The Minnesota Vikings have come to a breaking point in their season. They were pummeled by their rival Green Bay Packers on Sunday. And Brett Favre wasn’t even listening to offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell after his interception. It is well known that Favre and Brad Childress don’t see eye to eye despite the fact that the latter is the on-again off-again chauffeur. If Favre isn’t accepting coaching from the rest of the staff at this juncture, then it is time for one or the other to change.
ByPatrick Herbert
Owner Zygi Wilf is a fan’s dream. He is willing to put his resources into player salaries to make the team consistently competitive without also constantly desiring the spotlight like Mark Cuban or Jerry Jones. It is time for him to make a tough call about his coach or the quarterback. It is blatantly obvious that they can’t coexist.
Favre’s quarterback rating is hovering near room temperature at 69.3. His ten touchdowns don’t begin to make up for the seventeen interceptions he’s accumulated. It is true that he hasn’t had his full complement of players this season, but injuries and age have hampered his mobility and created desperation in his decision-making process. These bad decisions have made Adrian Peterson less effective as well because he is not getting as many carries at the end of games due to the large deficits at the end of games.
Brad Childress certainly holds his share of the blame for the situation at hand. He allows the inmates to run the asylum. This started in training camp when the players decided they don’t have to play when they don’t feel like it. Percy Harvin followed Favre’s example and missed large chunks of time because of migraines. Childress also allowed a group of players, led by kicker Ryan Longwell to take an excursion down to Southern Mississippi to cajole Favre into returning. I must digress and admit that it began when Brad Childress picked up Favre at the airport.
The television cameras in the helicopters should have seen another Vikings’ employee performing that menial task-not the man who is supposed to game plan schemes for the best players in the world. Childress really dropped the ball in the handling of the Randy Moss acquisition and subsequent departure. The team gave up a third round pick for the man who was supposed to revert to the form he had when he was formerly with the organization. It didn’t really work out that way and Childress chose to dismiss him without compensation, much to the chagrin of the owner. There was no progression to the discipline. A benching or suspension didn’t occur for Moss. He was flat out released like some player without adequate skills headed for the United Football League. The Titans were able to pick him up soon thereafter without realizing that Vince Young would soon have a meltdown. When push comes to shove the buck needs to stop somewhere.
In this case, it is with the head coach.