bait with Culpepper proved to be the right move for the Vikings coach. The former Pro Bowl signal-caller, now with Detroit, shredded all three knee ligaments in Carolina during the 2005 season and hasn't looked healthy since.

With the Culpepper era over, Childress needed a quarterback of the future and convinced personnel man Fran Foley (best known for lying on his resume to get the job) to trade two third-round picks (Nos. 83 and 95) to Pittsburgh to move into the second round (No. 64) and select Jackson, a little-known quarterback from Division I-AA Alabama State.

Jackson, who ended up at Alabama State after failing to beat out Matt Jones in Arkansas, carried a second-day grade by nearly every draft service.

Childress, who was the offensive coordinator in Philadelphia before landing in Minneapolis, repeatedly compared Jackson to McNabb. In hindsight, an almost laughable position that exposed many to Childress' famous ego for the first time. In Childress' mind, he made McNabb and could do the same for Jackson.

The original plan was to let T-Jack sit under the learning tree of well-regarded veteran Brad Johnson, along with the laughably bad Mike McMahon. But Childress also had off-the-field problems with Johnson, a player with an impeccable reputation, and McMahon was a colossal bust.

Johnson reportedly met with Childress after being named the starter and brought along a notebook with plays he liked to run and thought would be successful on a consistent basis. While most coaches would consider that a conscientious effort by a player hoping to succeed, Childress turned it into -- for lack of a better phrase -- a pissing contest.

The coach responded by telling Johnson that when he becomes a coach "he can run what he wants....I'm in charge here and we will run what I want to run."

Despite Childress' hubris, Johnson did end up starting the first 14 games of the 2006 season and posted a 6-8 record until making news in December of that year when he informed the local media that he and his coach "never talk."

It certainly wasn't news to those plugged into the team, folks who already knew that Johnson was forbidden to audibilize, probably the biggest strength of his game at that point.

Needless to say, Johnson was on his way out of town and Childress' handpicked "quarterback of the future" started the final two games of his rookie season, showing little.

Despite Jackson's poor play in his 2006 cameo appearance, Childress treated him like a vested veteran during the preseason of the next year and handed him the controls of a team with playoff potential.

The results weren't terrible. Jackson finished 8-4 in his 12 starts in 2007, but his numbers remained less than impressive. He threw nine touchdown passes compared with 12 interceptions and finished with a horrific 70.8 passer rating. Jackson also proved to be injury prone and wildly inconsistent.

His failure to stay on the field also likely cost the Vikings a playoff spot when you consider Childress failed to secure a competent backup. Kelly Holcomb, who was acquired from Philadelphia for a sixth-round pick near the end of training camp, went 0-3 in his starts; meanwhile, Brooks Bollinger was hamstrung by the fact Childress allowed him to do absolutely nothing in an embarrassing 34-0 loss in Green Bay.

Fast-forward to 2008: Jackson was back in the saddle but quickly benched after ugly performances in season-opening losses to Green Bay and Indianapolis.

In came veteran Gus Frerotte to save not only the team's season but likely Childress' job. Frerotte signed a two-year deal last spring after the team failed to pry Rosenfels away from Houston.

He went 8-3 but was forced out on the lineup by a back injury in early December. Frerotte was ready to go after a couple of weeks, but Childress rewarded him by sticking with Jackson after he rebounded to lead the Vikings to victories over Detroit and Arizona.

In turn, Jackson rewarded Childress by laying a colossal egg in the playoffs against McNabb and the Eagles.

Through it all, Childress managed to alienate both of his QBs. While Jackson was benched, Childress rarely communicated with his handpicked bust. Meanwhile, Frerotte, a 15-year veteran who was also forbidden to audibilize save for changing running plays at the line of scrimmage, was understandably unhappy and will likely be released when the Rosenfels deal is officially announced.

Rosenfels has flashed big-time ability over the past two seasons when filling in for injured Texans starter Matt Schaub, but he has also been nonchalant with the ball at times and has thrown nearly as many interceptions as touchdown passes in his eight NFL seasons.

That said, the Iowa State product is clearly a better option than Jackson.

"I'm not trying to be hard on Tarvaris, but I don't think he is a top 32 quarterback in the NFL," ESPN analyst Tim Hasselbeck recently said. "I'm not so sure he's a top 42 quarterback in the NFL. When you look at Tarvaris, he has the tools where he can measure fast, he is strong and can throw the ball hard. But he’s not comfortable in the pocket."

Whether Rosenfels is good enough to save Childress' from himself is another question.

Joe Montana might not have been that good.
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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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