There was a story that was printed on ESPN.com's NFL section yesterday with the headline "Vikes, 49ers Look to Vick to Fix QB Conundrums." Within said story, it is pointed out that Brad Childress didn't say one way or the other that the team has any interest in acquiring the "man" that's the scourge of dogs everywhere.
"We need to put somebody in place that will push [Tarvaris Jackson] and compete with him," Childress said. "I think competition is the nature of the game."
Childress wouldn't confirm or deny interest in Vick.
"I really don't get into hypotheticals because I think there's too much water that's got to happen. I'd cross that bridge when I come to it."
Well, this is probably a good move on Childress' part, particularly when one takes into consideration that Vick is still, technically, under contract to the Atlanta Falcons. After the circus that Ted Thompson's outright lies about the Vikings' interest in Brett Favre caused last off-season, Childress is wise to say that the team can't confirm nor deny interest in Vick.
However, had ESPN done just a small bit of research, they would have seen that Rick Spielman. . .who is under no such constraint. . .has pretty much flat-out denied the Vikings' interest in Vick.
Spielman elected not to answer when asked if the Vikings have any interest in Michael Vick, pointing out that Vick is under contract to the Falcons. Atlanta, of course, is shopping the rights to the incarcerated quarterback. Pressed a bit on the issue, Spielman said: "I just would say that we're very strong on our character and what type of people [we bring in]. You guys know how we've been about the type of players that we've brought in."
There's no reason for the Vikings to even think about considering whether they should contemplate possibly even wondering about whether they should look into acquiring Michael Vick's services. If any team in the NFL thinks that Michael Vick is the answer to their quarterback question, than they're already worse off at the position than Minnesota is.
In addition to not being a terribly good quarterback, it's been well established that Vick is a worthless human being. He wouldn't upgrade this team on the field, and he certainly wouldn't be doing them any favors off of it, either.
But, rather than get the facts and find out a little more about what's really going on, ESPN decided to say "OMG the Vikings might be interested in Michael Vick because Brad Childress didn't say that they weren't." It's call journalistic integrity, folks. . .please effort to find some in the future.