Eight years ago today...

[vikeinmontana]

i'm off to dinner here soon so i won't have time to get into this too much. i'm sure others can give you a plethora of reasons why childress was a bad coach. i'll start with the fact that he was fired. i'll add that it been well publicized that favre would often audible poor play calls and childress was not happy with that fact. and i'll finish with the 12 men in the huddle after a timeout in the nfc championship game. there are countless others but that'll have to wait. doubt it will be necessary as my guess is the next time i check out this thread other posters will echo everything i have said.

[Funkytown]

i'm off to dinner here soon so i won't have time to get into this too much. i'm sure others can give you a plethora of reasons why childress was a bad coach. i'll start with the fact that he was fired. i'll add that it been well publicized that favre would often audible poor play calls and childress was not happy with that fact. and i'll finish with the 12 men in the huddle after a timeout in the nfc championship game. there are countless others but that'll have to wait. doubt it will be necessary as my guess is the next time i check out this thread other posters will echo everything i have said.

Fired? So every coach to ever be fired is bad...and always has been bad? Only coaches who retire or move on on their own are good then, right? 12 men in the huddle? Childress was the 12th man in the huddle? Let me guess: The cutting Moss will be on here. lol. These few things cancel out all the good he did? Either way, I don't think Childress was all bad--or even half bad. Y'all don't have to like him, but I like him just fine--control freak or not. I'm kind of a control freak myself, so I get him. He also has some *sarcastic a-hole* characteristics to him, too. I get that, too. lol.

...and the problems with Green?

[PurpleMustReign]

So... You must be related to Childress I take it?

Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk 2

[Funkytown]

So... You must be related to Childress I take it?

Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk 2

lol. That's really funny that you say that, because on WAVF I remember sticking up for Childress. I was one of the very few. And I remember someone suggesting I must be related to him or somehow knew him. Eh. No. I wish! I would have had the hook up! I just don't think he's the worst coach I've ever seen. Look around the league. Yeesh. What Childress was doing in Minnesota was far better than some of the disasters going on elsewhere. I'm appreciative of the great memories Childress had a part of.

VERY appreciative!

[The Breeze]

Childress? He was pretty good from an X's and O's perspective IMO. His big problem was in the way he handled personalities and communication. He was a petty tyrant, and once Favre began his decline, Chili lost control of the team rather quickly. He projected an incredibly inflexible attitude around everything...... although he did have some pretty good squirt in the hole. His ego appeared to dominate many of his decisions(poor ones, like everything he ever did at the QB position) down the stretch of his descent. I can't think there is one player who actually misses the guy, although I have no proof either way. You take a way Favre and Childress never even gets a whiff of the NFCC.....you take Childress off that 09 team and Favre still gets them there. Childress bet his whole tenure swinging for the fences with a 40 year old at QB. A late pick and 12 men on the field later he left a trainwreck in place of a football team. I'm actually grateful that Zygi went through that cause now they look to be committed to building a perennial contender, assuming they can get the QB spot nailed down. Thank you Childress...you coyote teacher. And thank you Randy Moss for coming in and pointing/calling out the huge bald elephant in the living room

I actually liked Tice and think he would've really done well had he got the chance to work for the Wylfs.

[vikeinmontana]

Fired? So every coach to ever be fired is bad...and always has been bad? Only coaches who retire or move on on their own are good then, right? 12 men in the huddle? Childress was the 12th man in the huddle? Let me guess: The cutting Moss will be on here. lol. These few things cancel out all the good he did? Either way, I don't think Childress was all bad--or even half bad. Y'all don't have to like him, but I like him just fine--control freak or not. I'm kind of a control freak myself, so I get him. He also has some *sarcastic a-hole* characteristics to him, too. I get that, too. lol.

nope, every coach that gets fired isn't and always will be bad. andy reid was let go and was out of a job for about a day. as i said, if childress was really a great coach he wouldn't be a video analyst for the chiefs. i said during his entire tenure that he showed he knew football. he is an x's and o's guy who knows the game. but it takes much more than that to be a successful coach. you need to be able to teach people. you need to insoire players and earn their trust. childress never did that. he wasn't a coach players would do anything for. he cared more about his ego and being in control than anything else.

as for the 12 men in the huddle....that was just ridiculous. and yes...it falls on the head coach. as do every other aspect of the team. that's why you're the coach.

i guess my point was that you will find very few people who think childress was a good coach. if he was he'd be coaching. even if it wasn't for the vikings.

[Funkytown]

It doesn't exactly surprise me that Childress wouldn't be referred to as a "good coach." I can't say that I would say that about too many coaches in the NFL. Most aren't "good" or haven't had enough time to truly prove it. But, just because he wasn't a "good coach" doesn't mean he's as bad as people try to make it seem. Childress did some good things in Minnesota, but people just like to remember the bad. That is human nature, I suppose.

[Funkytown]

Childress? He was pretty good from an X's and O's perspective IMO. His big problem was in the way he handled personalities and communication. He was a petty tyrant, and once Favre began his decline, Chili lost control of the team rather quickly. He projected an incredibly inflexible attitude around everything...... although he did have some pretty good squirt in the hole. His ego appeared to dominate many of his decisions(poor ones, like everything he ever did at the QB position) down the stretch of his descent. I can't think there is one player who actually misses the guy, although I have no proof either way. You take a way Favre and Childress never even gets a whiff of the NFCC.....you take Childress off that 09 team and Favre still gets them there. Childress bet his whole tenure swinging for the fences with a 40 year old at QB. A late pick and 12 men on the field later he left a trainwreck in place of a football team. I'm actually grateful that Zygi went through that cause now they look to be committed to building a perennial contender, assuming they can get the QB spot nailed down. Thank you Childress...you coyote teacher. And thank you Randy Moss for coming in and pointing/calling out the huge bald elephant in the living room

I actually liked Tice and think he would've really done well had he got the chance to work for the Wylfs.

Which personalities would those be? Moss? Harvin? Who else? Favre? All guys who are "divas"?

Everything he did at QB was wrong?

Take away Favre, and the Vikings don't make the NFCCG...take away Childress, and Favre and the Vikes make it anyway? With what team? The team that Childress helped build? The team that made the playoffs the year before with Frerotte and Jackson at QB? ...he must have been doing something right way before Favre came along. Let's not give Favre all of the credit. That is a joke. Favre never would have come to Minnesota if it wasn't already a great team.

Again...Childress had a fair amount of success as coach of the Vikings; he helped bring in some key players; and he was part of a couple pretty darn good seasons--and some of my best memories as a fan.

I can't hate on the guy. I just can't.

...still waiting for someone to address the negative feelings towards Green. I was really young when Green was coach, and obviously didn't know/understand 10% of what I know now...but I know he had much success with the Vikings--and I freakin' loved him. Is there ANY coach that is good enough for you fans? I bet one won't be good enough until he wins us a Super Bowl. I get it, but if that is the true measure of greatness--every Vikings coach, player, and fan has always sucked...because we just can't get it done.

Personally, I like to take the positives where I can get them. If that means taking something positive from Childress' years as coach, then that's what I'm going to do.

[Funkytown]

Back on topic, the Wilfs are great owners. I love their enthusiasm and dedication. I hope they are our owners for many, many more years to come. Just for the fact that they worked so hard to keep the Vikes in Minnesota and get a new stadium, they'll probably always be my favorite. I hope the team can bring them, us fans, and the great state of Minnesota a Super Bowl...soon. I know some of y'all have been waiting awhile!

[mondry]

I am completely speechless, there is someone who would consider childress a good coach on this board? I'm hesitant because I don't want to fall for the bait if this is just a troll but I simply can't help myself.

Where does one even begin when describing the ineptitude of Brad childress?! I'll need a moment... I never thought this day would actually come...

First, let me start off by saying that sure, while he was here, the organization which included him, the Wilfs, Spielman, and Rob Brzezinski as the Triangle of Authority managed to acquire talent for what was already a very talented team. When Childress was hired, he himself stated this was a "plum" job. The team had a stable of solid veteran players in Antoine Winfield, Kevin Williams, Pat Williams, Darren Sharper, Chris Kluwe, Brad Johnson, Matt Birk, Jimmy Kliensausser, Bryant Mckinnie, and Mewelde Moore.

Now, Red Mcombs had the team so far under the salary cap, the first thing the organization (yes childress was a part of it, but let's thank the wilfs for not being tight wads to make it all possible!) could do was make a massive splash in free agency. We signed Chester Taylor, Visante Shiancoe, Ryan Longwell, E.J. Henderson, Ben Leber, Steve Hutchinson, Tony Richardson, Dwight Smith, Nafahu Tahi, Artis Hicks, and Brooks balls out Bollinger. There are more but I doubt anyone would even recognize the names so I'm stopping there. My point is, there was a lot of talent on this team before he got here, and the organization improved it further. He was part of it so he'll get some credit for that but he himself did not develop any of these players.

With all that in mind, Mike Tice went 9-7 with the team in 2005 and was fired by Wilf. After all that spending and bringing in what we now know are quality players, Childress went 6-10 which was 3 games worse than Mike Tice's shoe string budget team.

The 2006 draft starts the beginning of the end for what is arguable the worst job of handling the QB position we've probably ever seen as Vikings fans. Childress needs his QB and so we trade up into the second round to take Tarvaris Jackson, at the time you might have said WHO? Jackson wasn't even expected to be drafted IIRC, he went to a small ball school in Alabama State but this was Childress' Mcnabb clone.

In 2007, we had a minor miracle happen in that Adrian Peterson fell to us at the #7 spot. This pick would redefine our franchise and as we know now, Peterson is on path to become one of the greatest of all time. The problem in 2007 is that Peterson alone was enough to improve the win loss record in which the team finished 8-8, still one game worse than Mike Tice's squad 2 years ago, I wonder how he would have done with an Adrian Peterson on the team and that kind of budget?

In 2008 we needed even more to push us over the top. The organization traded a bunch of picks to get Jared Allen and of course with hindsight now we know what a tremendous player he has been. The team also signs a notable name back to the team for another stint in Gus Frerrote (foreshadowing!) After an unacceptable 0-2 start Childress does something ballzy, he benches his pet project Tjackson to go with the Vet Frerrote. That's all fine and dandy but in week 14 after getting the Vikes back to 8-5 frerrote get's hurt and Jackson has to take over. That's obviously not the issue, after Frerrote get's healthy and the Vikings make the playoffs, Childress sticks with Jackson only for the Vikings to lose 26-14 to the Eagles in which the offense struggles and Jackson throws a pick 6 to Asante Samuel. Most would argue that after going 8-3 Frerrote had earned the right to be the starter, a dick move demoting the guy during an injury. Finally after all of this, 1 game better than Tice.

In 2009 of course there is a lot of controversy. We let Gus go and bring in Sage Rosenfels. He's told he'll be able to compete with Jackson for the starting job. However, Childress comes up with a new idea, we'll pursue Brett Favre and in the end, sage AND Jackson get dicked over. As fans we'll take Brett Favre but it's an awful way to manage your team when you're telling guys one thing and end up doing another. Of course he didn't care, his master plan was all that mattered.

So with yet another super star player acquired surely this is the year. The Vikings look incredible and at 9-1 look like a sure thing to lock up the #1 seed. However, we go 1-3 in our next 4 games and this is when the reports of Favre and Childress clashing start to surface. Childress hell bent on controlling Favre seemingly demanded the offense be run exactly how he wanted it with no audibles and standard run, run, short pass sequences. The Vikings lost to a bad Panthers team QB'd by Matt Moore 26 to 7. The following week against the bears we didn't score a single point before half time. The once unstoppable Vikings offense could only manage 7 points in 1.5 games, Childress had successfully neutered Favre and we were back to chili ball. (see my Avatar)

I still remember the near come back attempt in the second half against the bears where Favre finally says "screw this" and audibles out of a running play, throws a touch down pass and the look on Childress face was just pure disgust, he had been defied and this was after the team scored a freaking touch down! Only Brett Favre's Ego was an equal match for Childress and while we still lost that game, the vikings scored THIRTY POINTS in the second half. It was literally like flipping a light switch from Hand Cuffed Favre to shackles off blowing up the defense Favre. Brad Childress' stubbornness and ego had cost the Vikings home field advantage throughout the playoffs and imo, a superbowl appearance, we murder the saints at home.

2010 is when the wheels pretty much fell off the wagon. Childress hatches a plan to get rid of Sage Rosenfels, a guy spielman wanted and brought to the team. He notices that Joe Webb guy looks an awful lot like Mcnabb out there, why don't we make him a QB? The team continues to persuade Favre to come back for one more go at it and he reluctantly returns. This gives Childress the green light in his mind and he trades the only other resemblance of a QB on the roster in Sage as well as Darius Reynaud to the Giants for a 5th and 7th round pick.

The Bye week comes early this year in week 4 and we're sadly 1-2. We simply need MOAR!1!1 and the team sends a 3rd round pick to New England for Randy Moss. However it doesn't help at all and within a few weeks Childress act's alone and cuts Randy Moss making the franchise look like a total joke. This is ultimately the straw that breaks the camels back for the Wilfs, Childress had already lost a good portion of the team and when that happens there is no other solution but to fire him. Frazier takes over as interim head coach to finish out the year. After the year finishes out, the Triangle of authority is laid to rest and Spielman is promoted to GM to avoid situations like this where the coach can make roster based decisions on his own.


Sorry about this massive review of the past few years, I just felt like it needed to be done.

The top reasons Childress was an awful coach.

1. He sucked on game day. Seriously, he was dreadfully bad, the guy never made adjustments because his system never changed. If it didn't work he would say "the players just need to execute it better." The guy couldn't manage a clock to save his life and I still think to this day, he's the only coach I've ever seen with 1:20 left in the game, with NO TIME OUTS LEFT, punt the ball away on 4th down when we were LOSING THE GAME. Big surprise the other team kneeled down 3 times and the game was over. Just mind bogglingly bad clock management.

2. He was just too god damn stubborn with a gigantic ego. Refering back to #1 his system and schemes were perfect in his eyes, if they weren't working the players just weren't doing it right. The "kick #### offense" will forever be a complete joke. Who cuts a guy the team had just traded for a few weeks ago? That's absolutely unheard of, unless of course you're Brad Childress, rule with an iron fist!

3. The way he handled players and the "delicate" side of things made him look like a complete inhuman ####. He docked Troy Williamson a week's worth of pay for going to his grand mothers funeral. He cut Marcus Robinson on Christmas eve and of course cutting Randy Moss the way he did. The way he screwed over Sage Rosenfels, screwed Gus Frerrote, and even screwed Tjackson to some extent.

4. Matt Birk takes less money to play for the Ravens and Sharper leaves for NO. If you believe in your coach, your team, you don't do what birk did. He's from minnesota, he went to harvard so he's obviously pretty damn smart but he wasn't gonna play for Childress. In Sharper's case he was fed up with the way he was being utilized in the conventional cover 2 scheme childress wanted run. The phrase Square peg round hole was practically an every day occurrence though.

5. Telegraphed offense - The guy would literally bring in Jeff Dugan, Tahi and Jim Kliensauser for running plays and sub Shiancoe back in on passes, before Favre got here and told Chilly to F off you could literally predict the plays with 90% accuracy.

6. He lost the team, as I said earlier that's the ultimate sign of a bad coach in my book. Players are smart, they know football, if you ask them to bang thier heads against the wall over and over eventually they're going to realize you don't know what you're talking about. If you want to remember 2009 then remember the players busting their butts and overcoming such a poor leader. Childress was such a negative influence on the team that he cost them games. Before he was fired, Childress went 3-7, when the team wasn't completely stacked around him that's the guy's true coaching level, 3 and 7. Of course it might have been worse but Wilf stopped the bleeding there, thank goodness for such a good owner! (HAHAHA ON TOPIC WOOT!)

P.S. The one yard dump off's to Tahi in the kick #### offense are probably going to give me nightmares again. I had locked them away into a deep dark place they were never suppose to resurface again...

Sorry for this post, seriously, I think Childress is the only person I've never met that I absolutely hate with a passion. I would poop in his cheerios if given the chance. I might need therapy... then again we're all vikings fans, we probably all could use some therapy LOL!

[King James]

I am completely speechless, there is someone who would consider childress a good coach on this board? I'm hesitant because I don't want to fall for the bait if this is just a troll but I simply can't help myself.

Where does one even begin when describing the ineptitude of Brad childress?! I'll need a moment... I never thought this day would actually come...

First, let me start off by saying that sure, while he was here, the organization which included him, the Wilfs, Spielman, and Rob Brzezinski as the Triangle of Authority managed to acquire talent for what was already a very talented team. When Childress was hired, he himself stated this was a "plum" job. The team had a stable of solid veteran players in Antoine Winfield, Kevin Williams, Pat Williams, Darren Sharper, Chris Kluwe, Brad Johnson, Matt Birk, Jimmy Kliensausser, Bryant Mckinnie, and Mewelde Moore.

Now, Red Mcombs had the team so far under the salary cap, the first thing the organization (yes childress was a part of it, but let's thank the wilfs for not being tight wads to make it all possible!) could do was make a massive splash in free agency. We signed Chester Taylor, Visante Shiancoe, Ryan Longwell, E.J. Henderson, Ben Leber, Steve Hutchinson, Tony Richardson, Dwight Smith, Nafahu Tahi, Artis Hicks, and Brooks balls out Bollinger. There are more but I doubt anyone would even recognize the names so I'm stopping there. My point is, there was a lot of talent on this team before he got here, and the organization improved it further. He was part of it so he'll get some credit for that but he himself did not develop any of these players.

With all that in mind, Mike Tice went 9-7 with the team in 2005 and was fired by Wilf. After all that spending and bringing in what we now know are quality players, Childress went 6-10 which was 3 games worse than Mike Tice's shoe string budget team.

The 2006 draft starts the beginning of the end for what is arguable the worst job of handling the QB position we've probably ever seen as Vikings fans. Childress needs his QB and so we trade up into the second round to take Tarvaris Jackson, at the time you might have said WHO? Jackson wasn't even expected to be drafted IIRC, he went to a small ball school in Alabama State but this was Childress' Mcnabb clone.

In 2007, we had a minor miracle happen in that Adrian Peterson fell to us at the #7 spot. This pick would redefine our franchise and as we know now, Peterson is on path to become one of the greatest of all time. The problem in 2007 is that Peterson alone was enough to improve the win loss record in which the team finished 8-8, still one game worse than Mike Tice's squad 2 years ago, I wonder how he would have done with an Adrian Peterson on the team and that kind of budget?

In 2008 we needed even more to push us over the top. The organization traded a bunch of picks to get Jared Allen and of course with hindsight now we know what a tremendous player he has been. The team also signs a notable name back to the team for another stint in Gus Frerrote (foreshadowing!) After an unacceptable 0-2 start Childress does something ballzy, he benches his pet project Tjackson to go with the Vet Frerrote. That's all fine and dandy but in week 14 after getting the Vikes back to 8-5 frerrote get's hurt and Jackson has to take over. That's obviously not the issue, after Frerrote get's healthy and the Vikings make the playoffs, Childress sticks with Jackson only for the Vikings to lose 26-14 to the Eagles in which the offense struggles and Jackson throws a pick 6 to Asante Samuel. Most would argue that after going 8-3 Frerrote had earned the right to be the starter, a dick move demoting the guy during an injury. Finally after all of this, 1 game better than Tice.

In 2009 of course there is a lot of controversy. We let Gus go and bring in Sage Rosenfels. He's told he'll be able to compete with Jackson for the starting job. However, Childress comes up with a new idea, we'll pursue Brett Favre and in the end, sage AND Jackson get dicked over. As fans we'll take Brett Favre but it's an awful way to manage your team when you're telling guys one thing and end up doing another. Of course he didn't care, his master plan was all that mattered.

So with yet another super star player acquired surely this is the year. The Vikings look incredible and at 9-1 look like a sure thing to lock up the #1 seed. However, we go 1-3 in our next 4 games and this is when the reports of Favre and Childress clashing start to surface. Childress hell bent on controlling Favre seemingly demanded the offense be run exactly how he wanted it with no audibles and standard run, run, short pass sequences. The Vikings lost to a bad Panthers team QB'd by Matt Moore 26 to 7. The following week against the bears we didn't score a single point before half time. The once unstoppable Vikings offense could only manage 7 points in 1.5 games, Childress had successfully neutered Favre and we were back to chili ball. (see my Avatar)

I still remember the near come back attempt in the second half against the bears where Favre finally says "screw this" and audibles out of a running play, throws a touch down pass and the look on Childress face was just pure disgust, he had been defied and this was after the team scored a freaking touch down! Only Brett Favre's Ego was an equal match for Childress and while we still lost that game, the vikings scored THIRTY POINTS in the second half. It was literally like flipping a light switch from Hand Cuffed Favre to shackles off blowing up the defense Favre. Brad Childress' stubbornness and ego had cost the Vikings home field advantage throughout the playoffs and imo, a superbowl appearance, we murder the saints at home.

2010 is when the wheels pretty much fell off the wagon. Childress hatches a plan to get rid of Sage Rosenfels, a guy spielman wanted and brought to the team. He notices that Joe Webb guy looks an awful lot like Mcnabb out there, why don't we make him a QB? The team continues to persuade Favre to come back for one more go at it and he reluctantly returns. This gives Childress the green light in his mind and he trades the only other resemblance of a QB on the roster in Sage as well as Darius Reynaud to the Giants for a 5th and 7th round pick.

The Bye week comes early this year in week 4 and we're sadly 1-2. We simply need MOAR!1!1 and the team sends a 3rd round pick to New England for Randy Moss. However it doesn't help at all and within a few weeks Childress act's alone and cuts Randy Moss making the franchise look like a total joke. This is ultimately the straw that breaks the camels back for the Wilfs, Childress had already lost a good portion of the team and when that happens there is no other solution but to fire him. Frazier takes over as interim head coach to finish out the year. After the year finishes out, the Triangle of authority is laid to rest and Spielman is promoted to GM to avoid situations like this where the coach can make roster based decisions on his own.


Sorry about this massive review of the past few years, I just felt like it needed to be done.

The top reasons Childress was an awful coach.

1. He sucked on game day. Seriously, he was dreadfully bad, the guy never made adjustments because his system never changed. If it didn't work he would say "the players just need to execute it better." The guy couldn't manage a clock to save his life and I still think to this day, he's the only coach I've ever seen with 1:20 left in the game, with NO TIME OUTS LEFT, punt the ball away on 4th down when we were LOSING THE GAME. Big surprise the other team kneeled down 3 times and the game was over. Just mind bogglingly bad clock management.

2. He was just too god damn stubborn with a gigantic ego. Refering back to #1 his system and schemes were perfect in his eyes, if they weren't working the players just weren't doing it right. The "kick #### offense" will forever be a complete joke. Who cuts a guy the team had just traded for a few weeks ago? That's absolutely unheard of, unless of course you're Brad Childress, rule with an iron fist!

3. The way he handled players and the "delicate" side of things made him look like a complete inhuman ####. He docked Troy Williamson a week's worth of pay for going to his grand mothers funeral. He cut Marcus Robinson on Christmas eve and of course cutting Randy Moss the way he did. The way he screwed over Sage Rosenfels, screwed Gus Frerrote, and even screwed Tjackson to some extent.

4. Matt Birk takes less money to play for the Ravens and Sharper leaves for NO. If you believe in your coach, your team, you don't do what birk did. He's from minnesota, he went to harvard so he's obviously pretty damn smart but he wasn't gonna play for Childress. In Sharper's case he was fed up with the way he was being utilized in the conventional cover 2 scheme childress wanted run. The phrase Square peg round hole was practically an every day occurrence though.

5. Telegraphed offense - The guy would literally bring in Jeff Dugan, Tahi and Jim Kliensauser for running plays and sub Shiancoe back in on passes, before Favre got here and told Chilly to F off you could literally predict the plays with 90% accuracy.

6. He lost the team, as I said earlier that's the ultimate sign of a bad coach in my book. Players are smart, they know football, if you ask them to bang thier heads against the wall over and over eventually they're going to realize you don't know what you're talking about. If you want to remember 2009 then remember the players busting their butts and overcoming such a poor leader. Childress was such a negative influence on the team that he cost them games. Before he was fired, Childress went 3-7, when the team wasn't completely stacked around him that's the guy's true coaching level, 3 and 7. Of course it might have been worse but Wilf stopped the bleeding there, thank goodness for such a good owner! (HAHAHA ON TOPIC WOOT!)

P.S. The one yard dump off's to Tahi in the kick #### offense are probably going to give me nightmares again. I had locked them away into a deep dark place they were never suppose to resurface again...

Sorry for this post, seriously, I think Childress is the only person I've never met that I absolutely hate with a passion. I would poop in his cheerios if given the chance. I might need therapy... then again we're all vikings fans, we probably all could use some therapy LOL!

This pretty much sums up on why we all hate Childress

[vikeinmontana]

I am completely speechless, there is someone who would consider childress a good coach on this board? I'm hesitant because I don't want to fall for the bait if this is just a troll but I simply can't help myself.

Where does one even begin when describing the ineptitude of Brad childress?! I'll need a moment... I never thought this day would actually come...

First, let me start off by saying that sure, while he was here, the organization which included him, the Wilfs, Spielman, and Rob Brzezinski as the Triangle of Authority managed to acquire talent for what was already a very talented team. When Childress was hired, he himself stated this was a "plum" job. The team had a stable of solid veteran players in Antoine Winfield, Kevin Williams, Pat Williams, Darren Sharper, Chris Kluwe, Brad Johnson, Matt Birk, Jimmy Kliensausser, Bryant Mckinnie, and Mewelde Moore.

Now, Red Mcombs had the team so far under the salary cap, the first thing the organization (yes childress was a part of it, but let's thank the wilfs for not being tight wads to make it all possible!) could do was make a massive splash in free agency. We signed Chester Taylor, Visante Shiancoe, Ryan Longwell, E.J. Henderson, Ben Leber, Steve Hutchinson, Tony Richardson, Dwight Smith, Nafahu Tahi, Artis Hicks, and Brooks balls out Bollinger. There are more but I doubt anyone would even recognize the names so I'm stopping there. My point is, there was a lot of talent on this team before he got here, and the organization improved it further. He was part of it so he'll get some credit for that but he himself did not develop any of these players.

With all that in mind, Mike Tice went 9-7 with the team in 2005 and was fired by Wilf. After all that spending and bringing in what we now know are quality players, Childress went 6-10 which was 3 games worse than Mike Tice's shoe string budget team.

The 2006 draft starts the beginning of the end for what is arguable the worst job of handling the QB position we've probably ever seen as Vikings fans. Childress needs his QB and so we trade up into the second round to take Tarvaris Jackson, at the time you might have said WHO? Jackson wasn't even expected to be drafted IIRC, he went to a small ball school in Alabama State but this was Childress' Mcnabb clone.

In 2007, we had a minor miracle happen in that Adrian Peterson fell to us at the #7 spot. This pick would redefine our franchise and as we know now, Peterson is on path to become one of the greatest of all time. The problem in 2007 is that Peterson alone was enough to improve the win loss record in which the team finished 8-8, still one game worse than Mike Tice's squad 2 years ago, I wonder how he would have done with an Adrian Peterson on the team and that kind of budget?

In 2008 we needed even more to push us over the top. The organization traded a bunch of picks to get Jared Allen and of course with hindsight now we know what a tremendous player he has been. The team also signs a notable name back to the team for another stint in Gus Frerrote (foreshadowing!) After an unacceptable 0-2 start Childress does something ballzy, he benches his pet project Tjackson to go with the Vet Frerrote. That's all fine and dandy but in week 14 after getting the Vikes back to 8-5 frerrote get's hurt and Jackson has to take over. That's obviously not the issue, after Frerrote get's healthy and the Vikings make the playoffs, Childress sticks with Jackson only for the Vikings to lose 26-14 to the Eagles in which the offense struggles and Jackson throws a pick 6 to Asante Samuel. Most would argue that after going 8-3 Frerrote had earned the right to be the starter, a dick move demoting the guy during an injury. Finally after all of this, 1 game better than Tice.

In 2009 of course there is a lot of controversy. We let Gus go and bring in Sage Rosenfels. He's told he'll be able to compete with Jackson for the starting job. However, Childress comes up with a new idea, we'll pursue Brett Favre and in the end, sage AND Jackson get dicked over. As fans we'll take Brett Favre but it's an awful way to manage your team when you're telling guys one thing and end up doing another. Of course he didn't care, his master plan was all that mattered.

So with yet another super star player acquired surely this is the year. The Vikings look incredible and at 9-1 look like a sure thing to lock up the #1 seed. However, we go 1-3 in our next 4 games and this is when the reports of Favre and Childress clashing start to surface. Childress hell bent on controlling Favre seemingly demanded the offense be run exactly how he wanted it with no audibles and standard run, run, short pass sequences. The Vikings lost to a bad Panthers team QB'd by Matt Moore 26 to 7. The following week against the bears we didn't score a single point before half time. The once unstoppable Vikings offense could only manage 7 points in 1.5 games, Childress had successfully neutered Favre and we were back to chili ball. (see my Avatar)

I still remember the near come back attempt in the second half against the bears where Favre finally says "screw this" and audibles out of a running play, throws a touch down pass and the look on Childress face was just pure disgust, he had been defied and this was after the team scored a freaking touch down! Only Brett Favre's Ego was an equal match for Childress and while we still lost that game, the vikings scored THIRTY POINTS in the second half. It was literally like flipping a light switch from Hand Cuffed Favre to shackles off blowing up the defense Favre. Brad Childress' stubbornness and ego had cost the Vikings home field advantage throughout the playoffs and imo, a superbowl appearance, we murder the saints at home.

2010 is when the wheels pretty much fell off the wagon. Childress hatches a plan to get rid of Sage Rosenfels, a guy spielman wanted and brought to the team. He notices that Joe Webb guy looks an awful lot like Mcnabb out there, why don't we make him a QB? The team continues to persuade Favre to come back for one more go at it and he reluctantly returns. This gives Childress the green light in his mind and he trades the only other resemblance of a QB on the roster in Sage as well as Darius Reynaud to the Giants for a 5th and 7th round pick.

The Bye week comes early this year in week 4 and we're sadly 1-2. We simply need MOAR!1!1 and the team sends a 3rd round pick to New England for Randy Moss. However it doesn't help at all and within a few weeks Childress act's alone and cuts Randy Moss making the franchise look like a total joke. This is ultimately the straw that breaks the camels back for the Wilfs, Childress had already lost a good portion of the team and when that happens there is no other solution but to fire him. Frazier takes over as interim head coach to finish out the year. After the year finishes out, the Triangle of authority is laid to rest and Spielman is promoted to GM to avoid situations like this where the coach can make roster based decisions on his own.


Sorry about this massive review of the past few years, I just felt like it needed to be done.

The top reasons Childress was an awful coach.

1. He sucked on game day. Seriously, he was dreadfully bad, the guy never made adjustments because his system never changed. If it didn't work he would say "the players just need to execute it better." The guy couldn't manage a clock to save his life and I still think to this day, he's the only coach I've ever seen with 1:20 left in the game, with NO TIME OUTS LEFT, punt the ball away on 4th down when we were LOSING THE GAME. Big surprise the other team kneeled down 3 times and the game was over. Just mind bogglingly bad clock management.

2. He was just too god damn stubborn with a gigantic ego. Refering back to #1 his system and schemes were perfect in his eyes, if they weren't working the players just weren't doing it right. The "kick #### offense" will forever be a complete joke. Who cuts a guy the team had just traded for a few weeks ago? That's absolutely unheard of, unless of course you're Brad Childress, rule with an iron fist!

3. The way he handled players and the "delicate" side of things made him look like a complete inhuman ####. He docked Troy Williamson a week's worth of pay for going to his grand mothers funeral. He cut Marcus Robinson on Christmas eve and of course cutting Randy Moss the way he did. The way he screwed over Sage Rosenfels, screwed Gus Frerrote, and even screwed Tjackson to some extent.

4. Matt Birk takes less money to play for the Ravens and Sharper leaves for NO. If you believe in your coach, your team, you don't do what birk did. He's from minnesota, he went to harvard so he's obviously pretty damn smart but he wasn't gonna play for Childress. In Sharper's case he was fed up with the way he was being utilized in the conventional cover 2 scheme childress wanted run. The phrase Square peg round hole was practically an every day occurrence though.

5. Telegraphed offense - The guy would literally bring in Jeff Dugan, Tahi and Jim Kliensauser for running plays and sub Shiancoe back in on passes, before Favre got here and told Chilly to F off you could literally predict the plays with 90% accuracy.

6. He lost the team, as I said earlier that's the ultimate sign of a bad coach in my book. Players are smart, they know football, if you ask them to bang thier heads against the wall over and over eventually they're going to realize you don't know what you're talking about. If you want to remember 2009 then remember the players busting their butts and overcoming such a poor leader. Childress was such a negative influence on the team that he cost them games. Before he was fired, Childress went 3-7, when the team wasn't completely stacked around him that's the guy's true coaching level, 3 and 7. Of course it might have been worse but Wilf stopped the bleeding there, thank goodness for such a good owner! (HAHAHA ON TOPIC WOOT!)

P.S. The one yard dump off's to Tahi in the kick #### offense are probably going to give me nightmares again. I had locked them away into a deep dark place they were never suppose to resurface again...

Sorry for this post, seriously, I think Childress is the only person I've never met that I absolutely hate with a passion. I would poop in his cheerios if given the chance. I might need therapy... then again we're all vikings fans, we probably all could use some therapy LOL!

that was incredible. without coming across as disrespectful...i too was perplexed on how to go about this thread because i was shocked to find there was a person that thought he was a good coach. love that you mentioned clock management. that game was a debacle. i remember breaking something in my living room after that one. we punt?! kneel, kneel, kneel, vikes lose. shocking.

i'm sorry, the guy was an idiot. frazier is already a better coach than childress ever was, which is why you'll never see childress as a head coach in the nfl again.

[Reignman]

So many people take digs at Childress on this board...

on WAVF I remember sticking up for Childress. I was one of the very few

It looks like you already knew, so did you really need to send mondry into therapy mode to get an answer to your Childress inquiry lol?

That was a nicely written response by mondry though. From a guy that sounds like he had a lot of Childress related weight sitting on his chest lol. I can't think of anything to add. His lack of clock management and stubbornness with TJack were my biggest gripes. That and trying to handcuff Favre during that epic run. But yeah, the fact that he was fired by Cleveland after just 1 year as OC and is now the Chiefs "spread game analyst" (geez Andy Reid didn't even want him back at OC) instead of getting another head coaching job should say a lot.

I more wonder why Childress was even hired to begin with. I was never excited about his hiring. The pickings must have been pretty slim at the time. Who else did we inteview? Al Saunders, Jim Caldwell, and Ted Cottrell? 3 offensive minded and 1 defensive minded. I assume we wanted to go in an offensive direction and the Childress offense sounded more kick #### than that of Saunders or Caldwell? Although as offensive coordinator in Philly he didn't even call the plays, so what made his offense so kick ####?

As far as Wilf goes, he hired Childress, haha kidding ... he also fired Childress (and Tice who I also wasn't very fond of) so he's growing on me. At first he seemed to be running the Vikings like a fan who had won some sweepstakes to run an NFL franchise for a year. But now that he seems more willing to allow football guys make more of the football decisions, I feel a little more comfortable. And I thought he handled the stadium issue about as well as an owner could.

[Funkytown]

I am completely speechless, there is someone who would consider childress a good coach on this board? I'm hesitant because I don't want to fall for the bait if this is just a troll but I simply can't help myself.

For you...and the few others who said that I said Childress is a "good coach"...would you mind showing me where? I don't believe I said that. I remember saying stuff like..."I liked him just fine" and..."it doesn't exactly surprise me that he isn't referred to as a "good coach" because I wouldn't refer to many coaches in the NFL as "good" and...just because he isn't a "good coach" doesn't mean he is the worst ever...and basically, despite his downfalls...he DID do some good things and was part of some GREAT memories. Where in that did I say that Brad Childress is a big sexy bald stud, and he's the greatest Vikings coach of all time?!?! Where? Wow. I guess I can't "like" Childress around here. I get it. Holy macaroni. Sorry that I don't hate him....not.

And the fact that you referred to me as a "troll" when I've been around for a few months now...and have had well over 300 posts...that is a pretty foolish comment. And honestly, thanks for writing the 42-page response, but you lost me after the troll comment. I didn't read it.

And without reading it, I'll sum it up:

Brad Childress=Head coach=Gets minimal credit and most of the blame.

Got it.

[Funkytown]

Bald Clueless' first order of business was jettisoning Culpepper, because he wasn't "his" guy and wanted a new contract. I mean 'Pep wasn't never the same again but still. His 2nd order of business was poison pilling Hutchinson away from Seattle. We all loved Hutch and that was a great move for us but that's pretty much an unwritten rule in NFL circles that you just don't do that.



He once fined Troy Williamson for missing practice to attend his grandmothers funeral.

He almost fist fought Williamson and Percy Harvin. Moss and Favre told him too. And there's rumors he had heated exchanges with Darren Sharper and Matt Birk as well.

He cut Marcus Robinson on Christmas day, a few days before the final game of a lost season. There was also some controversy around the way he cut Bobby Wade too. Then there's that whole, trade a 3rd for Moss and cut him 3 weeks later without the consent Spielman and Zygi, because he didn't like you or your catering, thing.

He was a pretty bad evaluator of talent, especially at QB. He collected scrubs he used to have with the Eagles (Holcomb, Tapeh, McMullen, etc). T-Jack was his reach pet project and he would even have him rotating from starter and backup. Regardless of how bad Jackson was, continuing to start, then bench, then try to replace him is not the way you develop a young QB.

He was a pretty terrible in game coach as well. 12 men in the huddle was just the icing on the cake. Poor uses of timeouts, challenges, 3rd down calls, etc. He once Punted when they Vikings were losing with 2 min left and no timeouts, only to never see the ball again. (I think this was against the Titans in 08).


He was just bad. In a way though it was a blessing in disguise, as some else said, because it made Zygi change the organizational structure.

Responding to a few posts at once here....

I do remember a lot of this being discussed. Regardless, did he win games? I thought he won 6, then 8, then 10, then 12? That all happened in spite of him? I highly doubt that. So the team just kept getting better and better around him without his help? Then they just decided to give up on him, THEMSELVES, the owners, the fans, and the state of Minnesota in '10? So...the players are to blame for the mess of '10 and '11? Which is it? Because if the players get most of the credit for the improvements and success of '08 and '09 then they would get most of the blame to follow, right? Or does that only work for negativity concerning the coach?