FanPost

Favre made his point, and Childress looked just plain stupid



I was thinking this as I watched the game, and again after the game, and this morning as well. I didn't have any stats or flowcharts or hard info to back my thought up, but my gut feeling on it was incredibly strong.

That thought was about Favre making a point last night. With all the drama about the playcalling during the week, I believe that Favre did not audible or check out of a play at all in the first half, which showed just how bland, unimaginative, and wholly ineffective the playcalling is under Childress. Run, run, draw to start the game? That's the embodiment of Chilly playcalling right there, and it netted us a whoping 3 and out. With five first half possessions, the Vikings went punt, turnover, punt, punt, punt. Kick ass offense indeed.

In the second half, I believed that Favre started checking out of plays and audibling when he felt a certain play wasn't going to work. The results were simply remarkable for an offense that has any association with Brad Childress whatsoever. The plays being called seemed to work, almost too easily. Points were being scored, and this team had a bit of life to them! The second half featured six possessions, and they ended with punt, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown. 30 points in a half, are you kidding me?

The embodiment of the massive Childress fail came late in the game with a first and goal situation. Childress wanted his jumbo goal line package in the game, and Favre was trying to wave them off (copyright Peyton Manning). The result of that Childress playcall was a 3 yard loss. The next play, Favre gets the package he wants and the Vikings score a touchdown.

The difference in the team was almost night and day:
First half, Chilly's plays - 82 yards and 0 points
Second half, Favre adjusting - 350 yards and 30 points

I did not get a chance to watch the postgame interviews, but I heard that Favre made mention that he did have more control in the offense for the second half, basically validating what I was thinking for the whole game. Ultimately, it comes down to the flaws of Childress being exposed and validated in front of a national audience.

For Childress, winning is a secondary priority. It doesn't matter as much that the team wins the game, as long as his system is the showcase. I firmly believe he would rather lose a game 40-0 using his playcalls and his inflexible, outdated system than win a game 40-0 using an offense that actually works. His ego won't allow him to have it any other way, it's all about his system being proven right so he can tell everybody how he's such a great coach and one of the legendary minds when it comes to offense. Monday night's game must have been a wet dream for him, as his system contributed to a loss the Vikings couldn't afford to have. We didn't win, but damn it, he got the plays called that he wanted, and that's what really matters.

Second, it's about accountability. When something goes wrong, accountability is preached. However, when the blame game gets played, the coach is the first to point fingers at the players. "If the players would execute...", "If this player did this...", "If this player did that...", always the players, all the time. Somehow, the coach has managed, for the most part, to deflect any semblance of accountability from himself. Who created that horrible gameplan on offense that didn't attack the weakness of the Bears defense? Who called that horseshit offense in the first half that made me think we had Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback? Who wasn't able to right the ship and overcome adversity by getting their team ready to play a game they had to have in order to all but secure a first round bye in the playoffs? I'll give you a hint: It wasn't any of the players on the 53 man roster, that's for sure.

These are the things I've seen since year one with Childress. The stubbornness. The ego. The refusal to hold oneself accountable. The horrible offense. The inability to connect with his players, especially the quarterback. The bill of goods we were sold with this guy. I wanted him gone after year one, an unpopular stance indeed.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't necessarily an advocate of Favre coming here. I thought it only delayed the inevitable of finding a quarterback of the future, and I also wasn't sure how Favre would hold up over the course of the season. He has played a lot better than I thought he would, that's for sure. In the end, I can only hope that this season either ends in a Super Bowl, or the fail is so hard that Childress ends up with so much egg on his face that ownership needs to seriously reconsider that extension they gave him. Favre certainly helped make that case with last night's game, as all of the flaws that come with Brad Childress were resurfaced and then some thanks to one simple aspect of the game.

As a side note, the Vikings have lost as many games as they have won since Brad Childress received that unearned contract extension, and have yet to win a game on the road since then as well. As sad as it seems, the fate of this season probably rests on whether Childress is able to put his ego aside for the betterment of the team. Unfortunately, I put the likelihood of that happening somewhere between "slim to none" and "no f*cking chance in hell".

And with that, I end my rant with these famous last words...

"It's a kick ass offense".

(This rant originally posted at http://sports-boards.net)

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.