What Grant's Tomb was reading – Jan. 8, 2012

A look at a few stories that interested me over the weekend.

* The Vikings are busy interviewing candidates for the defensive coordinator job even though they haven't fired Fred Pagac yet. I've made my feelings known on this subject already. Former St. Louis Rams head coach and New York Giants coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo, should be the Vikings top choice. He will operate a different system than the Tampa 2 defence, but wouldn't move away from the 4-3 alignment head coach Leslie Frazier prefers. I'm shocked to hear that Vikings linebacker coach Mike Singletary is reportedly going to get an interview as well. What has he done to deserve the interview other than being Frazier's good buddy? He was responsible for a unit that was not very good this season and its best player – Chad Greenway – had a horrible year. Couple that with the stuff ESPN 1500's Tom Pelissero dregged up about Singletary's performance (go to about the 8:20 mark of this video) and I'll go apeshit if this dolt gets the job over Spagnuolo.

* Speaking of dolts, the NFL Network's Jason La Canfora tweeted former Vikings head coach Brad Childress will be interviewed by the Tampa Bay Bucs and could end up as their offensive coordinator under new coach Mike Sherman. There is no need to rehash Chilly's coaching history here, but I'll do it anyway. As offensive coordinator with Philly he never called the plays but was given credit for developing Donovan McNabb into a Pro Bowl player. But as head coach of the Vikes, Chilly was the overlord of the offence and often did call the plays. During that time the Vikes offence ranked 26th, 15th, 12th and 29th in points scored (they ranked second during the 2009 dream season.) He also failed miserably in developing Tarvaris Jackson. Tampa Bay would be wise to look elsewhere for its new OC.

* ESPN's Kevin Seifert gives us a post-mortem on the Detroit Lions playoff loss against New Orleans Saturday night. I watched this game and even though the Lions lost, that offence looks terrifying, even without a great running game. Brandon Pettigrew is big and has nice hands. Titus Young looks like an emerging deep threat. Nate Burleson is a solid veteran who can't be ignored. Matt Stafford can throw darts and do it with accuracy. And Calvin Johnson is the wide receiver Randy Moss would have been if Ole' 84 had been 35 pounds heavier and wasn't such a pussy. Johnson looks unstoppable. Twelve catches for 211 yards and two TDs in this game? That is three of his last four games where Johnson has had at least nine catches for over 200 yards. Nobody has an answer for this guy right now. And they won't next year or the year after that. It's not just the Green Bay Packers the Vikings have to leapfrog in the NFC North.

Update

* Speculation about the 2012 college draft will dominate talk among Vikings fans this offseason, so here is a look at one mock draft done at the Vikings Territory blog. It's pretty well done, and doesn't predict the Vikings getting USC left tackle Matt Kalil. Instead, they trade down with Washington, acquiring additional selections and select LSU cornerback Morris Clairborne. Personally, I think St. Louis takes Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon, giving the Vikings the chance to draft Kalil. But drafts very rarely go the way we expect them to. The linked mock draft also hinges on what decision this college quarterback makes this week.