1. Vikes replace T-Jack with Gus Frerotte as starter (Remember the Giants started 0-2 last year!).
Childress: "I'm just not seeing the aggressiveness in T-Jack..."
HM: "I'm just not seeing the TALENT in T-Jack.."
2. Chiefs (worst team in the NFL?) go with Tyler Thigpen (Cut by the Vikes?)
If you got "T-Pen" in your fantasy league-sweet!
6 comments:
The Vikes actually tried to shift Thigpen to the practice squad last year, but the Chiefs grabbed him before he made it to the Vikes' practice squad.
I did not know that. Hey, any chance the Vikes bring Culpepper out of retirement?
I don't think so. For the time being, I suspect that Childress has eaten all the crow that he can stomach. Bringing back one of the many guys that Childress railroaded out of town would be very difficult for Childress.
In fact, bringing back Culpepper and seeing him win would cause every local fan and media outlet to ask Childress: "Why didn't we keep this guy three years ago instead of going with Brad Johnson, Brooks Bollinger, and T-Jack? Why didn't you choose to deal with Culpepper's ego in return for the opportunity to field an adequate QB?"
Keep in mind that each member of the aforementioned trio was a handpicked successor to Culpepper -- each a Childress guy. Not one has been popular with the fans.
For my part, I was glad to see the Vikings trade away Brad Johnson a decade earlier. I didn't want to see him come back.
I was disgusted to see Brooks Bollinger starting for the Jets years ago (even as a Vikings fan). He was simply not an NFL quarterback, and it was galling to see him get an opportunity to start ... It was all the worse when Childress brought him into our organization.
I recall watching the draft at the local sports bar the year that T-Jack was drafted. We moved up to get him. The bar crowd sat in anticipation -- waiting for the pick. "Tavaris Jackson - Alabama State." No video footage available. Why? Because not one fan or media outlet had any expectation that Jackson would be picked in the second round. Mind-boggling.
Consider these QB selections in the context of what Vikings fans are used to seeing from the squad. I'm willing to bet that the bulk of the Vikings' current season ticket holders initially bought their tickets in or around 1998-2000 -- when long passes to Randy Moss were a staple of the Sunday afternoon event.
By contrast, Chilly's man, T-Jack, is unable to complete a pass on play calls designed to split the field in half and to flow three different targets into various zones along one sideline (e.g., fullback swing pass, flanker out, wr fly). He simply can't throw accurately.
Granted, local fans saw a regression in play under Mike Tice, but the team was still 9-7 in Tice's final year. However, we've since watched Brad Childress dismantle a good team with his boneheaded personnel decisions, his abysmal playcalling and his singular inability to make any adjustments to open up the passing game. We're not talking about in-game adjustments, we're talking about the basic adjustments needed to throw over the top of 8 and 9 man fronts OVER THE COURSE OF TWO YEARS!!!
The mood in the Dome is downright ugly.
None of this can make Zygi Wilf very happy. He's invested millions in player upgrades (Bernard Berrian, Jared Allen, Madieu Williams), only to see a home crowd of mild-mannered Norwegians become a lynch mob in during the home opener -- while still leading the Colts!
This ownership group is vying for stadium support. They approved every proposed free acquistion proposed this past offseason.
Chilly didn't feel the need to go out and get a starting QB.
It's funny. Childress is just now realizing what other organizations have long known: that the Vikings are one player away from being a playoff team. (That's why the Packers were willing to trade Favre to any team but the Vikings and why the Bucs are currently willing to trade Jeff Garcia to any team but the Vikings.) You'd think that Chilly would recognize the shortcomings of his key player.
He didn't. My guess is that ownership highlighted the issue to him early this week.
Childress walks like a head coach. He talks like a head coach, so he must be a head coach, right? Nope. Until he can conceive of a way to hit receivers who get single coverage almost the entire afternoon, I'd have to disagree. Our starting WRs, Bernard Berrian and Sidney Rice, combined for ZERO catches last week. Does that ever happen?
Stay tuned. The Vikings have yet to sell out this weekend's game against Carolina. The first local blackout in ten years could be in the offing. If it does, the only consolation will be that we won't have to suffer Childress much longer.
Gus Frerotte is a former Lion. Good pick Vikings!
Badger
T-Jack wouldn't have the capacity to start for any other team, so we consider Gus (though nothing better than a journeyman) to be a significant upgrade over T-Jack.
Vikes now 1-2, virtually assuring themselves a playoff birth. (Kidding).
How bad has it been in the Childress Era when you score one offensive TD and your fan base acts like Air Coryell has returned to the NFL?
Post a Comment