I simply cannot understand the first thing about Brad Childress and his coaching decisions. From ProFootballTalk:
On Monday, former NFL quarterback Jeff George made it known that he’d like to play for the Vikings. On Wednesday, coach Brad Childress responded.
“Probably maybe go to a fantasy camp or something like that,” Childress said.
Asked whether George is on the downside of his playing career, Childress said, “Downside would probably be — I think — kind.”
Ouch. We didn’t know an NFL coach could be so snarky….
George is 38. Vinny Testaverde is 43. George has far less wear and tear than most other quarterbacks his age, because he really hasn’t played all that much. And he likely still has a rocket of an arm.
But even bringing George in for a look-see would be a tacit admission by Childress that his current quarterbacks suck. The fact that Childress is the only one who apparently can’t see this means that, in due time, it will be kind to say that Childress is on the downside of his coaching career.
What is wrong with the guy? His quarterbacks haven’t even been mediocre, they have sucked prodigiously by every single measure of quarterbacking performance known to Man! Entire quarters go by without a completed pass! The wide receivers are possibly the worst in the NFL and he didn’t even attempt to bring in any of the premier free agents or WRs available for trade – Randy Moss was never coming back but we surely could use Wes Welker or even Chris Chambers right about now.
I’ve never hated a Vikings coach. Tice was an buffoon, but we knew that when he started. Green was gutless when it counted, but he was all right. Les Steckel was in over his head, but at least he tried hard. Childress appears to want to make the fans hate him; I’m not quite there yet but I can understand why many Vikings fans already are.
On a related note, here’s a nice article at the Star Tribune using Childress as an example of why promoting lifelong administrators to executive positions is doomed to failure.