Minnesota Vikings 2007-2008

[Jeremy Weimer]

Because he's a horrible coach? Funny how a few good games changes peoples perceptions on a coach. All season long people have been calling for Childress' head and now the Vikings have won a few so nah, it's okay, lets keep him.

[twins15]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Weimer

Because he's a horrible coach?

Based on what? The fact that an offense with no playmakers sucked last year? Or that they struggled while getting extremely inconsistent QB play earlier this year? Isn't part of being a head coach having the ability to make good personnel decisions? You haven't noticed any bit of improvement in the coaching lately? Perhaps he is learning on the job?

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Weimer

Because he's a horrible coach? Funny how a few good games changes peoples perceptions on a coach. All season long people have been calling for Childress' head and now the Vikings have won a few so nah, it's okay, lets keep him.

I would agree with this, I hope just because they have started to turn the corner it doesnt convince them he is the answer. They have the talent right now to be a 9-3 team and I strongly believe coaching gave us 3 extra losses this year(Detroit, Kansas City, Green Bay(1st game)). At one point 3 weeks ago I was hoping the vikes would lose the rest of their games just to make sure Childress was gone and the high draft choice. Now I am pissed to see how talented this team really is and how it was wasted early in the season.

[twins15]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Weimer

Because he's a horrible coach? Funny how a few good games changes peoples perceptions on a coach. All season long people have been calling for Childress' head and now the Vikings have won a few so nah, it's okay, lets keep him.

That's because people aren't that smart. Yes, people were calling for him to get fired after they lost a few games. People were calling for Green to get fired, and he was, and then I can remember people clamoring for the Vikings to bring him back. Yes, the Vikings, a young team, lost a few games early on that they could have won. Yes, there have been growing pains in the first year and a half of a head coach's career. Yes, some people have been hoping he would get fired at the first sign of the team struggling. That doesn't mean he should have been fired, and that doesn't mean he isn't a good coach. It means needed time to get a young team together. That happens.

Now, is Childress a great coach that will win a lot of games for a long time? I don't know. Maybe. Hopefully. But this seems like a strange time to be clamoring for him to get fired... when a young team is finally coming together and playing good football. Isn't that what the coach is supposed to get them to do?

[twins15]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

I would agree with this, I hope just because they have started to turn the corner it doesnt convince them he is the answer. They have the talent right now to be a 9-3 team and I strongly believe coaching gave us 3 extra losses this year(Detroit, Kansas City, Green Bay(1st game)). At one point 3 weeks ago I was hoping the vikes would lose the rest of their games just to make sure Childress was gone and the high draft choice. Now I am pissed to see how talented this team really is and how it was wasted early in the season.

Guys like Tarvaris Jackson, Sidney Rice, Cedric Griffin, Chad Greenway, etc are all better players now than they were at the start of the year. Why can't a young team struggle at the beginning of the year before coming together? Isn't that what normally happens? Why has Childress "wasted" the talent early in the year rather than bringing a young team together?

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by twins15

Guys like Tarvaris Jackson, Sidney Rice, Cedric Griffin, Chad Greenway, etc are all better players now than they were at the start of the year. Why can't a young team struggle at the beginning of the year before coming together? Isn't that what normally happens? Why has Childress "wasted" the talent early in the year rather than bringing a young team together?

Because they have showed the talent to just crush teams. The games they win they have more talent with and just crush them, any game that is close they lose because Childress is incapable of making any halftime adjustments. Anyone that has watched a NFL football game could tell Adrian Peterson was special after his first half of football yet it took 6 games for him to get the ball as much as he should be getting it. Why does it take Childress 6X as long as it does for any other coach to figure things out. Can you imagine if the Vikings were to get to the Super Bowl and have to play the Pats. Do you really think Childress would be capable of putting together anytime of gameplan to keep their offense under control. Childress will get outcoached 99% of the time, they will win around half these games because of their superior talent.

[twins15]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Because they have showed the talent to just crush teams. The games they win they have more talent with and just crush them, any game that is close they lose because Childress is incapable of making any halftime adjustments. Anyone that has watched a NFL football game could tell Adrian Peterson was special after his first half of football yet it took 6 games for him to get the ball as much as he should be getting it. Why does it take Childress 6X as long as it does for any other coach to figure things out. Can you imagine if the Vikings were to get to the Super Bowl and have to play the Pats. Do you really think Childress would be capable of putting together anytime of gameplan to keep their offense under control. Childress will get outcoached 99% of the time, they will win around half these games because of their superior talent.

They were playing with a 2nd year QB that had very little experience. Contrary to what you might think, you can't just run the ball on every down and have that talent score TD after TD.

Another reason for not giving Peterson as many carries could be that he's a rookie with a history of injury problems, and we returned a 1200 yard back. Do you honestly not think that Childress had no idea that Peterson was really good? Of course he wants to win games... he also has to look ahead to the future as well. It's not exactly prudent to give Peterson 400 carries as a rookie.

It's not like I don't have any complaints about Childress... I do. But he deserves a little time, no? How about pointing out the fact that the Vikings are causing more turnovers and turning the ball over less? Or that they have cut down on penalties? Are these a credit to the coaching?

I agree the Vikings have talent... but it's not like they're the Patriots.

Speaking of short memories... a few weeks ago people were calling for Tarvaris' head and assessing other QB options. They were saying that we have no receivers that can catch the ball, no guys that can rush the passer, and no one in the secondary that can cover. Now we have a team that is apparently so talented that we can win 50% of our games with a no-talent hack for a coach. Hmmm...

[molarmite]

While I agree Childress isn't a good head coach YET, we have to keep him around and see what he can do. Sure he's awful at playcalling, but when you have a bunch of unproven rookies, you're not really sure what to call. We have to give him until at least the end of the year to see if he improves and at the end of the year decide if he's gone or not.

Question, who is responsible for putting this team together? Has Childress made most of the draft, FA signings, or who is in charge of that?

[twins15]

Originally Posted by molarmite

Question, who is responsible for putting this team together? Has Childress made most of the draft, FA signings, or who is in charge of that?

I think it's a combination of guys... the way I understand it, Childress and Rick Spielman make the personnel decisions, and Rob Brzezinski handles the cap. Obviously it's probably a lot more complicated than that, but I think that is how most of the decisions are made.

[MorseMoose]

meh...I'm not high on Childress or Jackson. I sure seems that we've been through this before. Vikes have a hot streak, then just miss the playoffs for some foolish reason.

[Jeremy Weimer]

Originally Posted by twins15

They were playing with a 2nd year QB that had very little experience. Contrary to what you might think, you can't just run the ball on every down and have that talent score TD after TD.

Another reason for not giving Peterson as many carries could be that he's a rookie with a history of injury problems, and we returned a 1200 yard back. Do you honestly not think that Childress had no idea that Peterson was really good? Of course he wants to win games... he also has to look ahead to the future as well. It's not exactly prudent to give Peterson 400 carries as a rookie.

It's not like I don't have any complaints about Childress... I do. But he deserves a little time, no? How about pointing out the fact that the Vikings are causing more turnovers and turning the ball over less? Or that they have cut down on penalties? Are these a credit to the coaching?

I agree the Vikings have talent... but it's not like they're the Patriots.

Speaking of short memories... a few weeks ago people were calling for Tarvaris' head and assessing other QB options. They were saying that we have no receivers that can catch the ball, no guys that can rush the passer, and no one in the secondary that can cover. Now we have a team that is apparently so talented that we can win 50% of our games with a no-talent hack for a coach. Hmmm...

You sure don't seem to have any complaints about Childress. Why is it that when a Vikings fan comes on here griping about a certain player (Jackson) or the head coach (Childress) you're the first to come to their defense, but you try to play it off by saying, "Oh, I get it guys, I don't really like them that much either, but we gotta keep giving them a shot!"? If you like them, fine, that's great. Don't try to play both sides though.

And you're giving too much credit to Childress. The Vikings have cut down on penalties, started getting more pressure on the offense, and aren't turning the ball over as much. Has Childress had something to do with that? Possibly, but in the end, it's still the players making the mistakes or the big plays. They're maturing as players and as a team. That's going to happen whether Childress is there or not. It happens when any coach is around. It just differs in how fast and to what degree.

And I'm not one of these fans you mention that have a short term in regards to Jackson. I still don't think he's our QB of the future. That opinion of mine hasn't changed. Has he finally been improving and making better decisions? Yes. Which he should be if he's starting every single game. I'm glad he's progressing like any young QB should be. Congrats on finally doing your job halfway decent. That doesn't mean I have to be sold on him as our future franchise QB. He still hasn't proved a whole lot of anything at this point other than he can string a few good games together. If he can consistently do it for the rest of this season and into the post season (if we make it) and next year, then I'll start believing.

And you're making it sound like Childress has been our coach for about two games. So it's way too premature to make any kind of decision on him. He's coached our team all of last season and through 12 games this season. That's almost two full seasons. Do we owe it to him to give him another shot next season? Maybe. I personally don't think he's worth wasting the time on for next season but if you do, more power to you. I think he's an average coach at best and isn't going to do anything to turn this into a great team.

[Skipaway]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Weimer

You sure don't seem to have any complaints about Childress. Why is it that when a Vikings fan comes on here griping about a certain player (Jackson) or the head coach (Childress) you're the first to come to their defense, but you try to play it off by saying, "Oh, I get it guys, I don't really like them that much either, but we gotta keep giving them a shot!"? If you like them, fine, that's great. Don't try to play both sides though.

And you're giving too much credit to Childress. The Vikings have cut down on penalties, started getting more pressure on the offense, and aren't turning the ball over as much. Has Childress had something to do with that? Possibly, but in the end, it's still the players making the mistakes or the big plays. They're maturing as players and as a team. That's going to happen whether Childress is there or not. It happens when any coach is around. It just differs in how fast and to what degree.

And I'm not one of these fans you mention that have a short term in regards to Jackson. I still don't think he's our QB of the future. That opinion of mine hasn't changed. Has he finally been improving and making better decisions? Yes. Which he should be if he's starting every single game. I'm glad he's progressing like any young QB should be. Congrats on finally doing your job halfway decent. That doesn't mean I have to be sold on him as our future franchise QB. He still hasn't proved a whole lot of anything at this point other than he can string a few good games together. If he can consistently do it for the rest of this season and into the post season (if we make it) and next year, then I'll start believing.

And you're making it sound like Childress has been our coach for about two games. So it's way too premature to make any kind of decision on him. He's coached our team all of last season and through 12 games this season. That's almost two full seasons. Do we owe it to him to give him another shot next season? Maybe. I personally don't think he's worth wasting the time on for next season but if you do, more power to you. I think he's an average coach at best and isn't going to do anything to turn this into a great team.

You've yet to say what makes Childress horrible though.

[mauboy]

Its hard to explain what makes him a bad coach... the little decisions within the game, I guess. He can never get his challenges right. I mean, last week for instance, he chose to challenge a play with a 42-10 lead. The challenge?

Kitna got hit as he was almost throwing the ball, it was going to be an incomplete pass or a four yard loss. A ten...10! minute challenge to choose whether we gain a few yards and someone gets credited a sack. No chance of getting the ball since it absolutely cannot be reversed in that fashion.

But challenges like this always seem to come about with Childress.

But like Twins said, I don't know yet whether or not he's a bad coach. I will give him the benefit of the doubt since we don't have much to work with. Yeah, we're blowing teams out, but the NFC sucks this year.

I'm going to continue to ride the wave of these wins and a potential playoff berth. That would be absolutely AWESOME! We could potentially face the Packers in the NFC Championship Game, what could be better? Will we beat them? Probably not, but who cares, this is football and anything can happen along the way.

[molarmite]

Another amazing first half albeit against the 49ers but nevertheless 27 points is impressive. Jackson, our pass D, Taylor and Peterson are all looking very good.

[MorseMoose]

Originally Posted by molarmite

Another amazing first half albeit against the 49ers but nevertheless 27 points is impressive. Jackson, our pass D, Taylor and Peterson are all looking very good.

3 DL interceptions...LOL.

Wouldn't say Peterson looked great. He was shutdown, but that doesn't worry me. He seemed really awkward on the field with the brace. I know he had it last week, but this week, he seemed very off.

[Jonzard]

Do you guys think Chester is back next yaer? He still has two years left in his 4 year 14 million dollar contract. It isn't a ton of money considering our strong cap poision, but it is considerable for our #2 back. His role will likely diminish as well.

We will almost for sure loose Mewelde so I hope he returns next year.

[MorseMoose]

Originally Posted by Jonzard

Do you guys think Chester is back next yaer? He still has two years left in his 4 year 14 million dollar contract. It isn't a ton of money considering our strong cap poision, but it is considerable for our #2 back. His role will likely diminish as well.

We will almost for sure loose Mewelde so I hope he returns next year.

I don't know how the NFL works, but could Chester hold out for a trade or more money?

[molarmite]

Originally Posted by MorseMoose

I don't know how the NFL works, but could Chester hold out for a trade or more money?

Yea he could, but I don't really see him doing that with all the potential we have and if we keep using him like we did this game.

[mikev]

Originally Posted by MorseMoose

3 DL interceptions...LOL.

Wouldn't say Peterson looked great. He was shutdown, but that doesn't worry me. He seemed really awkward on the field with the brace. I know he had it last week, but this week, he seemed very off.

That wasn't the brace, it was Patrick Willis. No shame in getting shutdown by the best linebacker in the NFL.

[MorseMoose]

Originally Posted by mikev

That wasn't the brace, it was Patrick Willis. No shame in getting shutdown by the best linebacker in the NFL.

omg, Willis made one semi-hard hit on the guy and the announcers are gushing over it. If Peterson gets shutdown, why did Taylor have over 100? Sure couldn't shut down C.T.