CHILLY talks about QB situation

Childress addresses quarterback situation

January 8th, 2009 – 12:44 PM by Chip Scoggins

Vikings coach Brad Childress just conducted his season-ending press conference and naturally the quarterback situation was the No. 1 topic.

Childress said he felt like Tarvaris Jackson took a step forward this year, but he said the team will look around to see what is available either in trade, draft or free agency. Here is some of Childress thoughts on his quarterback situation:

“It’s really kind of a whole offseason study,” he said. “I’m not going to pass judgement right at this particular point. I think you owe it to everybody here in the organization, just like we always have, to turn over all the rocks and see what you have there. I would also say there’s point with Tarvaris of continuing to evolve as a quarterback. While you’d like that process to happen immediately, it doesn’t always happen immediately. But there’s not anything we’re going to leave unturned in terms of free agency, draft. And that goes until after the draft. You see who’s out there, and by the same token, Tarvaris is going to be here and we’re going to continue to get him better.”

(What does Tarvaris need to do to take next step?) “For everybody, it’s standard of performance. What can you consistently expect to put out there? You saw that as we led up to the last game. Unfortunately, we weren’t consistent [against the Eagles]. We weren’t able to put ourselves in good enough position – and that’s team wide — to be able to win. But you want consistency. That’s the thing you’re looking for. Not that there’s never a blip, not that somebody doesn’t play bad because they’re trying to rip your head off every time back there.”

We’ll obviously have a lot more in Jackson and the QB situation online and in the paper tomorrow.

Here are few other notes:

– Right guard Anthony Herrera had surgery on his shoulder on Wednesday. Tackle Artis Hicks will have surgery to repair his triceps on Friday. Childress said a few other guys might need surgeries to clean up some areas.

– Childress said no decisions have been made about whether the team will attempt to bring back center Matt Birk, safety Darren Sharper and tight end Jim Kleinsasser.

– Childress said all of his assistant coaches are under contract and that he expects all of them return, except possibly defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, who interviewed with Denver on Wednesday and is scheduled to interview with the Detroit Lions on Saturday.

– Childress said he met briefly with backup quarterback Gus Frerotte before he left for St. Louis. Childress said he understands that Frerotte is frustrated and doesn’t agree with Childress’ decision to start Jackson in the final three games. But Childress said Frerotte is a ”team guy.”

We’ll post a few more items from Childress’ press conference later in the day,. 

"Mangenius" to Browns proves my point

Coaches are over-rated. the sloppy seconds nature of the coaching wheel makes no sense to me. i think it’s an indictment of the hype and bullshit out there in the media and in the owners offices pertaining to who can bring about drastic change. I think these coaches are no more accountable for their teams (in general) then politicians are for their districts.

"players coaches" are always well liked publicly, even when their teams suck. they get a little longer of a leash before they’re given the axe (herm edwards, mora)

"experienced" coaches that have won the Super Bowl etc get a away with their reputations. If you take Reeves, Cower, Holmgren, Fisher and combine the years.. you get appx 55 yrs of coaching with just 5 super bowl victories. FIVE. that’s one every ten years. (cower got one in 15 yrs, fisher, zero)

"coordinators" come off some super bowl winning team or leading offense and are given a shot, even though they’ve never been a head coach. this is also an indictment of the lack of thought or effort being made by the people doing the hiring, i could bet a million dollars that you can’t take the giants defensive coordinator and bring him to the broncos for example, and all of a sudden have them in the top 5 ranked defenses. never happen. because they don’t have the PLAYERS.

TUNA had the players. BELLICHIK had the players. Dennis GREEN had the players. hall of fame players world class!

right now... TOMLIN has the PLAYERS. he isn’t any better or worse then the next coach, he came from one great run D and went to the next, only he traded up at almost every other position. he inherited a great team and he didnt mess it up even though they scraped out some seriously ugly wins (as ugly as our detroit wins) yet everyone wishes "we still had him"

i like the guy a lot, he is entertaining and funny... but let’s be REAL here. would it make much difference? (i think yes, maybe he wouldn’t have drafted AP, or signed JARED ALLEN.. dont get me started)

No one likes CHILLY, they call him "the accountant" on the nfl network.. but what is the REAL LIFE best way to judge a coach?

i don’t know if there is one. the "best coaches" always had the BEST PLAYERS and there are plenty of good coaches and great teams that never won a super bowl so what gives? I bet my bottom dollar that if CHILLY stayed here another 5 years we’d be in the playoffs most of that time. So that would be 6 trips in 9 years. respectable no?

CHILLY came into town and stamped his brand on this team, you don’t have to like him, but at least respect that he hasn’t bitched out, he has tried, he has made moves and gotten us a really nice roster. what more can you ask for? Super Bowls don’t come from great coaches, they come from great teams, defense, few turnovers and a magical winning streak... I am glad WILF has the patience and foresight not to do anything knee jerk and "start over" though if he did.. it wouldn’t change much thanks to our CHILLY built roster. this team is set up for success.

are the jets? broncos? browns? jaguars? saints? set up for success? or heading backwards?

who knows.

Teams that over-achieve do it because they limit turnovers and have solid coverage teams and can run. see atlanta, and giants, number one and two in those categories! you don’t "coach" that. the players "play" that. so the same can be said for under-achieving teams like dallas and indy. not the coaches faults, it’s the players. simple as that

FOR MY VIKES FANS WITH WASHED OUT FACE PAINT

Parting Shots

Well, that's it.  I am not shocked at the out come though.  When I was discussing possibilities with a Philly fan I said it would come down to these 5 factors.

• Will AP bust one?
• Will Westbrook bust one?
• Will T Jack throw a pick 6?
• Will our punt team hurt us?
• Will our WRs struggle to get open in single man coverage and allow them to plug us up?

Well you can answer YES to all of the above. Though we forced a fumble and got a nice interception, those turnovers where harmless and in our part of the field or mid field.  Philly's long returns set up at least 2 FGs and TAVARIS didn't do us any favors. He was very inefficient.  Meanwhile McNabb racked up 300 yards dinking and dunking on us.  He had too much time to throw, I have never seen so many 3rd and longs converted in a game, all to people who's names i've never heard of.

I had hoped that Tavaris would play with poise, make plays with his feet.. that our Offensive line would find some heart and dominate, create holes for AP (they didn't) and that we could force some turnovers and get points off of them. None of that happened.

They just played a better game, did all things real solid and won comfortably.

OFFSEASON

I would like to let Sharper go, though is is smart and positive in interviews and in the locker room, I see him get torched too much. It's disconcerting.

I have lost my enthusiasms for T JACk, not so much because he had a bad game, but because he  reminds me of ELI MANNING.. in interviews he seems distant and clueless and he showed no football IQ when it came to the blitzes. I know he had no time on a few occasions but still- anticipate?!?  Hopefully we will bring in a BLUE CHIP quarterback.  He STILL tips people off with his eyes, that pick 6 was so awful.

I would also like us to sign a real receiver, not some speed guy who cant run routes like berrian or  serviceable yet boring players like wade and rice. They are avg at best I feel now and I want changes- they can never seem to GET OPEN when we need them to.  I mean jesus, SAMUEL (DB -Philly) was playing HURT and he ran better routes then RICE did. No excuses!

DEAR MANAGEMENT

Please don't buy the hype this offseason with your 20  million in cap space!. CASSEL is this years what's his name.. oh yes, that's my point. The guy in CLEVELAND everyone wanted so bad who signed a huge contract who turned out to be whatever. DERRIK ANDERSON.

When we got BERRIAN he was the best available, but still miles away from being as good as the contract we signed him to.  Let's sign people based on what they have already done, what their production is, not what they might do or are capable of doing. (SEE JARED ALLEN)

TRADE CHESTER TAYLOR for a sweet player. Make some other GM look stupid for a change and let's be on the good end of a lopsided deal. I know CHESTER is awesome, but he's under used here.   Let's get a pro bowl LB or CORNER or RECEIVER.  I am sure CINCINATTI or some similar team would love to have him