Mike Florio revels in his reputation as one of the top provocateurs on the sports internet, and I have to confess I find the guy pretty amusing even though I know 90% of what he posts is bullcrap.  There’s a limit to that amusement though and I think I found it this morning when I read his post about a video that’s surfaced of Mike Tice whooping it up with some fans - a video Florio claims shows Tice is a drunk and therefore not qualified to get a head coaching opportunity.  Here’s the video…you decide if you think Tice looks the least bit inebriated:

I live in Wisconsin so I know drunk…and that ain’t drunk. That’s happy. I don’t know why Florio would claim Tice looked drunk unless he had it in for Tice because he’s a Vikings fan who thinks the team’s reputation got run down over stuff that happened while Tice was coach, some of which wasn’t Tice’s direct fault. Anyone who thinks this video proves Tice isn’t qualified to be a coach is a flaming idiot. If acting silly with fans makes you unqualified to be associated with an NFL team, well, then Zygi Wilf needs to sell the Vikings:

Brad Childress may have gotten votes of confidence from both Zygi and Mark Wilf, but that doesn’t mean everyone currently employed by the Vikings organization is ready to also endorse him.  One guy not lining up to say nice things about Chilly is Gus Frerotte, who remains under contract with the Vikes until further notice.  Gus got the short end of the stick when Chilly decided to stay with Tarvaris Jackson even after his back fracture had healed well enough for him to play and, apparently, the veteran QB is bitter about the benching.  Frerotte told his buddy Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports:

I just don’t know what to think right now. It was a very frustrating experience, because I felt like I should’ve been the one playing. That might sound selfish, but I think I would’ve given us the best chance to win. I’m going home to St. Louis [on Monday] to be with my family and figure out where things stand, but the way things played out at the end really makes me question things.

Gus is referring mainly to the playoff game against the Eagles, which saw Tarvaris Jackson stink like the old Tarvaris Jackson through most of the second half.  So did Chilly make a mistake in not going to Gus when it looked like the Eagles had T-Jack completely confused?  It’s possible Gus might’ve done a better job reading the defense and might’ve delivered the big deep pass the team so sorely needed when the running game was being completely stifled…but it’s equally possible he would’ve gotten his head blasted off.  Either way, I think T-Jack earned the chance to be the man in the playoffs - he just didn’t deliver.  He’ll be back next year and Gus won’t.

The Vikings‘ wild roller coaster season came to an abrupt and disappointing end Sunday afternoon at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles, who gave our boys a nice lesson in how a real team goes about its business in the playoffs.  Hopefully the Vikings were paying close attention so that, if they make it in again next year, they will know how to utilize their big offensive weapons.  Adrian Peterson was completely shut down in the second half; meanwhile, Brian Westbrook, who did almost nothing himself most of the game, caught a screen pass and ran 71 yards to score the touchdown that buried the Purple.  They don’t call Westbrook a game-breaking running back for nothing.  Peterson did his own game-breaking in the first half with a 40-yard touchdown run, but in the second half he might as well have been Adrian Zmed or Adrian the Wife of Rocky.  Of course, Peterson’s own apparent tentativeness - don’t tell me the fumble talk hasn’t gotten to him because I know it has - was only part of the problem.  The rest was the play of quarterback Tarvaris Jackson who, after looking like a real football player for a couple of weeks, reverted to the old T-Jack of bad overthrows, horrendous underthrows and balls so far behind receivers they’d have to have arms like that chick from The Incredibles to even get a finger on them.

Tarvaris was always the weak link in the chain, but at least for awhile he seemed to be improving.  Now it becomes apparent that his success was at least partly a product of the defenses the Vikings were facing in those games down the stretch.  The Cardinals, Falcons and second-string Giants presented much less of a problem than the Eagles, who play D with a ferocity not seen since Kirstie Alley last hit the buffet.  Jackson couldn’t find an open receiver to save his life, so he threw to covered ones - and miraculously only got picked off once, by Asante Samuel, who ran it back for a touchdown to give Philly a big first half lead.  Tarvaris then impressed everyone by leading the Vikes on a snappy answering scoring drive, punctuated by an Adrian Peterson TD run - but that was the last time Jackson would give the impression of being a viable playoff quarterback.  He spent the entire second half looking more lost than Miley Cyrus in a library.  Not that his receivers, running backs or coaches did him any favors.  This loss was a total team effort, an act of collective inadequacy.  Even the normally stalwart defense got in on it by electing not to tackle Brian Westbrook after he caught that screen pass.

The defense does deserve plenty of praise, that one bad play notwithstanding.  We wouldn’t even have been in the game if it hadn’t been for Leslie Frazier’s squad.  We spent the whole first half giving the Eagles great field position, because our punting game is flat-out atrocious, and the defense kept holding them to field goal attempts.  The leader was once again Jared Allen, who must’ve been the best off-season acquisition in the league with the possible exception of Michael Turner.  Jared played like a wild, uncaged beast in his first ever playoff game, notching two sacks and forcing Donovan McNabb into a critical fumble.  That forced fumble would’ve gone down as the play of the game if only the Vikes had been able to cash in on it with points.  Changing momentum doesn’t mean squat if your offense can’t hold it and build on it.  The defense, for much of the season, looked like a better-coached squad than the offense, and such was the case on Sunday too.  This is why so many Vikings fans are calling for Brad Childress to be fired and Leslie Frazier promoted to head coach…before some team like the Lions or Jets snaps Frazier up.

Childress spent the whole season irritating fans with his game-planning, personnel management and overall handling of game situations, and Sunday’s loss only raised more questions.  Chilly already had a long list of head-scratchers on his resume before his odd decision to run on first down with the clock running out and one time out left, the kind of thing you do if you’re looking to just surrender and go into the half, then throw on second down as if he suddenly decided to get aggressive.  Maybe he thought running on first down would make the Eagles relax and give up a big pass play?  I don’t know.  The Eagles of course were not fooled and the Vikings ended up having to punt - a very bad result given the problems they’ve had all season covering punts.  Thankfully Philly didn’t score, otherwise the drumbeat for Childress to be fired would be louder than the noise of a thousand Bernard Madoff cronies shooting themselves in rapid succession.  It’s already pretty loud as it is.  And the availability of such former Super Bowl-winning coaches as Mike Shanahan and Brian Billick will only add to the cries for Zygi Wilf to make a change. Unfortunately for the Chilly-haters, Wilf seems to have already made up his mind.  Childress will be the coach next year, and all indications are that Tarvaris Jackson will still be the quarterback.  For Vikings fans, the angst never ends.

I know a lot of people want Brad Childress fired and Tarvaris Jackson dumped, but neither looks like it’s going to happen, at least going by the various endorsements and votes of confidence that have come out in the hours since the season ended.  Childress, the architect of what many people view as a sub-par offensive scheme, has already received words of support from members of the Wilf family, including Zygi’s brother Mark who was quoted by Sid Hartman:

“We have a great team, we have a lot to be proud of this year and there’s something to build on for next year,” Wilf said. “But it’s obviously very disappointing, and we’ll move on.”

Asked whether Childress and his staff will be back, Wilf, the younger brother of owner and chairman Zygi Wilf, replied, “Absolutely.”

It would be pretty hard to justify firing a coach after he led the team to a 10-6 record and a playoff berth.  I still think changes could be made on the staff however - maybe a new offensive coordinator to bring some fresh ideas to the mix, instead of Darrell Bevell who seems in absolute mindless lock-step with the Childress version of reality.

Tarvaris Jackson is a little different matter.  He may have played well down the stretch, but there’s plenty of reason to justify looking for a different quarterback to take over in 2009.  Unfortunately for those who wish T-Jack would just go away, he appears to have the full support of his teammates who were not shy in offering their endorsements (via the Pioneer-Press):

Tight end Visanthe Shiancoe and receivers Bernard Berrian and Bobby Wade emphatically backed Jackson for the ‘09 campaign.

Said Shiancoe: “I’m not thinking about any other quarterback in the offseason, at all. I feel like he’s the man. He’s proved that he can make plays.”

Said Berrian: “You see all the intangibles. He’s got the physical tools. It’s a matter of us helping him out and not leaving him out there on his own.”

Said Wade: “There’s no doubt (he should start). He is what we need.”

Those are meaningful words of support for Jackson, coming from people whose own numbers depend on his play.  Others outside the team disagree that Jackson is the man however.  Here’s what venerable Star-Trib columnist Patrick Reusse had to say:

There was a single conclusion to be drawn from Sunday’s drama for the Purple zealots who chose to be rational rather than rage-filled over this sound 26-14 defeat:

The Vikings have regained contending status after a bleak decade, and that means the priority for this offseason is more clearly than ever to find a starting quarterback.

He can’t be too old, since the Vikings already have one of those in Gus Frerotte, and he must bring talent and confidence, both qualities that Jackson appears to be lacking.

A little harsh from Reusse.  I personally don’t think Jackson is “lacking talent” and there are times where he appears to have plenty of confidence.  What I think he lacks is the instinct to be a real playmaker like Donovan McNabb, a guy who can take a busted play and make something out of it.  The most damning evidence against T-Jack yesterday, to me, was not his bad throwing but his lack of running.  What the team needed more than anything was for T-Jack to make a few plays with his feet and get the Eagles off-balance, but Jackson preferred to plant himself in the pocket and, when he got into trouble, throw the ball away rather than run.

I do agree with Reusse that, if the Vikings go looking for a quarterback this off-season, even just to be a back-up or perhaps compete with Jackson in camp, they need to go a lot younger than Gus Frerotte (whose Viking career should now be over).  The free agent list doesn’t offer a whole lot of possibilities unless you have a thing for J.P. Losman or Kyle Boller.  There’s also the trade route which once looked like it might lead to Donovan McNabb - until Donovan got into the playoffs and won a playoff game, likely saving his job in Philly for at least one more year.  Perhaps the Vikes could revisit Sage Rosenfels.  If anyone says Brett Favre I’ll sock them.

All right I confess the headline is a little bit of a hype-job…Wade didn’t actually “call out” Childress but he did raise questions in a post game interview about the offensive adjustments that he believes were not made coming out of the half.  The quote I have - and I didn’t hear it myself but am getting this off a message board - is, “There were adjustments that could’ve been made and should’ve been made, but for whatever reason we came out in the second half doing the same thing…”  To be fair, the Vikings actually came out looking pretty frisky throwing screens to Jim Kleinsasser.  And then…well, not much good happened after that.  I thought it was simply a matter of the Eagles defense bearing down on third down and preventing those big conversions the Vikings were making in the first half.  I don’t know exactly what adjustments Mr. Wade would’ve suggested.  More throws to him?  Jackson wasn’t hitting anyone in the second half.  I thought he just unraveled.

The Vikings‘ season ended this afternoon with a 26-14 loss to the Eagles.  The Viking defense put forth a valiant effort but one huge play by Brian Westbrook trashed all that.  Meanwhile, the Eagles defense completely shut down Tarvaris Jackson, Adrian Peterson and the Viking offense in the second half.  The biggest factor of all may have been the punting and punt coverage which conspired to tip the field position advantage too far in Philly’s favor.  That needs to be shored up for next season for sure…but, there will be plenty of time to talk about that stuff later.  Many months in fact.

I’ll be curious to hear what all the armchair quarterbacks on the call-in shows and message boards have to say about this one in the immediate aftermath.  Too simple to just hang it on Brad Childress and the offensive gameplan.  The Eagles have a great defense and today that defense was just too much for a quarterback making his first career playoff start.  The Philly offense wasn’t particularly impressive but Westbrook, a great player to be sure, made a great play when it was needed.  And though Donovan McNabb had pressure in his face all day, he was able to do enough to get his team the win.  The experience advantage at quarterback made all the difference in this game.

Both defenses have really clamped down in the second half.  Donovan McNabb has Brian Robison and Jared Allen both hanging off him like fungus and Tarvaris Jackson…well, he was decent in the first half outside of that pick, but hasn’t done much of anything since halftime.  Adrian Peterson and Brian Westbrook are both being stuffed right now.  The game seems like it’s going to turn on a big special teams play or a turnover.  The turn better happen fast for the Vikes cause they’re still down by two with only half a quarter remaining.

Update:  Three seconds after I posted this Brian Westbrook broke free on a screen pass and scored a 70-yard touchdown to make it 23-14 Eagles.  Barring a miracle, the Vikings’ season will end today.

Being a Vikings fan this year meant being on a roller coaster, not just from one game to the next but most of the time one play to the next.  And this has been no different today…except that the highs and lows feel even higher and lower because it’s a playoff game.  The lowest point so far was undoubtedly when Asante Samuel picked off Tarvaris Jackson - really bad throw by T-Jack - and ran it in for a touchdown to give the Eagles a 16-7 lead.  I’m sure I wasn’t the only Viking fan thinking it might be about time for Gus Frerotte right then.  But, as he’s done ever since being reinserted as the starter, T-Jack stuck it right in all us doubters’ faces by leading the team on a charge down the field, capped by an Adrian Peterson touchdown run to make it 16-14.  The Eagles then came back in the two minute drill but squandered their chance when Donovan McNabb was picked by Cedric Griffin.  Some typical Brad Childress indecisiveness and play-calling patty-cake actually gave the Eagles one more shot to set up a long field goal with less than 20 seconds left but the defense held and the deficit remained 2 going into the locker room.  The Vikings have a real shot to take over this game in the second half and march themselves right on to Carolina.  The Eagles could help themselves greatly by remembering they have Brian Westbrook.

…cause just when you’re starting to get down on the guy over fumbles and injuries - boom, 40 yards, touchdown, Vikings lead 7-6.  So far, Tarvaris Jackson is handling Philly’s pressure very well too and is delivering the ball.  And the defense has made some big plays to hold the Eagles to two field goals when they could’ve easily gone up 14-0.

The punt coverage hasn’t been good all season.  It wasn’t good today either when DeSean Jackson ran one back for a whole bunch, setting up the Eagles in good field position.  Thankfully, the Vikes got mucho pressure on Donovan McNabb and held Philly to a field goal.  The other major development, so far, was an injury to Adrian Peterson who had to briefly leave the game.  He got kind of crumpled and twisted while being tackled and complained of a bad neck.  Chester Taylor came in for him and, frankly, looked better.  Peterson’s ankle is clearly bothering him.  Tarvaris Jackson has made a couple good throws and also nearly got picked.  The Vikings appear to be having trouble with their communication system…both Tarvaris Jackson and Ben Leber have gestured at the sidelines as if they couldn’t hear the call through their helmet radios.