Brad Childress Receives Contract Extension. Chillyball Thru 2013.

ESPN is reporting that Brad Childress has received a contract extension through the 2013 season, which will pay him between $4 and $5 million per year.

In other words, barring any unforeseen changes in the team’s fortunes, Chillyball will be in effect long after Brett Favre is gone, and even after the Metrodome lease has expired, forcing the team to move to Los Angeles.

The obvious question now is:  Does Chilly deserve this extension?

On the basis of this season, the answer would have to be yes.  The Vikings are 8-1 largely thanks to Chilly begging Brett Favre to come out of retirement and save him from the quarterback fiasco he created by reaching to draft the clueless Tarvaris Jackson.  Plus, Chilly was responsible for drafting Percy Harvin, after paying a personal visit to Percy’s family to see if he was as big a potential turd as many supposed draft experts claimed he was.

Chilly also rolled the dice on the Jared Allen trade, bringing in the All-Pro defensive end at a time when he was one strike away from being suspended a season under the substance abuse policy.  Allen has kept his nose clean since then, while developing into a major media presence and an all-around crazy mofo.

And of course there was Chilly’s move to draft Adrian Peterson even though many thought him injury-prone.  In three seasons, Peterson already has over 4,000 yards, and has developed a reputation as one of the most irresistible forces in the NFL.

Did I mention that Chilly also drafted Sidney Rice, signed Bernard Berrian and plucked Visanthe Shiancoe out of obscurity to give him a starting job?

The point I’m making here is, a lot of Chilly’s success has come about because of personnel decisions which were not entirely his (Rick Spielman and Rob Brzezinski deserve props too, as do the Wilfs for opening their pocket books and leaving them open).  Chilly does apparently deserve most of the credit  for the biggest personnel decision of his entire career and potentially the entire history of the Vikings:  adding #4 to the mix.

Whether Chilly is as much an offensive and game-managing mastermind as he is an apparent talent-recognition guru remains an open question.  Some would argue that the team has won, at times, in spite of Chilly.  Others would probably say “Hey, you’ve hammered the guy for years for running a boring offense, now we have an awesome offense so give him his props.”

Maybe Chilly deserves those props.  The question here is, does he deserve them to the tune of $4-5 million per year for the next 4 seasons?

Like I said before, 2013 will carry Chilly well beyond Brett Favre’s retirement (unless Brett plans on playing till he’s 44).  The offense was mediocre before Favre, it has become explosive with Favre, and after Favre leaves?  Who knows.

Only thing I’m sure of is, when Chilly starts collecting on the new contract, his first move should be to cut Brett a check.  Cause without Favre here doing what he’s been doing, this extension would not have happened.