Different coach, same results?

I didn’t get a chance to post an analysis on the Brad Childress firing Monday.

By now, everybody’s had a say in this, so there is not much point in writing much about it.

But what about Leslie Frazier?

I think it’s good that he gets a six-week trial run here in 2010. I’m also quite skeptical about Frazier’s ability to be a successful head coach in the NFL. So better to find this out now, rather than next year and go through another lost season.

While I'm a Frazier skeptic at this point, here is what I like about the guy:

1. Calm demeanor.
2. A former player, so he will earn some respect among the players.
3. He isn’t Brad Childress.

What I don’t like about Frazier is the statistical performance of the team’s he’s been defensive coordinator for.

In 2003-2004, he was defensive coordinator for the Bengals. According to Football Outsiders stats (and I realize FO isn’t gospel, but …) the Bengals had the 31st ranked defence in 2003 and ranked 11th in 2004.

And since 2007, he’s been the defensive coordinator of the Vikings. Again, according to Football Outsiders' stats, the Vikings have had the following defensive rankings:

2007: 17th
2008: 4th
2009: 17th
2010: 22nd

For a team that has players like Antoine Winfield, Kevin Williams, Jared Allen, Chad Greenway, E.J. Henderson, Pat Williams, and Ray Edwards, those aren’t impressive overall rankings.

And after watching Frazier’s units the past four seasons, he seems to run a pretty simple and conservative system. He depends on the front four to get pressure. He doesn’t like to blitz, and the blitzes aren’t very creative when they do happen.

Frazier is a guy who believes in his system. He doesn’t use a lot of trickery, or exotic looks to confuse opponents. I guess he figures if you’re trying to do too many things, you’ll master none of them. So he sticks to his Cover Two scheme, looks for Jared Allen to put some heat on opposing quarterbacks and he expects the rest of his players to tackle well. That philosophy hasn’t worked very well this year.

Leslie Frazier has six games to make me a believer that he can be the kind of head coach that can lead the Vikings to the Super Bowl. At least it gives me a reason to watch the final six games.