Long time coming: Vikings fire Childress; Frazier named coach

Ever since the waiving of Randy Moss(notes) revealed a deep schism in the Minnesota Vikings locker room, it became a matter of when, not if, Brad Childress would follow Moss out the door. "When" came on Monday morning.

The Vikings fired Childress one day after the team's uninspired 31-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The loss dropped Minnesota to 3-7 and effectively ended any chance the team had at a miracle run to the playoffs.

Childress paid the price.

It was a long time coming for the 54-year-old coach, who was in his fifth season with the team. Despite making it to the NFC Championship game last season and coming within a Brett Favre(notes) interception of advancing to the Super Bowl, Childress fell out of favor in Minnesota with his handling of the Moss situation. In reality, though, he had lost the team long before.

His desperate attempts to lure Favre out of retirement this summer had rubbed many on the team the wrong way. When Favre played like the beat-up, 41-year-old he is, it only increased the level of scrutiny on Childress. Then the Moss incident happened, in which Childress reportedly cut the receiver after trading for him and didn't tell anyone in the front office about it. Vikings owner Zygi Wilf was reportedly displeased and considered firing Childress on the spot, but ended up giving his coach a chance to right the sinking ship.

A comeback win in the week following the Moss waiving gave Childress a stay of execution, but two division losses to the Chicago Bears and Packers sealed his fate. The Vikings looked bad against the Bears. In Sunday's game against Green Bay, the team looked like it quit on its coach.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Long-time-coming-Vikings-fire-Childress-Frazie?urn=nfl-288111&post_comment=1&success=1

Vikings fire Childress after falling to 3-7

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minnesota (AP)—The Minnesota Vikings fired Brad Childress on Monday, cutting ties with a head coach who had come under increasing fire from quarterback Brett Favre(notes) and other players after a terrible start to the season.

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Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

The Vikings fell to 3-7 after a 31-3 loss to rival Green Bay on Sunday, the final blow to Childress in his fifth season in charge of the team. It was his most-lopsided home defeat as head coach, dropping his overall record to 40-37.

Childress took over for the fired Mike Tice in 2006 after spending seven years with the Eagles, including four as the offensive coordinator. He was chosen by owner Zygi Wilf to instill discipline and demand better off-the-field behavior from a team that had been embarrassed by misbehaving players.

However, Childress stumbled in his first year and never fully gained the faith of the fans—or some of his players.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-vikings-childressfired

Vikings on Childress: We're winning despite him"

As we're already well aware, Brad Childress does not live under normal circumstances. He and Brett Favre(notes), his Hall of Fame quarterback, have been squabbling back and forth for the better part of two seasons. The coach's dictatorial and contradictory nature has driven many of his players to distraction, and most in the know believe that if the Vikings hadn't pulled out a huge comeback win against the Arizona Cardinals last Sunday, Childress would already be gone; riding out on the Wade Phillips Express.

The real source and level of that invective from players to coach was laid bare by Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times in a Wednesday story. After the win over Arizona, several Vikings players made their feelings very clear on the condition of anonymity. Childress' penchant for publicly rebuking his own players and openly questioning the efforts of those players in various practices (which recently led to a near-dustup between Childress and receiver Percy Harvin(notes)) has led to a situation in which, as one player told Jensen, "'We know that Childress doesn't have our backs, so why should we have his? We're playing for us, and we're winning despite him.''

If this was how the players felt after a win, one wonders what they said to Wilf when the team was 2-5. Perhaps the players have been put in the torturous position of knowing that if they continue winning, the coach they appear to hate will stay in his position, and the one they respect will be denied the opportunity they want him to have. And if the Vikings' players are torn between trying and not trying under those circumstances, Childress should be fired immediately.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Vikings-on-Childress-We-re-winning-despite-him;_ylt=AqEHqz5CuayvNHsx4FTiaFdDubYF?urn=nfl-284371

Hilarious Moss Video

Ten Ways the Moss Trade could be a Disaster

1. Distractions. Running cops over with his car. Mooning the crowd. General Prima Donna behavior could easily distract a team that already has some cohesion problems.

2. He's not that good anymore. Is he even in the top 10 in receiving this year?

3. It does nothing to solve the real problem on the team, which is that the two giant tackles, McKinnie and Loadholt, are slow and can't block anybody.

4. More passing=more blitzing=more Favre knockdowns. That guy is one knockdown away from having his career be over, and increases the likelihood that Tavares Jackson, a QB so poor that if he were a free agent today no NFL team would pick him up, will end up being the starter.

5. More passing=more interceptions. Self explanatory.

6. More passing=Less Adrian Peterson. How long before AP gets tired of not getting the ball, loses his concentration, starts fumbling again.

7. Favre: Does he have the arm to be able to throw the ball down the field anymore? How much more wear and tear? Thank goodness Favre is not Culpepper, but in order to take advantage of Moss, he will have to throw deep more....and each deep throw could be his last...

8. The Defense: The team in 1998 was built on all offense and no defense, set records, but could not make it to the Super Bowl. The strength of this team over the last couple of years has been this defense that nobody can run against. Too easy for this defense to lose its focus, what with all of the balls flying around....Jared Allen is a terrible spectator.

9. Assimilation problems: This team was disorganized on offense through its first three games anyway, now they have to insert a new guy, just in time for the toughest stretch on their schedule.

10. It is likely to keep Childress around for an extra year: Here is a scenario: the Vikings are dominant, win 11 out of the last 13 games, gets the home field advantage, and then choke in the playoffs like they do.... Favre quits, Moss is done, I think they lose Sidney Rice at the end of the season too.... But, Childress stays..... Without Moss: They go 8-8, the Bears beat them out of the second playoff spot, and Childress is finally fired..... So it is likely that they will have just enough success to keep from doing what they need to do which is get rid of Childress, a coach who, despite getting his team to the conference finals, got zero votes for coach of the year.

MANKATO, Minn. (AP)—Vacationing Sen. Al Franken had plenty to say about his beloved Minnesota Vikings on his first visit to the team’s training camp.

Franken watched practice on Thursday morning and met with a couple of players, including his self-declared favorite, tight end Jim Kleinsasser(notes). The Minnesota Democrat said he believes the team should have a new stadium built and that he expects Brett Favre(notes) to be the quarterback this season.

“Seems like there’s a pattern here, doesn’t there? And I’m not really surprised I’m not seeing him here doing wind sprints,” Franken said, laughing.

Oh, and the actor-comedian-author-turned-politician hopes to see the Vikings in the Super Bowl—no joke. He said he remembers listening to the team’s first game in 1961 on the radio and has remained a fervent fan since.

Franken expressed sympathy for wide receiver Percy Harvin(notes), who has been absent for almost two weeks because of migraine headaches. Franken said he suffers from the same condition.

“I can’t imagine,” Franken said. “I can barely function when I have them. But to play football you can’t do that. I really feel bad for him. I hope they find some regimen for him because he’s a really spectacular game breaker.”

Kleinsasser had a huge smile when he was told of Franken’s admiration while walking off the practice field.

“I still remember him with the satellite dish on his head,” Kleinsasser said, recalling Franken’s days on Saturday Night Live.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-vikings-fanfranken

Brett Favre(notes) on Saturday delivered another piece of news through Steve Mariucci. Favre texted his former position coach—now an NFL Network analyst—to say his surgically repaired ankle is still sore.

"His arm feels great," Mariucci said, per NFL.com. "His conditioning is good, but he hasn’t run much without pain in his ankle. It still gives him pain, and it needs to be better before he reports."

On Tuesday, Favre told Mariucci that he hadn’t retired, contrary to numerous reports that fueled widespread speculation. On Wednesday, Favre told ESPN’s Ed Werder he’ll play if his ankle heals.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=tsn-favretellsmariuccianklest20100807

Betting on Favre no sure thing....

Reporting from Las Vegas — Jay Rood is at quarterback and the playing field is mined with the volatility of the stock market, the cheap drama of a teenager's text message and the lunacy of television addiction.

Brett Favre is talking to ESPN with his truck's engine running, making his retirement audible barely audible. But Rood is tuning in, listening and watching for any hint whether the hunting-cap-wearing Favre is going to indeed retire to Mississippi or return to be the Minnesota Vikings' quarterback for another season.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/04/sports/la-sp-nfl-odds-20100805

"We don't have a definitive answer," Rood said after hearing Favre on Wednesday. "So we'll be guarding against inside information."

Rood, who is director of the MGM/Mirage Race and Sports book and sets odds at 10 Las Vegas properties, is charged with cutting to the chase through the onslaught of 24-hour NFL news cycles. Favre, he cares about. The impressive catches of Dallas Cowboys rookie receiver Dez Bryant, now injured and out four to six weeks, and the nickname of new Cincinnati Bengals teammates Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco? Factored in, but mostly irrelevant.

Rood, to the tune of "seven figures" and up to $30,000 in bets a day by MGM/Mirage customers, knows followers want to simply know who's going to win this season's Super Bowl. So he takes the gabbing out of the equation, separating himself from the other analysts by putting his money where his mouth is.

Brett and the Ankle

This is not about medicine, this is about show business. This is just one more step that the NFL is taking toward being the WWE. They need to fabricate as much off-the-field drama right now to sell as many tickets as possible and increase the TV ratings.

First was the Roethlisberger suspension. Do you think it was 6 weeks by accident? No, it's so he can come back vs. the Saints and maximize the TV ratings. Do you know that the ratings for the Masters were up 45% because Tiger Woods came back?

This is just another story: Will he return or won't he? The saga of this aging warrior striving for one more chance at glory in the uniform of the former rival, deprived of his chance last year because his young running back cannot hold onto the f%$$@ing football, The tense surgery, the waiting for him to stride confidently into camp one more time, and of course the two guaranteed high rating games as he plays the packers, plus the Saints, plus this year, as an added benefit the Jets who kicked him to the curb...and the Cowboys who he showed up last year and is always the highest rated team...... The story line is just too good.

Goodell and Chidress and the TV/Scheduling department of the NFL already know what is going to happen or they would have not scheduled this team to play 4 prime time games this year, plus 2 in the second half of doubleheaders.. My guess is that he has already had the surgery, and just waited to give the announcement until after the draft to build the drama a bit more. Perhaps there will be another tearful press conference or two....

WWE all the way.

Favre Speaks

The veteran quarterback told ESPN that he needs surgery on his left ankle in order to play this season for the Minnesota Vikings. In an e-mail posted to ESPN.com on Friday, Favre said he’s deciding whether to have the procedure or finally retire after 19 seasons.

Currently holding all the NFL’s major career passing records, Favre will turn 41 in October. He told ESPN the injury that hobbled him three months ago in the NFC championship game still causes swelling and pain, and said orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews told him an operation is unavoidable if he wants to keep playing

.

Now we know, don't we?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-vikings-favre

Text Message Conversation on Draft Day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb1DcB-zGSU

Chilly: Hi, Brett, whatcha doin;
Favre: Getting ready to film a new blue jeans commercial. It's muddy around here and we want to get a shot of that guy diving in the mud again.

Chilly: Cool. you restin' that arm?
Favre: You know it. They are using a launcher to throw those passes.

Chilly: you know we passed on Claussen?
Favre: Yeah, well that is fine. I called the equipment guy the other day and told him to clear out the locker next to mine for Hasslebeck.

Chilly: Well, technically I am the coach and I should be telling him that.
Favre: Oops, sorry, I thought Studwell had you in the loop.

Chilly: Speaking of which, I would really appreciate you letting me call a few plays next year. I used to be an offensive coordinator you know.
Favre: Yeah, that's right, the Eagles...Well, once you finally let me run it the way it needed to be run, we started to move the ball.

Chilly: Well we do have the best running back in the league, I though we needed to establish the ground game.
Favre: Ground game? I know: 3 up the middle, 3 up the middle, 45 around the end and a fumble. I suppose it's a little more entertaining than punting but it comes to about the same. I do not even want to give that guy the ball.

Chilly: Well he should be getting 20 carries to take some pressure off of you.
Favre: I will tell you what will take some pressure off of me: Find a couple of good backup linemen. You let Artis Hicks go, and he was the only one who was keeping me from getting killed during the second half of the season. Those giant tackles got beat up by Carolina...CAROLINA.... I'm still limping from the Saints game.

Chilly: So we will have your massage table and whirlpool ready for you in September.
Favre: I am not showing up until Labor Day. Gotta keep the defensive coordinators guessing a bit, and also, gotta build the suspense a bit... A little extra attention will help the jersey sales....

A soft schedule makes you soft.

Yeah, things look great.

Thanks to the luxury of playing Detroit every year, they get two relatively easy wins. Beat the Bears twice, and split with the Pack and they're 5-1.

They play all the teams from an AFC division.... meaning one or two bad teams, you are looking at splitting that at least, 7-3...

9 wins makes the playoffs practically every year in the NFC so all they really need to do is win 2 of the remaining 6 games against the other division winners to make it....

The relatively poor competition in their own division gives them at least 2 easy wins per year, year after year, and is just enough to push them into the playoffs with relatively weak teams, which is why this team has an all time playoff record of 19-26 including multiple early exits....

Bevell and Jimmy Claussen

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP)—Former Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen tried to show NFL teams Friday he is worth a first-round draft pick, though he’s still not 100 percent healthy three months after surgery to repair torn tendons in his right foot.

Bevell was just there for the golf and/or those little sandwiches they serve you during break time. Everybody knows he has the QB that is going to get him to the super bowl, Tavares Jackson, at the prime of his career and ready to take the field....

Seriously, every great head coach, every one, had his QB. Noll had Bradshaw. Landry had Staubach, Shula had Griese, Walsh had Montana and was also lucky to have Young, and you can go right down the line to Brady/Belichik, Manning/Dungy. If the Vikes or anybody else was going to build their offense around a young QB like this they ought to send the HEAD coach for some male bonding, and have a check of the guy's personality (ref: Ryan Leaf)...

Chester Taylor

Don't you just hate to see Chester go? This fellow was a 1200 yard rusher a few years ago, and when they brought in Peterson he never whined. He kept working like a professional and became the best 3rd down back in the league: Good pass blocker, able to get open on the screens, able to gain a tough 4 yards, and does not make mistakes.

Compare that with Peterson, the brilliant but fumble-prone Nike ad. Super speeder. Don't forget that every time Peterson carries the ball could be his last, because he also has fragile knees....

Things being what they are, the team needs some money to sign a young QB to replace Favre when he leaves, and to get one is going to cost. They also need to do something about their offensive line, which was the weak link last year, as we saw in the championship game. So it's Bye Bye to Chester.

I hope he does well. He should be proud of the job he did in Minnesota.

Test Post

This is the second post of my new blog. Do you know what is more frustrating than being a frustrated viking fan? Trying to teach yourself website development.

Test Post

Welcome to my new blog.... at last a place to vent about being a frustrated viking fan.