A Long-Term Look at the Vikings' QB Future

Illegally throw every remaining game by leaving Childress as coach. That should guarantee a top five draft pick.

We’ll then draft some loser who Childress is convinced can win, and we’ll start the whole cycle over.

Oh, the agony of being a Viking fan.

What I see happening is Chilly getting fired after this season, and the new coach coming in a drafting his own guy. I don’t think Jackson had a fair chance, namely because this offense and play calling make it near impossible for a QB to have success.

But still, I think a 1st rounder next year plus a coaching change would be best for the vikings and probably the route they will take.

That’s where the Vikes need to focus, now and into the draft. I think they should look for a good QB and yes, I totally agree with Iceland Viking, we should have pursued Pennington; he’d’ve been a perfect fit in the Vikings offense with his precision.

One thing the Vikes have going for them next year is that the draft is heavily weighted towards top-rated linemen and LBs, and the Vikes are solid there, leaving them free to pick the lower-rated but much more needed positions.

Look for a really good veteran QB, since that probably won’t pan out, expect to put a #1 pick into the best QB available in the draft (maybe Tim Tebow can be coaxed to come to the NFL early). Follow that with a high-speed WR (I really like Aaron Kelly out of Clemson, his height and speed are exactly what’s needed to spark the deep threat), and a pair of good corners.

Oh, and before I forget…. a replacement for Childress is an absolute must, and I don’t care if the Vikes win every game through the rest of the season, including the Super Bowl; when it’s over, fire Childress. At this point, if the Vikes do well, it will be despite Childress, not because of him.

I tend to believe Childress will be gone after the season and another coach will draft his guy. Jackson would be a fine backup and who knows, maybe in time he’ll be good enough to start. But it’s painfully obvious that Childress and his plans are not going anywhere.

A good smart QB and a good smart coach would be enough to make us a winner.

They had a great QB prospect sitting there for them last draft and they passed: Brian Brohm. Smart. Accurate. Great work ethic. Can make all the throws. And I’ve seen him compared most often to the guy they’ll see tomorrow night: Drew Brees.

I know he’s been relegated the 3rd string right now in Green Bay, but I think he’ll be okay long term. Not sure how many here read Football Outsiders, but one of their signature pieces of research state that the best way to evaluate QB’s drafted the first day is how many starts they had in college and their completion percentage. Brohm was the best in both, And as a cool-headed cat who came out of a pro system and generally makes great decisions, with the Vikings running game as a crutch, I believe he’d have been the best QB on the roster the instant he was drafted (granted, the bar’s not set extremely high).

But that’s water under the bridge. What’s apparent is the Childress regime has been downright negligent about the skill personnel for the passing game (QB and WR), and now they’re basically stuck. Even after they fire Childress I suspect they’ll be working under his shadow for at least a year or two while they figure out how to restock. And I believe the Tavaris Jackson experiment was flawed from the get-go: What were they thinking drafting a division !-AA QB—who posted poor completion % versus 1-AA competition—and asking him to lead a (we’re told) precision-based passing game?

Anyway, I hope they draft a QB first day. I’m more of a fan of the Bill Polian/Indy Colts style: Build through the draft and UFAs. I’m not a fan of the Zygi Wilf/Daniel Snyder approach of throwing money at your problems. Obviously we’ll have to see where they end up picking. Right now it looks like the top 3 QBs are probably Tebow (who actually looks like he may live up to the hype, and he’s doing it in a defense-dominant conference), OU’s Sam Bradford, and Clemson’s Cullen Harper. Of course, two of those guys are underclassmen on real good teams, so they may not enter. I think Purdue’s Curtis Painter and Georgia’s QB are overrated.

Being 100% serious.. I would love to see Mike Vick as our next QB. AP, Chester Taylor, and Mike Vick running around out there. Vick loves the big guys to throw to (Crumpler in ATL). Why not give him a shot? Its not like we didn’t just sign Bernard Berrian to be our stud WR. And, lets face it.. Zygi wants to win. Who knows how to win? Vick. Who looks like Tavaris Jackson on steroids with a rocket on his ass? Vick. Hahaha.

If the Vikings lose tomorrow against the Saints I wouldn’t be surprised if childress was fired during the bye week and if he makes the bye week and we lose against Detroit probably could and should get fired.

That is exactally why it would never seriously happen. Vikings have had thier day in the Media for the Loveboat scandel, along with numerous other incidents, Mooning from Moss, Whizzinator, etc etc. Point being is management should’ve learned from its mistakes, especially after we got made to look like uncaring dick recently with the whole docking Troy his paycheck for going to a funeral. If they allowed Vick to come in, it would ruin thier public image which ultimately is what an NFL organization is run on, financially atleast. If you don’t have a good image, why are people going to pay to come in and watch you? Same as if your shit less ppl will wanna come and watch you then if your about to go undefeated.

I mean in the next two years the Vikings are going to have to sell themselves to get another stadium. Does anyone out there think that by actually bringing in Vick its going to get the state to rethink its stance on giving the Vikings their own stadium? OR is it going to cause a bunch of outcry and people all around Minn, and more likely the country, are going to be questioning the Vikings for bringing in Vick?

Its never going to happen, Vick won’t come back and even if he tries the Vikings aren’t going to be there for him. And if I eat my words and all of this does happen, well I was totally wrong with the intentions of the organization in the first place.

…should be our new starting QB for the next 4-5 years. Along with that comes pleny of chances for Jackson (if he’s still around) and/or Booty, given CP’s injury history. Pennington is only the most accurate passer in NFL history, and he achieved that while completing most of his passes to WRs without a Pro Bowl WR or TE.

If someone other than Pennington is brought in, may he please be talented and effective first and foremost? The Vikings need to get over their morality mindset which inspired a complete dismantling of a playoff team, including some of the most talented players in the game at that time.

Also, the defense will not be this good for much longer. By the time a draft choice is developed and beyond his rookie mistakes, at least one of the DTs name Williams will be ineffective and/or retired from the game. LT might be a good need to address with a 1st round pick if McKinnie won’t be returning.

I’m surprised Chase Daniel hasn’t been mentioned as a first-round QB prospect, but I suppose the Chiefs will grab him with the first overall pick anyway if so.

Should the good underclassman QB prospects not enter the draft and/or should the Vikings not be in a position to draft one of them, then it seems to me for the time being you scrap the WCO completely and convert whole-hog to a power-running/vertical passing attack (similar to what the Redskins are doing right now). I think they’ve been doing this gradually, but it’s not the coaching staff’s specialty by any stretch, and their line/receivers haven’t been healthy.

Jackson’s best attributes as a QB are his arm strength and his mobility. And the Berrian/Rice/Allison core of receivers, when healthy, are known more for stretching the field than running precise timing routes.

So why not? That approach is a bit of an anachronism in today’s NFL, but I’ve had enough of trying to fit square pegs into round holes. May as well try to utilize your personnel the best you can. Bring in an old-school smashmouth guy like Marty Shottenheimer or Bill Cowher (Lane Kiffen would not be good for a power/vertical type team), and let him groom a future head coach for a couple years. And then ideally you address the aging defense in the 2009 draft, as well as get a good tight end who can work the middle of the field while the recievers stretch it (someone like Wisconsin’s Travis Beckem would be a breath of fresh air compared to Shianco).

first and foremost childress has to go. it doesn’t matter what quarterback they throw in there, they still have to deal with the “no audible” ego maniac (cough-cough, "jerk") i seriously think that even if they would have brought favre in it still wouldn’t have mattered. childress is out of touch and if you watch the games closley enough, i think you will notice what i have noticed: i have never seen a more uninspired vikings team in a long long time. at least for tice they would get fired up and play…with childress it’s become not even fun to watch. the vikings are quickly becoming the new raiders: a place where talent comes to die. so in the end (like moss going to oakland) it doesn’t matter if you have qb with all the talent in the world, the odds are still heavily against him for success in the current system and coaching regime.

BTW, here’s an early list of FA QBs I found at a site called profootballcentral.com. Take it with a grain of salt (i.e., notice they have some guys listed on the wrong teams). But just for an idea…

Patrick Ramsey, UFA, Denver Broncos
Charlie Batch, UFA, Pittsburgh Steelers
Kyle Boller, UFA, Baltimore Ravens
Matt Cassel, UFA, New England Patriots
Rex Grossman, UFA, Chicago Bears
Byron Leftwich, UFA, Atlanta Falcons
J.P. Losman, UFA, Buffalo Bills
Kyle Orton, UFA, Chicago Bears
Kurt Warner, UFA, Arizona Cardinals
Jeff Garcia, UFA, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Charlie Frye UFA Seattle Seahawks
Brooks Bollinger UFA Minnesota Vikings
Chris Simms UFA Tampa Bay Buccaneers
J.T. O’Sullivan UFA San Francisco 49ers
Matt Gutierrez RFA New England Patriots
Gibran Hamdan UFA Buffalo Bills
Luke McCown UFA Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Brock Berlin RFA St Louis Rams
Shane Boyd RFA Houston Texans

Are the only ons that have had recent success (although Garcia’s already been benched this year, so that might take him out of the equation). I would be pissed if we even thought of picking up Grossman.

just go out, get a guy and get a late qb int he draft
like with many drafts, there are a few good ones at the top, but a bunch of sleepers that the vikes could develop into decent players