Hey buddy, can you spare 600-mill?

I saw this article last night but didn't link it. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell talks about the Vikings stadium situation.

This is a big issue for Vikings fans. But I've tried not to pontificate on it too much because it's not my fight. I don't live in Minnesota and so whatever happens, it won't affect my tax rate.

However, if I were a Minnesota resident (and a better writer) I'd have written something like this. The Artist Formerly Known as Pacifist Viking sums up how Minnesotans should view the stadium issue when Zygi Wilf or Goodell lobby for public money to be used to build an extremely expensive facility that will be used 10-12 times a year.

Using taxpayer dollars to build sports palaces that don't really contribute to the common has become commonplace in North America. It's also wrong.

Somewhere out there, there is some advanced lifeform keeping tabs on our civilization that's very puzzled by this trend.

In happier news, Randall McDaniel has been named to the Hall of Fame. Cris Carter and John Randle were not.

I have no issues with who did and who did not make it in. The other players who made it – Bruce Smith, Rod Woodson and Derrick Thomas – were all dominant players at their positions. It was a tough year to be on the ballot.

However, Carter and Randle were also pretty dominant at their positions for a long time. I'd like to hear the rationale from the football writers who didn't vote for them on why they weren't Hall of Fame worthy this year.

Quarterback! Quarterback! Quarterback!

Adam Caplan takes a look at quarterbacks who might be on the move in 2009 and where they might end up. The Vikings come up quite often here.

There are some other QBs that aren't mentioned in the article – like Byron Leftwich (probably not a good fit for Chilly's throw quickly/throw short KOA), J.P. Losman and Kyle Boller (probably not a good fit for anybody's offence), Matt Hasselback (Seattle says it's not trading him but what if the right offer came along ...), Chris Simms (no spleen jokes please) and Rex Grossman (kidding – just wanted to see if you were still paying attention).

The real nugget in Caplan's piece is he says a "league source" has blabbed that the Vikings may bring in two quarterbacks to challenge Tarvaris Jackson. Not sure how the Vikings could convince two QBs worth a damn to come to Minnesota and "compete" for a starting job when so many teams are looking for help at the position, but hey, shoot high guys.

It seems pretty clear Gus Frerotte won't be back with the team next season but if the Vikes do bring in two quarterbacks, that doesn't bode well for John David Booty's future with the team. Do I care? Not after what I saw during the 2008 preseason.

And here's hoping Jackson's mixed martial arts training somehow does something for his deep ball.

Have a fun Super Bowl Sunday everybody.

Brian Billick everyone

Work has me by the balls this week, so the posts will be short and sweet.

Anyway, we can't get enough of the Vikings quarterback situation here at Grant's Tomb, so here, by way of ESPN's Kevin Seifert, is former Vikings offensive coordinator Brian Billick talking about Tarvaris Jackson on KFAN (some of you Minnesotans may have already heard this).

Do you think Billick is right about Jackson?

Brett Favre! Brett Favre! Brett Favre!

Well, here we go. Peter King's talking and his "gut feeling" is Brett Favre wants to play for the Vikings next season. So we may be in for another spring and summer of Favre in Minnesota speculation.

Please post your thoughts on this. Could Favre help the Vikings?

My own "gut feeling" is that he couldn't. At best the Vikings tread water with him.

When the Jets imploded in December and missed the playoffs, Favre's play was a big reason why. Tarvaris Jackson actually played at a higher level. So when Tarvaris Jackson is outplaying him, I really wonder, at Favre's age, if he has much left to offer. Of course, it's all speculation right now. But speculation is fun.

And there's nothing great about this post by Tom Marino. But I've linked it because in Marino's assessment of the Vikings 2008 season, he writes that the Vikes problems at quarterback could see them enter the "J.P. Losman sweepstakes."

If the Vikings do go after Losman (I suggested it last year), I don't think they will have much competition. It will be more akin to shopping at a thrift store than a sweepstakes.

The dead zone

If your team isn't in the Super Bowl or had a great playoff run, late January is a tough time to be writing an NFL blog. It's not as bad as May, June or July, but it's still pretty bad.

That's the case with the Vikings right now, who made the playoffs but didn't last long once they got there. Free agency is a month away and until that happens there seems to be little to write about.

But I do sort of have a plan for the next month to keep the content relatively fresh here. I'm currently working on a piece breaking down Adrian Peterson's season. I'd also like to do something on the Vikings offensive performance on first downs. And I will evaluate the Vikings positional units like I did last year. This time I'll even try to complete the job. Last year I didn't get around to writing about the linebackers or defensive backs.

Darren Sharper
Here's a pointless update on Darren Sharper's future with the team from the Access Vikings blog by way of Pro Football Talk.

It's pointless because Sharper has no future with the Vikings. He's 33. He'll want too much money to re-sign and he's just not that good anymore. Sharper's made his bones in the NFL by being a ballhawk and a playmaker. But he's no longer ballhawking or playmaking. Last year he had one interception – his lowest total since his second NFL season.

And since he's never been a physical, run-stopping safety, if he's lost a step or two (which seems to be the case) in pass coverage, there doesn't seem much reason to retain him.

However, Sharper keeps himself fit, so I'm sure someone – whether it's the New Orleans Saints or some other pass defence deficient team – will sign him. But they will be doing it based on what Sharper's done in the past and not on what he can do in the future.

I don't know if Tyrell Johnson is a great replacement option at this point (he often looked tentative in pass coverage as a rookie) but he's 23, he's cheap, he's big, he's fast and he's got a ceiling.

Sharper's already reached his ceiling. It's time to move on here. The Tyrell Johnson era (do safeties not named Ed Reed deserve such billing?) is about the begin.

Mewelde Moore
I'm not too jazzed about the Super Bowl matchup but I'll watch it because I love football and when you love football, you have to watch the Super Bowl. Not doing so would be like a movie buff not watching the Oscars because he or she didn't like the nominees for Best Actor or Best Film.

One player I will be rooting for though is ex-Vikings/current Steelers running back Mewelde Moore.

I've always had a soft spot for Moore. I like bargains and Moore was a bargain. The Vikings haven't had much luck with their second-day draft choices but Mewelde – who was picked in the fourth round of the '04 draft – was one of the team's savvier picks. Too bad he was too often underutilized during his time with the team, particularly during Brad Childress's first season as head coach.

Some Vikings fans complained when management allowed Moore to walk as a free agent last offseason. I wasn't one of them. But it wasn't because I didn't like Moore (I do) or because I didn't think he was a good player (again, I do). I didn't complain because there was no way Moore was signing with the Vikings anyway. He had no role with the Vikings and at his age, I doubted he was content to waste away on the sideline, watching Adrian Peterson get all the carries and Chester Taylor catch all the screen passes, while only being asked to return the occasional punt.

So he signed with Pittsburgh where he had a chance to play more. It worked out and now he'll get an opportunity to win a Super Bowl ring and perhaps play a key role in getting that ring. I'd like to see it happen.

Moore will probably never be a starting running back in the NFL. He's got that label now as a small guy who's best suited as a third-down back. But he's shifty, can catch passes out of the backfield and pass block. If he stays healthy he could have a Kevin Faulk-type of career, who has been around 10 seasons and probably will play an 11th and maybe even a 12th before he retires.

Mewelde Moore won't make the Hall of Fame or win any rushing titles. But he may end up playing longer than a guy like Adrian Peterson.

L.A. Talk

Here's a piece by the National Football Post's Andrew Brandt about the Vikings stadium situation. If you're looking for a new NFL site to read everyday, I'd recommend this one. Brandt and Mike Lombardi write interesting and insightful stuff on it just about every day.

Some hilarious comments made by several Packer fans at the end of the post as well. As usual, they argue the Vikings have no "history" (unlike the Packers and the Bears) so moving the Vikes is okay with them. They also claim Vikings fans don't support the team. Feel free to defend Vikings fans on that site or here. And don't forget to throw in a few insults directed towards those Packer fans while you're at it.

Update!
Now here's a case of addition by subtraction. Viking Update is reporting Vikings special teams coordinator Paul Ferraro is joining Steve Spagnuolo's staff in St. Louis and will be the Rams linebacker coach.

So is that why the Vikings special teams were so bad this year and pretty average the other two? Because we had a linebacker coach running our special teams?

Leslie Frazier, football analysts and Donovan McNabb

Unless another coaching job opens up, it looks like Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier will be back next year.

That's good news. He has a reputation as a good tactician. The Vikings also became a complete defence this season under his command – an elite unit capable of stopping the run and the pass. Frazier accomplished this even though he didn’t have middle linebacker E.J. Henderson for most of the season and top nickleback Charles Gordon for half the season.

So with Frazier sticking around, there will be no adjustments necessary for the players. And with the same group of players back, Frazier will have another year to tweak and improve the defence in an attempt to make it even more dominant.

I must say though that if Frazier had left for a head coaching job elsewhere, I wasn’t about to panic. The Vikings defence has a great collection of talent and it seems hardly coincidental that the pass defence got good the year Jared Allen arrived. Unless Brad Childress had picked some boob to replace Frazier, I would have expected the Vikings to continue to have a dominant defence even without Frazier.

I shit on Childress fairly regularly at this blog. But he has had a good track record in picking defensive coordinators. He hired Mike Tomlin. Then he hired Frazier to replace Tomlin. And if the Philadelphia Eagles had let Steve Spagnuolo out of his contract, Childress would have hired Spagnuolo as his first defensive coordinator instead of Tomlin.

Childress might not know how to manage the clock. But he seems to know how to spot talent that would make for good defensive coordinators.

Wanting more from Troy Aikman, et al.
I try to avoid being critical of sports announcers because everybody complains about them. But after watching Troy Aikman work the NFC Championship game Sunday, I eagerly await the day when a football analyst actually provides viewers with some, well, analysis.

For example, as I was watching the game I kept wondering how Arizona's offence was able to pick apart what had been a dominant Philadelphia defence in the first half?

Besides Larry Fitzgerald’s brilliance, it appeared to my untrained eyes that Arizona used Philly’s aggressiveness against them. Kurt Warner made a point of releasing the ball quickly before the Eagle blitzers got to him and when they did get to him, it seemed that was the Cardinals plan. Warner calmly lobbed screen passes to J.J. Arrington over Eagle defenders for long gains.

But what do I know? I’m just a fan who never played the game. This is where I expect a guy like Aikman to come in. He played in the league. He knows the technical aspects of the game. He’s studied film and spent a lifetime in the sport. He should be able to spot schemes, trends, the subtle strengths and weaknesses of players – you know, insider stuff.

But you never get that from Aikman. And you never get that from most football analysts. Ron Jaworksi tries. But he’s usually trying to talk over another Tony Kornheiser rant about Brett Favre. Fox’s Tim Green is good at it, but he’s buried with the network’s #4 announcing team, so most fans never get to hear him.

So instead of real analysis what we get is a three-hour conversation between Aikman and booth partner Joe Buck. Or between Al Michaels and John Madden. Or between Phil Simms and Jim Nantz. It's never about anything substantial, just breezy chit chat.

Paul Zimmerman has often complained that the producers of football telecasts probably encourage this. They don’t want ex-players mumbling footballese on the air. They think they will lose their audience.

But I think they are underestimating the intelligence of that audience. I think most football fans want to learn more about the game. They want more insider knowledge. They want something that will enhance their enjoyment of the sport.

They just aren’t getting it now from most football analysts on most Sundays.

Over and out, Donovan?
In a game where he was so-so, then great, then so-so again, it will be worth paying attention to Donovan McNabb’s situation over the next month.

Despite a nice playoff run, McNabb is now 1-4 in NFC Championship games and 0-1 in Super Bowls. That doesn’t cut it in Philadelphia. Expect some questions to be raised about his future with the team.

If Brad Childress is finally serious about doing something substantial to improve the Vikings quarterback position, he’ll have Rick Spielman making calls to the Eagles management in a week or so inquiring about McNabb's availability.

The Eagles would be dumb to trade McNabb away and I don’t expect them to do so. But teams do stupid things all the time.

The Vikings traded Randy Moss.

Coaching comparison

When Mike Tomlin was hired as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers after one season as the Vikings defensive coordinator, there were a lot of Viking fans moaning that the team should have fired Brad Childress, kept Tomlin and named him as the new head coach.

At the time, that seemed like irrational venting from a fan base fresh off a disheartening first season under Childress. Tomlin seemed like a solid enough guy and the Vikings defence had outperformed the offence Childress was responsible for by a wide margin in 2006. But ... that defence was also considered one-dimensional and easy to throw on. Back then, it seemed to me Tomlin still had much to prove. It wasn't a slam dunk in my mind that he'd be an upgrade over Chilly.

But now that Tomlin has led the Steelers to records of 10-6 and 12-4 and two divisional titles while Childress just posted his first winning record in three seasons with the Vikings, maybe those irrational fans weren’t being so irrational two years ago.

Before I go on, one thing that's important to remember here is Tomlin walked into a pretty good situation in Pittsburgh. He inherited a strong defence, an All-Pro caliber quarterback, a solid running game and pass catchers – like Hines Ward and Heath MIller – who were above average at their respective positions.

As for Childress, all he inherited was an improving defence. Tomlin had a much better team to work with in his first season than Childress did.

One area where I will give Tomlin his props though is when he became the Steelers head coach, he didn't change the Steelers defensive philosophy and he didn't replace coordinator Dick LeBeau.

Some might say this was a no-brainer – the Steelers had a pretty good defence before Tomlin arrived. But Tomlin is a defensive coach. And he was supposed to be a Tampa Two disciple who was used to running a 4-3 defence. The Steelers, meanwhile, have been a 3-4 defence for quite some time and LeBeau’s style is to attack quarterbacks with a variety of blitzes that make use of the fast, athletic linebackers he has.

Some coaches – particularly ones who have just spent a relatively successful year as a defensive coordinator in the NFL – would still have tried to put their own stamp on their new team's defence. They would have tried to do it their way – the way they were taught to do it and the way they were used to doing it.

Tomlin's way was the Tampa Two scheme.

But Tomlin didn't do that. He recognized LeBeau was a great coach and he recognized a 3-4 blitzing type of defence was the right fit for the personnel the Steelers had. He didn’t try to fit round pegs into square holes and turn the Steelers into a Tampa Two defence.

The Steelers defence has thrived because of it. There's been no adjustment period for the players. There's been no getting used to a new coach or new schemes or new roles and responsibilities. There's been no need to change the players the Steelers look for in the draft. The Steelers have just kept on doing what they've done very well under LeBeau. Tomlin didn't mess with a good thing. I give him full marks for being smart enough to recognize this.

Which brings me back to Brad Childress. It's clear to most of us now that the man inherited a bad offensive team in 2006. Changes needed to be made – mostly in the personnel the Vikings had but also in the kind of offence the team ran.

But as the talent on the offensive side of the ball gradually improves and yet the unit still often resembles a train wreck, I wonder if Childress is trying to pound square pegs into round holes. Is he running the wrong kind of offence with the talent he has just because it's the only system he knows? And is he capable of recognizing what works and what doesn't work and adjusting and changing even if it doesn't jibe with his offensive world view?

Mike Tomlin had no problem trying something different on defence. His team has prospered as a result.

Vikings fans are still waiting for Childress to try something different. And they're still waiting for his kick ass offence to prosper.

Ramble on

After a week to cool off from the loss to the Eagles, I bring you a few rambling thoughts about the purple.

Bernard Berrian
When Brad Childress and his coaching staff dissect the 2008 season, they'll need to ask themselves how they can make better use of Bernard Berrian next season. (Note to Chilly: Having him return punts isn’t one of those ways).

Berrian had 11 games (including the playoff loss) with a catch of 20 yards or more. During one stretch this season he had seven straight games with a catch of 20 yards or more. That's pretty good. But he only caught 48 passes.

Having Gus Frerotte and Tarvaris Jackson throwing to him had something to do with that. But Berrian caught 71 passes last year in Chicago with Rex Grossman, Brian Griese and Kyle Orton throwing to him and no real running game to divert attention away from the Bear passing game. So I think it's reasonable to blame the coaching staff just as much as Jackson and Frerotte for the failure to utilize Berrian more.

Berrian’s more than just a guy who can run deep post patterns. If the Vikings had got the ball into his hands on pass plays 20 more times this year, what would that have meant to the offence?

There’s a good chance it would have meant more first downs and more big plays. The Vikings offence needs more of Bernard Berrian in 2009.

The coordinators
Besides Leslie Frazier, who is probably going to be a head coach somewhere very soon, Childress says he expects the rest of the Vikings coaching staff will be back if they want to come back in 2009. But how about this?

I’ll be more than okay if special teams coordinator Paul Ferraro leaves. The Vikings special teams were bad at just about everything that didn’t involve Ryan Longwell kicking a field goal last season (check out this post by The Ragnarok on the Vikings return game failures). A coaching change here might be for the best.

And how about offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell? He hasn't done much to distinguish himself in his three seasons on the job.

I guess there has been some progress. The Vikings have gone from 26th in the NFL in points scored in 2006 to 15th in 2007 to 12th this season. And 2008 was the first season in the Childress/Bevell era where Vikings quarterbacks had more touchdown passes than interceptions.

But is Bevell responsible for that improvement or is it the addition of Adrian Peterson and Bernard Berrian that’s led to it? I’m thinking more the latter.

When I watch the Vikings on offence, too often I'm fantasizing about how it might function if Josh McDaniels (Denver’s new head coach) or Mike Mularkey or even Mike Martz was the OC. Bevell seems too unimaginative and too much of a Childress yes-man to ever be a great offensive mind. The Vikings could do better here.

Chester Taylor
While Taylor is under contract until the end of next season, his situation is worth monitoring. Taylor signed with Minnesota in 2006 to be THE guy running the ball. That lasted one year and then Adrian Peterson came along.

This season he had his fewest carries since 2003. He did have an important role with the team as a third down back and the guy we dumped the ball off to on third-and-15, but I doubt it’s the role he had in mind when he signed with the Vikings.

Taylor’s very important to the Vikings. But he turns 30 next September. Considering running backs have short shelf lives, I can’t see Taylor wanting to spend one of his few remaining prime years as the Vikings third-down back. Taylor's been a good soldier through all of this. But don't be surprised if there are some rumblings this offseason that he wants to play somewhere else.

The offensive line
When you watch a Vikings game on TV or listen to an expert talk about the Vikes, the offensive line usually gets mentioned as a team strength. But that line is probably going to get a major shake up during the offseason. Matt Birk is almost certainly gone and the Vikings might (and really should) be looking for a new right tackle.

We should embrace change here. Forget this unit's reputation – the current starting five has often struggled to open the slimmest of holes for Peterson. It also gave up 43 sacks this season. Only six teams gave up more.

No doubt Gus Frerotte was responsible for some of that. He’s slow and sometimes holds onto the ball too long. But some of the NFL’s best team’s at protecting the quarterback also had some slow starting QBs – Tennessee ( Kerry Collins; 12 sacks given up), Indianapolis (Peyton Manning; 14 sacks given up) and Atlanta (Matt Ryan; 17 sacks given up) come to mind. Apparently, having an immobile quarterback doesn’t mean you have to accept you will give up a lot of sacks.

The Vikings offensive line struggles in protecting the quarterback stem from two problems, I think. One – the offence often doesn't do a good job picking up positive yardage of first down and ends up facing obvious passing downs thereafter. The second problem is that this O-line doesn't pick up blitzes very well.

But problem #2 is a direct result of problem #1. Because the Vikings have so often found themselves in second-and-long and third-and-long situations during the Childress years, they are forced to pass. And because they are forced to pass, opponents know it and blitz the hell out of them.

Better play from the quarterbacks and wide receivers would obviously help the Vikings succeed more on first down. So would better offensive line play. Replacing Birk and Ryan Cook and Artis Hicks with better players would be movement in the right direction. The Vikings should pursue upgrades to these positions with zest.

The Cardinals
Last year the Vikings embarrassed the New York Giants by surprisingly trouncing them at home. The Giants made the playoffs but many expected them to be a one-and done team. Of course, they went on to win three straight road playoff games and won the Super Bowl.

This season the Vikings embarrassed the Arizona Cardinals by surprisingly trouncing them at home. The Cardinals made the playoffs but just about every football expert expected them to be a one-and-done team. There was also a consensus that they didn't even deserve to be playing that one game.

The Cardinals have now won two playoff games and if they beat the Eagles next Sunday (doubtful but can we doubt anything in these playoffs? It seems anything is possible) they will have a shot to pull off a Giants-like feat – the only difference being the Cardinals played two home games instead of three road games.

It's a silly coincidence. But one I couldn't resist mentioning.

The blog
I'm excited to watch some good football over the next three weeks but with the Vikings eliminated from Super Bowl contention I'm less excited to write about it.

So I don't know what that means for this blog over the next month or so. I'll still be posting, just not as frequently as I have been during the regular season.

I also could change my mind about that. In case I do, keep stopping by.

Concerns down the road

Here's a list of the Vikings free agents.

Here's a list of the Vikings with one year left on their contracts heading into the 2009 season.

Now take a look at the second list again. Notice anything interesting about it?

If you answered “there’s four Vikings 2006 draft picks on it”, you win the prize.

(There is no prize, by the way, I just liked writing that line.)

I find this interesting because I’ve often read how good the Vikings 2006 draft was. After all, they did get five starters out of it.

But here's the problem with those five starters, who happen to be Chad Greenway, Cedric Griffin, Ryan Cook, Tarvaris Jackson and Ray Edwards. Four of them – Griffin, Cook, Jackson and Edwards – were not signed to contract extensions during the 2008 season.

And that should raise lots of alarm bells for Vikings fans about this draft and the future prospects of this team.

That's because the Vikes have been very proactive in recent seasons in signing players they thought might be either franchise cornerstones or above average starters to extensions.

Remember 2006? The team signed Kevin Williams, E.J. Henderson and Bryant McKinnie to extensions in-season, well before they were due to hit free agency. In 2007, the Vikings did the same thing, locking up Pat Williams, Anthony Herrera and even Chris Kluwe.

But in 2008 – nothing.

Could it be that the future of most of the Fantastic Five from the 2006 draft might not be so bright in Minnesota? Greenway is certainly a keeper. But as a first-round pick, his contract doesn’t run out in ’09, which is probably why it wasn’t extended this season. But expect it to be extended sometime in mid-season 2009, if not sooner.

What plans the Vikings have for the others isn’t as clear.

Edwards has been a solid but frequently unspectacular starter the past two seasons. Yet if the Vikings management was really sold on him, I suspect he would have been approached about an extension before he entered a contract year. It didn’t happen and the Vikings don’t seem too worried about it, either.

Griffin played much better from the Arizona game onward but also went two full years without an interception. He’s still a question mark.

Speaking of question marks, how about Cook, who lost his job to Artis Hicks, then got it back only when Hicks was too hurt to play. He was last seen committing two false starts on the Vikings bumbling, hopeless final drive in the playoff loss to Philly.

As for Jackson, well you saw the Eagles game, didn’t you?

So three seasons in, the great draft of 2006 is turning out to be not so great. And couple that with a 2007 draft that outside of Adrian Peterson isn’t looking as promising as it did 12 months ago (Sidney Rice, Marcus McCauley and Aundrae Allison all regressed in 2008, while Brian Robison treaded water), there are depth concerns for the Vikings as they head into 2009 and beyond.

Now the Vikes do have a lot of talent and much of that talent is still young and in its prime. Peterson is 23. Greenway is about to turn 26. Kevin Williams, Henderson and Bernard Berrian are all 28.

But you need more than superstars to be a successful team in the NFL. You need the foot soldiers, too. You need guys who aren’t stars but are above average starters or emerging players biding their time as reserves. This is where you get the depth to survive those injuries that inevitably sideline a star or two each season. This is also how you replace stars in-house when they pass their best before date. Unfortunately, these are the kind of players the Vikings haven’t been able to draft or develop over the years. They often hit home runs and triples with their first round picks (except, sadly, in 2005) but pop up to the catcher on their choices in the second round and beyond.

For a while, it looked like the drafts of 2006 and 2007 were going to reverse that trend and provide the Vikings roster with some solid depth. Now that promise is fading.

So expect owner Zygi Wilf to continue to have to write big checks to other team’s free agents if he wants to keep the Vikings in the NFC's upper echelon. He won't be able to keep the Vikings there by signing his own young players.

Already looking towards 2009

A couple of interesting stories to pass your way.

If you're already thinking about what the Vikings might do to upgrade the roster for '09, Vikings beat writer Sean Jensen lays out some scenarios.

And Gus Frerotte, who I thought was looking less than pleased the few times Fox cameras showed him on the sideline Sunday, evidently wasn't pleased at all by how things went down towards the end of the season.

There's also a few nice shots fired Tarvaris Jackson's and Brad Childress's way by some unnamed Vikings if you follow the link provided by the Star-Trib's Judd Zulgad in this post.

Don't expect Frerotte back next season, which means Childress will definitely be looking to bring in another veteran quarterback to backup/supplant Jackson.

He needs (note italics for emphasis) to make the right choice this time. But remember, this is the man who has brought in Mike McMahon, Brooks Bollinger, Kelly Holcomb and Frerotte the past three seasons.

You're right – the Vikings are fucked.

Quarterback envy

There were several factors that contributed to the 26-14 playoff loss the Vikings absorbed Sunday at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles. But you saw the game, so let’s not rehash all of that right now.

Instead, let’s look to 2009 and identify the number one issue for the Minnesota Vikings, which has really been their number one issue since 2006.

What does the team do at quarterback?

It would be unfair to write that Tarvaris Jackson is not a better quarterback now than the one we saw go 0-2 in his first two starts of 2008. But has he improved enough and, more importantly, can he continue to improve to the point where he’s playing at a level that allows him to take this team deep into the playoffs?

Based on what Vikings fans saw today against a very, very, very good Philadelphia defence and on a sober analysis of the strengths and weaknesses Jackson’s showed during his three seasons in the league, the answer to that question should be no.

Minnesota is a playoff team. It’s got an excellent defence and it’s got some very good pieces on the offensive side of the ball (you know who they are) that could make this a dominant team. What it doesn’t have is a good quarterback. And until it gets one it will continue to stumble in games like this one.

But what the Vikings do this offseason at quarterback depends on two things.

1. Who will be available?
2. What does Brad Childress think?

First, a few words about question number one.

We have to understand that franchise quarterbacks are hard to acquire. No one just gives them away.

When Andy Reid benched Donovan McNabb in Baltimore over a month ago, it seemed like his days in Philly were numbered and the Vikings looked like a logical landing spot. But with every Eagles win and every solid performance by McNabb in those wins, the chance of that happening seems more remote every day – especially if Reid remains as the head coach in Philly.

So if McNabb isn’t on the trading block for a reasonable price (which I’d say would be a first or second round draft pick in ’09), what other good-to-very good QBs might be available in a trade?

I can’t think of any.

And don’t look to free agency or the draft for a quick fix at quarterback. The top-rated college QBs will be gone by the time the Vikings pick in the first round. And no one is sure who will be available when free agency kicks off – although the top options right now would be Kurt Warner (who’s probably staying in Arizona), Jeff Garcia (who’s possibly staying in Tampa) and Rex Grossman (who’s really not an upgrade anyway, right?).

Now onto what Childress might think about his quarterback situation.

Let’s assume for the moment, he’s back as the Vikings head coach next season. If he is, remember this is the guy who drafted Jackson with the intent of molding him from a piece of clay (his words) into a starting quarterback. He’s got some personal capital invested in seeing Jackson succeed.

With that in mind, it’s not hard to predict Childress looking at Jackson’s improved play and numbers over the past five weeks and saying to himself, “You know, Tarvaris just had a bad half against a great Philly defence. He’s our guy. We don’t need to change a thing around here.”

So while I expect many Vikings fans will think the team needs to do something bold at the quarterback position – like what management did to address the lack of a pass rushing defensive end last season – Childress’s personal stake in Jackson and the lack of other options available at quarterback may make it tough to pull off.

But I think the Vikings still have to try. Who knows, maybe Brett Favre will be available?

Week 18's two-minute drill

Vikes-Eagles
I admit I’m a little hurt by the football cognoscenti’s (I’m big on using important sounding Italian words this week) almost universal view that the Philadelphia Eagles will pummel the Vikings this weekend. Has there ever been a playoff game between a 10-6 team and a 9-6-1 team that has been billed as such a mismatch? I’m sure there has. But, geez, the Vikes aren’t getting much respect.

Mike Tanier’s take on the game is just one example of the bird-love happening right now. Tanier’s an Eagles fan, so maybe we should expect this from him, but he’s also a damn fine football writer and often a sober voice of reason. Yet even he seems to have talked himself into believing the Eagles are a juggernaut.

God knows the Vikings have their faults. But so does Philly. They’re a so-so road team. They haven’t played well in close games. And Donovan McNabb has struggled playing on the road of late (1-3 record in his last four road games; two TD passes and five interceptions). Throw in the fact the Vikings haven’t beaten the Eagles since 1997 and McNabb is 4-0 during his career against Minnesota and the Vikes just seem due for a win over the Eagles, don’t they?

The skinny: Vikings 24 Eagles 20

P.S. – this prediction is based on going with what my heart is saying rather than on what my head is saying.

The Tarvaris Jackson Experience
So Tarvaris Jackson starts his first playoff game and naturally there is some question about how he will handle the “pressure” of the playoffs.

I’d prefer the Vikings had a more experienced, playoff savvy guy starting this game. But I also think this “how will Jackson handle playoff-pressure?” story angle is a load of bunk.

I’m sure Jackson’s going to be very nervous before Sunday’s game. But I bet he’s very nervous before every game. Might he be extra nervous for this one? Yes. Do I expect it to negatively affect his performance on the field more than usual? No.

Tarvaris Jackson may play horribly Sunday. Some would say there is a very good chance Tarvaris Jackson will play horribly Sunday. But if he does, it will because Jackson’s not a very good quarterback, because Adrian Peterson couldn’t find any running room, because the Vikings couldn’t protect Jackson against the Eagles pass rush and because Jackson threw poorly as a result. He won’t play horribly because the butterflies in his stomach made him do it.

Injuries
Today we learned Pat Williams probably won’t play against the Eagles and Ray Edwards definitely won’t play.

We know the Vikings don’t have anyone who can replace Big Pat. But the loss of Edwards hurts, too. The Vikings don’t lose much pass rush with substitute Brian Robison. But Robison doesn’t hold up very well against the run and the Eagles may be able to exploit that with Brian Westbrook running wide to the left side that Robison will be manning.

If Westbrook is able to run wild, this game may be the blowout some are expecting.

The Metrodome – part one
The Vikings are having trouble selling out their first home playoff game since 2000. The usual suspects are being dredged up as reasons why – the economy, old-fashioned Viking fan skepticism and high ticket prices.

But Star-Tribune blogger Michael Rand thinks the Metrodome might be the biggest culprit.

I don’t live in Minnesota, so help me out here. Is the Metrodome really such a dump that it could dissuade fans from buying tickets to a big playoff game? I understand the traffic is brutal after games but what else makes the Metrodome an unappealing place to watch football? Is it poor sightlines? Poor acoustics? Bad lighting? Flat beer and soggy hotdogs?

The Metrodome – part two
Does it seem coincidental that with the Vikings struggling to sell out a home playoff game, here comes Zygi Wilf, flogging the stadium issue again?

I’ve never set foot in the great state of Minnesota, but as a citizen of the world, I’m annoyed when a profitable sports business – and the Minnesota Vikings are a business – looks for public funding to help build a facility that will be used, at the most, 10-12 times a year.

Whatever Minnesotans think of the Metrodome (which probably isn’t much), in North American we need more of these multi-use sports facilities, not less. They were once in vogue. Now they’re not and every sports owner wants to blow them up and build single-use sports palaces instead. What a waste of money and resources.

I was once optimistic the Vikings stadium issue would get resolved somehow before the Vikings Metrodome lease expired in 2011. Now, I’m a lot less optimistic. But I also think for the next three seasons, I’m not going to sweat it much. I’ll just try to enjoy the Vikings in Minnesota for however long it lasts.

Not that anybody asked, but...

On today’s major league baseball coaching staff’s, it’s common for the manager to have a bench coach.

The bench coach serves as a sort of consigliere. He’s usually someone with managerial experience in the big leagues and someone whose baseball IQ the manager trusts. The bench coach consults with the manager on strategy and personnel moves during the game, like when’s the right time to pinch hit for a starting pitcher who’s running out of gas. Or when to execute a double switch. The bench coach is like a second manager for a baseball team.

I was wondering last night if this bench coach business could work in football, particularly with a team like the Vikings. Rare is the Vikings game where fans/broadcasters/football writers aren’t seriously questioning some in-game decision made by head coach Brad Childress.

Now second-guessing from fans and the media is the norm with any coach. But it seems to happen more often with Childress. And because it appears that Childress – and how do I put this diplomatically? – struggles making the correct decision during the heat of battle, I think Chilly would benefit greatly from having a bench coach on his staff; someone who has been through the NFL wars as a head coach and could be a sober voice that Childress could consult when a critical in-game decision comes up. Understand that I'm not talking about an assistant head coach, who usually is in charge of a specific unit of the team, but a coach whose job is to work on strategy and in-game decisions and that's all.

Take the fourth-and-one situation the Vikings faced last Sunday late in the first-half with the ball on the Giants 39-yard line. Here’s how the conversation between Childress and his bench coach might have gone down.

Childress: Darn! Chester just got stuffed on the run up the middle for no gain. How did the Giants sniff that one out? It’s like Spagnuolo can read my mind!

Well, we gotta go for it here. We need that field goal from Longwell. Gotta go for the throat and take a 13-6 lead into half-time.

Bench coach: Ahhh, Brad. It’s a long fourth-and-one, probably more like a fourth-and-a-yard-and-a-half. Outside the 67-yard run, Peterson’s got minus-15 yards on his other carries. And we’ve only completed seven passes for about 20 yards. I think we should punt.

Childress: But Bevell and I have cooked up this great play call – a quarterback draw. Tarvaris ran for 76 yards last week. The play is money.

Bench coach: But Brad, Spagnuolo is going to have, like, 10 guys on the line of scrimmage because he knows we won’t pass. If we don’t get it, and I’m pretty sure we won’t, we’re giving the Giants the ball at their 40-yard line with timeouts left. A couple of completions and they're in field goal range. They also get the opening kick-off to start the second half. We need to punt.

Childress: Hmmmmm.

(Childress proceeds to change his mind and punt the ball)


See how easy sound football decision-making could be?

Now there are some problems with the bench coach concept in football. The big one is that there’s time constraints in football that aren’t there in baseball. Things happen faster. You don’t have two or three innings to figure out what you’re going to do if a), b), c) or even d) happens. You have 20 or 30 seconds (and sometimes not even that much) to make a call.

However, I think the head coach/bench coach dynamic would be okay. Coaches would adapt to the faster pace of the game to debate and make their decisions quicker. You can also do mock scenarios during the week and try to anticipate down and distance situations and what you will do if you are faced with them.

The other problem with bringing in an experienced football guy as a bench coach is that he could be viewed as a threat to the head coach’s authority and job security.

And I guess that could be an issue. But if your head coach is a confident guy, which you’d expect any NFL coach to be, I don’t think he's going to be threatened by bringing in an ex-head coach.

Anyway, there's some things that would have to be worked out for the bench coach concept to work. But I think it could work. And Childress could use the help.

This bit was going to be part of a week 18 two-minute drill post. But it’s January 1 and I want to watch some college football. So I’ll be back tomorrow with some thoughts about the Vikings/Eagles game.

Until then, Happy New Year.