Clark Judge is entitled to his opinion

Since the Vikings got knocked out of the playoffs, I think 85 to 90 per cent of my posts have been about the team's quarterback situation. So what's one more?

Anyway, I'm blown away by the number of people who don't think pursuing Jay Cutler is a good idea.

However, what should make us cringe about Clark Judge's story is not that a writer who covers the NFL for a living thinks what the Vikings have done about their quarterback situation is fine, but that Vikings head coach Brad Childress apparently feels the same way. Here is how Judge sums up Chilly's state of mind on the Vikings quarterback personnel.

Childress believes there's no need for another quarterback now that the Vikings have Sage Rosenfels. That doesn't mean Rosenfels is the starter, though I'd stake a week's salary on the guy winning the job. What it does mean is that Childress and the Vikings think that between Rosenfels and holdover Tarvaris Jackson they have a legitimate quarterback to take them deep into the playoffs.

Yikes.

If Judge is correct on this, we might as well give up any hope that Childress knows what he's doing. For I fail to see how anybody whose profession is coaching football could look at Jay Cutler and then look at Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson and not think Cutler was a big upgrade over those two guys.

But I don't think Childress actually feels that way. For one, the quotes Judge uses from Childress in this story aren't endorsements of Rosenfels or Jackson but merely the kind of stuff a coach would say not to anger the guys he already has on his team. Also, it was only a month ago that Childress was talking sincerely about Jackson and Gus Frerotte competing for the starting job. A few days later, the Vikings worked out a trade for Rosenfels.

So while I don't think the Vikings will be able to swing a trade for Cutler if the Broncos do decide they have to trade him, I don't think they won't get him because Childress is fine with the quarterbacks he has and didn't try. I mean, surely he's not that thick?

Sticking with Jackson, the NFL Network was nice enough to air the 2007 Vikings-Bears game on Monday where Adrian Peterson went nuts.

In between enjoying Peterson's performance, I couldn't help but notice Jackson, who was 9-23 in that game and just awful. Then I fast-forwarded in my mind to Jackson's play as he led the Vikings into the playoffs and thought, 'You know, he really has improved.' Then I remembered how he played in the playoff loss to Philly and I snapped out of it. Then I started thinking about Jay Cutler again.

Star-Tribune blogger Michael Rand described it well after that playoff loss. His comment was Jackson can win a certain kind of game for you - the game where he's facing a so-so defence and the Vikings running game is working and he doesn't have to do too much.

But ask T-Jack to make some plays against a good defence, or bring the team back from behind in the dying minutes of a close contest, and that's a game he's not going to win for you nine times out of 10. And really, that's what the Vikings need out of their quarterback if they are going to seriously challenge for a Super Bowl. But Jackson is never going to give you that, so I wish people would stop pretending he will.

Other links
The NFL is seriously looking at extending its regular season.

Joe Fischer continues to dissect the language Roger Goodell uses when talking about the Vikings stadium issue.

Kevin Seifert thinks the Vikings stadium uncertainty could go on longer than 2011.

The Ragnarok looks at the recent signings of Cedric Griffin and kick returner Glenn Holt. No one gets as fired up about special teams as this guy.

And Football Outsiders has posted its 2009 mock draft and even accounted for trades and everything in it. But one of the trades they don't see happening is Jay Cutler to the Vikings in exchange for the Vikes #22 pick. Instead, author Bill Barnwell thinks the Vikes will select wide receiver Jeremy Maclin.