Thread: Wilf stands strong behind Childress

[size=13pt]Sid Hartman: Wilf stands strong behind Childress[/size]

The Vikings owner says he's confident that the coach and the team are taking the right steps for the future. "We will find a way to win," he said.

By Sid Hartman, Star Tribune
Last update: December 24, 2006 – 7:11 PM

finally a article that isnt tearing down childress! heres to a winning 2007-08 season with childress!!!

(oh yea, merry xmas!)

When the PRE-season started, I liked the "Team" atmosphere that BC was building, but my confidence was shaken when he started acting like a shaken lunatic by signing a player one day, cutting him the next, and chasing players that I didn't think were considerably better than what he already had in place.

He spent months creating a "Team" atmosphere and then he cut a chunk of those players & brought in others that missed all that "Team" building.
Now how much of that lead to this years results is pure speculation . . . but I didn't like it.

The article talks about players being more important that the system . . . and that is my whole problem with BC . . . he didn't seem to change things around his talent . . . he forced the system on them.

I hope this a just a bad year and we don't have another 3 or 4 years of mediocre play . . . like the Tice years . . . but I'm not sure anymore.

I think many of us are judging Childress prematurely. First of all, it's hard to judge any coach in his first year. Second of all, it's even HARDER to judge a first year coach in his first year.

I think sitting at 6-9 Brad knows he has to re-evaluate some things, and I think he probably will. Having a staff consisting of guys with no experience at their current positions has hurt a lot this year.

I think we have talented coaches who KNOW what to do but are too immature in a coaching sense to implement it. I think after they look back at this season and spend another offseason implementing their plan they will grow a bit more.

I support Childress because I think he has us on the right track, but he MUST fix the mistakes he's made this year if we want to get better next year. I'm hoping that comes with experience.

I think it is a big red flag if the coach is bringing in staff to fill positions if they are not ready to fill them on day 1. This is the NFL not D-III.

I for one thought that he was on the right track at first, but by game 4 it was obvious that while the other first year coaches were starting to have their teams come together and execute, the vikings were staying flat and maybe even regressing. When others said that the team would come together soon, I knew that if they didn't have it together by then, it was probably not going to happen.

Like Tice or not, when something on the team sucked, he said it sucked. He didn't say that it would be kickass if the players did their job. I don't think he has a grasp on talent evaluation as witnessed by the amount of players he brings in and then cuts and my guess is that he has probably lost a good chunk of the locker room. And when you lose the locker room, it is going to be darn hard to win it back.

"UffDaVikes" wrote:

I think it is a big red flag if the coach is bringing in staff to fill positions if they are not ready to fill them on day 1. This is the NFL not D-III.

I for one thought that he was on the right track at first, but by game 4 it was obvious that while the other first year coaches were starting to have their teams come together and execute, the vikings were staying flat and maybe even regressing. When others said that the team would come together soon, I knew that if they didn't have it together by then, it was probably not going to happen.

Like Tice or not, when something on the team sucked, he said it sucked. He didn't say that it would be kickass if the players did their job. I don't think he has a grasp on talent evaluation as witnessed by the amount of players he brings in and then cuts and my guess is that he has probably lost a good chunk of the locker room. And when you lose the locker room, it is going to be darn hard to win it back.

I don't necessarily think that you can say he doesn't have a good grasp of who is talented and who isn't. So far all of his signings have done pretty well, and most of them much better than we initially thought. Leber, Hutchinson, Taylor, Smith...they've at the VERY LEAST been solid, if not huge contributors. It's a little early to evaluate his draft, but Ray Edwards had the most consistent season of any of our DEs, Cedric Griffin played well enough to start by the end of the year, Cook had a pretty good season for a rookie (false starts not withstanding), Tarvaris looked great in preseason and is supposedly "the future" and we never even got to see Greenway. I'd say if 4/7 or 5/7 picks pan out to be starters or solid role players that is a pretty good percentage.

I think his talent evaluation has been pretty good thus far.

I was hoping for a 9-7 record before the season began but will settle for 7-9 or (gulp) even 6-10. If nothing else, Childress has brought consistency to the team. The only team to blow us out was the Patriots. His philosophy has the team in the game till the last minute. Most of our losses can be attributed to poor execution on offense. 66% of turnovers from the QB position?! I mean come on! Additionally the offensive line was average at best.

If Chilli addresses the following next season I will be happy no matter what the record is:
1. Adjust the fucking playbook to suit Tarvaris. Like Deion Snaders said, "Man, just do what you do". Tarvaris was shackled by the playcalling against the Pack.

2. Utilize the talent you have. Mewelde Moore is no Reggie Bush but he IS a playmaker. He proves that EVERY SINGLE WEEK with the limited playtime. It is such a shame to see us giving reps to Pinner and Fason when MeMo has such big-play ability. We are going to regret the day Moore signs with another team when his contract expires.

3. Get a #1 WR from free agency. We cannot afford to wait for another #1 draft pick to develop. Tarvaris needs somone who can run routes AND catch balls. Koren's suspension this year hurt the team (and Childress) more than we ever imagined. Marcus Robinson gave us that, but in bursts as he struggled to stay on the field.

4. Have a better draft. None of the draftees other than Cedric Griffin had any impact on the season.

Good to see that our owner is backing the HC.. I am not
a 100% Brad Childress backer, but I believe that he needs more then 1 year to prove himself.. He is doing what he believes is the best for the team, and we can't fault him for that.. He has already stated that he may do a change in the playcalling, so that is a step in the right direction..

We will wait it out for next season.. We will see what kind of draft we will have without that putz Fran Foley, and we will see how agressive the Vikes are in FA.. Put that tpgether with the mini camps, and training camps, and see what we have.. If he puts a winning team on the field, we can say that he needed time to adjust.. If he puts a losing team on the field, it will be time to say goodbye to him..

I'd like to see how our draft would go w/o Foley. The problem is we got another PROVEN schmuck in Rick Speilman. This guy totally screwed the Dolphins drafts, now he is in our TOA! I'm a hopin he just empties the ashtrays on draft day.

"HornedHat" wrote:

I'd like to see how our draft would go w/o Foley. The problem is we got another PROVEN schmuck in Rick Speilman. This guy totally screwed the Dolphins drafts, now he is in our TOA! I'm a hopin he just empties the ashtrays on draft day.

I don't think the personnel decisions have been awful so far under Childress, in fact I think most of them are pretty good, but I shuddered when I heard we hired Spielman. The man worked for the Bears (when they sucked), the Lions (when they sucked and had Barry Sanders) and for the Dolphins (when they sucked).