Comments on Childress (And The Pro Bowl)

by zkonedog on Jan 30, 2012 5:27 PM CST

Two things on this Monday evening...

1. Brad Childress is going to be the offensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns...

I could say a lot of mean things here (as I don't have a whole lot of respect for the way Chili coached our team during his tenure in Minny), but I will instead give a word of warning to Browns fans: prepare to take a step backward before moving forward under Chili. The reason? Chili is about as un-imaginative as they come in terms of designing offenses. Even more distressingly, though, is his stubborn approach to team-building, which favors "his personnel" over plain talent. He can't take a perfectly-formed round peg and coax it into a square hole. Instead, he has to have a square peg to fit that square hole...even if the square peg is perhaps a little ragged around the edges, if you know what I mean.

I think that Chili's approach to team-building can work, but only after the right personnel are chosen and provided Chili has enough control in that area to choose such players. Anything less of those two conditions will produce an utter disaster in Cleveland (although it probably can't get much worse over there, so...).

2. After watching a few snippets of the Pro Bowl last night, I was astounded at how pointless and even shameful the whole affair is. I probably hadn't watched a moment of Pro Bowl action for 3-4 years, but it has gotten measurably worse even in that short time frame. Baseball's All-Star Game got pretty lame in the late 1990s, prompting a much-needed "home field advantage in the World Series" incentive that kept players interested, but it never wreaked of the filth of the current Pro Bowl. Why even play the game? ANYTHING has to be better than what I saw last night. Once upon a time, I actually did enjoy viewing the Pro Bowl. Now? It's a complete joke that needs to be phased out in light of the ever-increasing violence of the sport. Football cannot be played without violence, and makes a mockery of the sport to try and do so.

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.

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Comments

I think it might be different in Cleveland.

They have Mike Holmgren overseeing things for now and Chilly isn’t the head football coach., I think they’ll be fine. I wonder how much less Zygi has to pay Chilly now?

As for the Pro Bowl, it was the most horrible game I’ve ever even attempted to watch. There was absolutely NO point to having a defense or a field goal team out there. I wish they would just stop using it as an excuse for players to take a week in Hawaii to relax. Like you said, it made a complete and utter mockery out of the game.

by christian220896 on Jan 30, 2012 6:45 PM CST reply actions

No...but Chilly IS the OC...

Which means he will be calling plays, which was never his strong suit.

At least he will be less responsible for clock management.

by Bjorno on Jan 31, 2012 10:22 AM CST up reply actions

I always watch the Pro-Bowl but this year I turned it off.

I expect the players to give only 80-85% effort but usually their competitive nature kicks in towards the end of the game and you get to see a ton of great players on the field at once. This year it looked less intense than a practice and the players didn’t even seem to be giving 50% effort. Terrible game and I don’t understand why the players all mailed it in this year. Maybe they missed having AD there as over the past few years he’d run somebody over early and the other players pride kicked in leading to a better game. I also think having the Pro-Bowl before the Super-Bowl has taken something away from the game too.

by CanadianViking on Jan 30, 2012 7:06 PM CST reply actions

I hope Jayme Mitchell tackles him on the sideline.

What a reunion that would be!

"Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin

by kcskol on Jan 30, 2012 9:24 PM CST reply actions

None of what you described is under Chilly’s job description as offensive coordinator for the cleveland browns. He had no personnel authority. He does not deal with team building directly. Childress will have no control over which players are choosen. He will call plays (presumably) from Pat Shurmur’s playbook.

"At this point, what we got to lose, right? So we might as well throw caution to the wind and hit people in the face."
--Vikings DE Jared Allen

by NMVike on Jan 30, 2012 10:27 PM CST reply actions

Agreed.

I actually think Childress is an excellent football coach. He has been doing it for over 30 years on the college level and in the NFL. I cannot criticize a man for being able to keep a job on these levels. He definitely knows his stuff.

Where he failed here was in the talent evaluation department and the “all-in” strategy. That is not a bad thing as long as you also are keeping an eye on the future as well.

For some reason, Chilly has strange tastes in QBs. The ones he brought in here besides Favre were not too impressive.

The Pro Bowl is what it is. It is a recognition of the players who did very well. They get to go to Hawaii and hang out and then play a flag football game basically. I am fine with it and I did not bother to watch. Of course I had to watch Scooby Doo!

I did not want Allen or Greenway going all out of even going at 80%. If they would have gotten injured in this meaningless game fans would be more pissed.

It is really on the fans. They should not expect much from this game and then they will not be disappointed.

I am happy that no player was injured. They are all banged up now and the last thing they want to do is some serious hitting.

by MarkSP18 on Jan 30, 2012 10:43 PM CST up reply actions

Another area where Childress failed was...

His stubborn, absolute refusal to accept any
input from his players. Matt Birk graduated from Harvard and is considered one of the more intelligent players in the NFL. I think that was a large factor in Birk leaving MN for Baltimore, even though both he and his wife are from here. Randy Moss did a lot of stupid things, but he wasn’t stupid. When the Vikings played New England, Childress refused any input from Moss, even though Moss had been playing there. I honestly think that this is why Moss was acting up. Brett Favre was calling Childress — Brad, and showed him little respect. When a quarterback has played as long as Farve has, maybe a coach should listen to him just a little bit? Even Percy Harvin had issues with Childress. I know that the head coach has final say, but you still take input from your players. I noticed that when Leslie Frazier became head coach, he really stressed player input. That wasn’t coincidence. He knew it was an issue with Childress.

by vking1 on Jan 31, 2012 1:36 AM CST up reply actions

I wish they would do another Vikes vs Pitt tug o war.

something along those lines would be pretty awesome.

By the way we won.

The Vikes aren't in a remodeling or reconstruction they are in a burn the place down and start praying they don't mimic the Lions rebuilding process.

by Grime on Jan 31, 2012 7:55 AM CST up reply actions

They should only pay the players of the winning team

Instead of paying the winning team players 50,000 and the losing team players 25,000. Pay the winning team 75,000 per player and the losing team nothing

by Adam Sorum on Jan 30, 2012 11:10 PM CST reply actions

Great idea!

I had a hard time watchng that “game.” The 3rd grade girls at the school where I work have more intensity playing flag football than these professionals did yesterday. This is tackle football play hard or go home!

by nmvikesfan on Jan 30, 2012 11:49 PM CST up reply actions

They should not have Pro-Bowl..period.

Even a single injury in the horrible joke of a football game could sink a team. Money should not even be a consideration for the players. Just have the teams chosen every year so that the commentators have one more thing to say in praise of Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees!

by izziefans on Jan 31, 2012 2:51 AM CST reply actions