As for today’s press conference, which comes on the heels of a 48-41 loss to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, here are a few of the notable highlights:
-- The Vikings came out of the game okay injury-wise, Childress said. But he did mention that several players will be in this week during their time off to treat injuries. When pressed about any significant injuries, Childress said there were none that he would note.
-- At 3-4 after Sunday’s loss to the Bears, there is a disappointed and bitter fan base in Minnesota. The Vikings acquired a number of high-profile players in recent offseasons and they entered 2008 with the reigning rookie of the year, but that hasn’t yet translated to sustained on-field success. And Childress made it clear that no one inside of Winter Park is happy with the current standing of the football team, either. “There’s nobody in this building that is happy with the standard right now that we’re playing at. I think the good thing is it’s recognized by the members of this football team. And they want to be better, they want to improve, they’re all pulling for each other; so I will continue to look for that improvement.”
-- Childress also verbalized a list of areas where the team will look to improve. The list consisted of the following areas: turning the football over; taking it away (from other teams); offensive, defensive, special teams penalties; and explosive plays, getting them on offense and denying them on defense.
-- A bye week typically means time off for players and coaches. It’s a time for the team to heal from injuries, recharge the battery and refresh the mind. This year the Vikings bye comes in Week 7, significantly later than Childress’ byes in his first two years. This is advantageous because it gets the team through a large portion of the schedule before a break, leaving nine games left instead of 11 or 12 (as in previous years).
As for the bye and what he’d like the players to do with their time off, here’s what Childress had to say: “If we’re going to take this time off, they have to use it appropriately. For some of them it’s down time, not being on a schedule, letting their bodies heal a little bit. I mentioned to the guys who were there yesterday, a Week 7 bye is a little bit longer into the season here, so they are beat a little more than a three week bye or four week bye. So they understand for the long haul here, for the nine games that comprise the rest of the season, they’re going to have to be fresh, they’re going to have to be fresh mentally. Some of it is to step away and not even think about football; there’s nothing wrong with that.”
-- Childress was asked about safety Madieu Williams, one of the high-profile free agents the team signed this past offseason. Williams was injured his neck at some point before the season and has not seen any game action as a result. Here’s what Childress had to say about Williams: “Based on how he’s moving, I’d say he’s got a chance to contribute some here as he comes out of the bye. It’s all been a process with him; with healing, and getting the cardio back to where it needs to be and back to the football-type of movements and then last week introducing some of the collision-type stuff that has to go on that you have to be comfortable with. You don’t want to do full-speed contact work for the first time in an NFL football game…he’s relatively close; he needs to have a good bye week.”
-- A reporter asked Childress to characterize the communication patter than exists between himself and ownership on a weekly basis. Childress said that he typically speaks with either Zygi of Mark Wilf “a couple times a week,” depending upon their individual schedules. “There’s pretty good open dialogue about where we’re at as a team; what injuries we think we’re dealing with; what personnel,” Childress said. “Last week obviously there was pretty good dialogue about where we were at the inside linebacker position and what were some of the things we were going to do at that position to fill the void; what moves we were going to make at the end of the week with some people to fill up that 45 (-man roster); who was going to be up and who was going to be down. We talk about all those things. Obviously as owners, they have the right to know and it’s important that you explain the rationale.”
That’s it for now, but be sure to check back to the vikings.com and the Vikings Blog continuously this week for more updates and information about the Vikings and the bye week.
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