Okay, now it’s time to talk about Brad Childress and his responsibility for this alleged football team. There are a lot of things that Childress has messed up as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, but none is more glaring than the handling of the quarterback position.
One of the first issues Childress had to deal with upon becoming coach was Daunte Culpepper‘s whining about more money. You can hardly blame a post-T.O. Childress
for having no stomach for dealing with a another malcontent player, but
in retrospect you’ve got to wonder if the coach’s personality
exacerbated the situation with Pep.
Childress deserves full credit for everything after Culpepper, though.
After making a huge reach for Jackson, the Vikings sign Brad Johnson to a two year contract to run the team and mentor Jackson. They make a trade with the Jets for Brooks Bollinger. Apparently, not satisfied with Bollinger during training camp, they bring in Mike McMahon, of all people, to compete for a job.
Childress knew McMahon from the Eagles, so how did he not know that
the guy was useless? McMahon is eventually cast away and the team
settles on Johnson, Bollinger and Jackson as their quarterbacks.
Johnson becomes estranged with Childress because the head coach
won’t allow the veteran quarterback to audible based on the look of a
defense. Johnson is eventually benched in favor of Jackson, who get
injured, who is replaced by Bollinger, who gets injured, and is
replaced in favor of Jackson.
After the 2006, the Vikings jettison Johnson and proclaim Jackson the starter for 2007.
This season we’ve seen Jackson, Bollinger, and now Kelly Holcomb behind center and none of them have really worked. Childress was very
excited about getting Tyler Thigpen in the 2007 draft, but then let him
slip to Chiefs instead of ensuring him a roster spot. Koy Detmer? Have I left anyone out?!?
As I’ve said before, not only is Childress’ ability to judge quarterback talent suspect, he has been completely irresponsible in not having a contingency plan in case Jackson didn’t work out.
Why didn’t the Vikings make a run at Jeff Garcia during the off season? Imagine what the team could have done with a good quarterback.