Star-Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse thinks that Vikings coach Brad Childress is being blamed for success:
Legions of Vikings loyalists gave all credit for this tremendous season to Favre, and ignored the four seasons of roster adjustment that had taken place with Childress.
Last week, Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports carried the water for an unnamed, disgruntled Viking, including a pair of quotes that were alleged to shine light on the Favre-Childress relationship:
“Brett thinks Childress has no clue about offense,” and “Brett just doesn’t trust him.”
The second quote was part of the anonymous Viking convincing Cole to offer this observation: “Childress’ presence, not Favre’s ankle injury, was one of the biggest reasons Favre was hesitating . . . after Childress visited Favre on July 19, Favre’s desire to return declined.”
Surely, this was sweet music to those vocal Childress critics among the Purple Faithful . . . a group that would insist even after a Vikings Super Bowl victory that it came in spite of the coach.
Childress isn’t the sort of coach who inspires delirious displays of loyalty by either players or fans: he’s not a mediagenic personality, but you (generally) don’t hire a coach because he looks good on TV. Coaches are hired to get the best possible results from their players. Some of the best coaches in NFL history have been less-than-cuddly to both players and reporters . . . others appeared to spend as much time on camera as they did on the practice field with their teams.
On the only chart that matters: the team’s record, Chilly has done pretty well (6-10, 8-8, 10-6, 12-4). Getting to the NFC Championship game is very good . . . losing in overtime to the eventual Super Bowl champions shows that the team had what it took, except luck.
