Conspiracy Theory: Did Sage Force Vikes Hand?

It’s a known fact that Sage Rosenfels outplayed Tarvaris Jackson in the 2010 Preseason. It’s a known fact that approximately 75% of devoted Vikings fans believe Sage Rosenfels should be second fiddle to only Brett Favre per polls on both The Viking Age and The Star Tribune. It’s also a known fact Brad Childress is loyal to Tarvaris Jackson as if he were his firstborn. But why? Why did Joe Webb get more reps in OTAs than Sage? Why a mere five days ago did Childress say “It’d probably be hard for it to change” on his BACKUP QB when about the same time last year Childress changed his starting QB quicker than a Zygi Wilf’s jet can fly from Mississippi to Minnesota. Yes, I know that compares a future HOFer to a career journeyman, but something in this whole thing just seems fishy.

Scroll back two weeks to August 18th when Yahoo’s Jason Cole wrote a story titled “Vikings coach loses cred in locker room”. In the story Cole quotes a Vikings player as saying “Brett thinks Childress has no clue about offense.” Cole later goes on to talk about how in the Vikings triangle of authority (Childress, VP of Player Personnel Rick Spielman and VP of football operations Rob Brzezinski) that ultimately Childress makes the final decisions.

So who was that anonymous Vikings player? Well we don’t know exactly. But like any business, NFL media to player contact works on relationships. In 2005, Jason Cole was cutting his teeth working for the Miami Herald covering the Dolphins while Rosenfels served as backup. Cole also wrote a story where Rosenfels talks openly about how fortunate he is to play a game for a living and goes into detail about his family. Uncovered is how Rosenfels father drives 300 miles per day selling wood stoves for a living and how his sister is quadriplegic and unable to communicate normally yet is still mentally sharp and earned her college degree.

Again, we at The Viking Age don’t claim to know anymore than the next group. But we have the questions for our readers. 1) Does anyone doubt that Rosenfels and Cole know one another on a personal and professional level? Cole also interviewed Rosenfels on July 28th, 2009 when Favre was going back and forth about whether to join forces with the Packer’s arch-rival. 2) Does anyone doubt that Brad Childress is stubborn and does away with most anything that makes him uncomfortable? After all, Cole quotes the same unknown Vikings player as saying, “He (Childress) has his way of doing things and that’s it.”

Jon Merckle may be followed on Twitter @thevikingpig