MVN - Most Valuable Network

Brad Childress Might Not be a Robot, After All

The ‘Stache has given us plenty of laughs since becoming the head coach of the Vikings in 2006. His Belichick-esque handling of injury reports has been good for a few chuckles throughout the past two seasons, and it’s been pointed out that he always looks like he needs a blood transfusion.

His playcalling, at times, has been so bad you can’t help but laugh, and his press conferences have always put a smile on my face (by the end of a Brad Childress press conference, members of the media have likely either pulled out every single strand of hair on their head, or they’re seriously questioning their chosen career path). Indeed, few NFL coaches are more skilled at providing the public with absolutely no meaningful information than Brad Childress is.

However, are we starting to see a ‘New Chilly?’ Someone who isn’t so secretive and actually seems…well, human? According to Jim Souhan, that’s exactly what is occurring:

Most high-profile coaches arrive eager and depart embittered. Childress seems to be moving in the opposite direction. He alienated just about everyone in Minnesota in his first year on the job; in his second season, even as much of the fan base seemed to turn on him, he became more human, more like the guy known to be popular in Philadelphia and among his peers.

“I think if you don’t ever step back and self-assess, whether it’s with your team or yourself, you’re being delusional,” Childress said. “I think you have to go through how you relate with players, coaches, administrators, the media. It’s conscious, but at the same time, it’s not uncomfortable.

“It’s not like I have any illusions about doing five minutes on Johnny Carson. But these guys — the players — would tell you there’s a different side that they see.”

My list of complaints with Childress is quite extensive, and I’m sure the same is true for many other Vikings fans. Especially during the early parts of last season, he was routinely being torn to shreds on newspapers, blogs, message boards and radio call-in shows. However, it’s clear that Chilly is not stupid, he realizes what he needs to improve, and his emphasis on changing his persona sets him apart from other NFL coaches.

Based on Souhan’s article, I’ve gotta conclude that Chilly’s on the verge of finally getting things right — finally striking a balance between maintaining a strong sense authority in the locker room, yet also letting his more personable side reveal itself.

And, in the vast majority of cases, I’m a believer that coaches will have a difficult time succeeding unless they can find this balance. So-called “player’s coaches” make me cringe (see: Tice, Mike), but I’m not wild about coaches who are strict disciplinarians, either. Sure, some of these hard-nosed coaches have been extremely successful (Bobby Knight, Bill Parcells), but this style of coaching only resonates with a certain type of locker room.

Here’s hoping that Chilly can continue to mix these two coaching styles, as he attempts to maintain the so-called “Culture of Accountability” while answering criticisms that he needs to become more forthcoming and outgoing. I may dislike many of the decisions he made last season, but I’m still rooting for him to succeed.

*Damn you, Pete Prisco! Our squad’s streak of positive media coverage came to an end with Prisco’s power rankings, as he slotted the Vikings as the 24th-best team in the league. He placed Chicago ahead of the Vikings, so that should tell you all you need to know about Prisco’s credibility as a football analyst.

At the end of last season, Prisco placed the Vikings in the 16th spot — so, apparently, the acquisitions of Jared Allen, Bernard Berrian and Madieu Williams actually made this team worse.

I’ve searched long and hard for an analyst who’s more clueless than Sean “Let Me Show You Pictures Of My Privates” Salisbury, and at long last, I think we’ve found the biggest bumbling NFL voice in the mainstream media. Congrats, Prisco.

*Interesting league news: John Clayton reports that Roger Goodell is exploring the possibility of adding an additional regular season game to the schedule and trimming the preseason to just three games. I’m sure Vikings season ticket holders would be pleased if the preseason was shortened, as they’re currently required to pay full price for preseason tickets (they come packaged with regular season tickets).

If, sometime down the road, a 17th regular season game was indeed added, it’d be intriguing to see how the league would handle the potential issue of teams playing unequal amounts of home and road games. My idea: Each season, teams would play a game in a neutral NFL city…for instance, the Vikings and Cowboys might square off at Qwest Field in Seattle, while the Chargers and Redskins might do battle at the Metrodome.

Regardless of the logistics, here’s the bottom line: More regular season football = good.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 9:19 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.