Archive for November, 2010

Sean Jensen made waves the other day when he published several scathing anti-Brad Childress quotes by several unidentified Vikings players.  Among these quotes was the memorable statement, “As much as I hate Childress, I will keep playing.” As of today, the identities of the Chilly-bashers remains a closely-guarded secret. One thing that isn’t a secret?  Pat Williams’ feelings about unnamed sources.  Pat made it very clear during media access on Thursday that he has no time for folks who anonymously bash other folks, even if those folks are named Brad Childress. “I don’t know,” Williams said when asked about the [...]

Don’t be alarmed if you happen to see Visanthe Shiancoe carrying a dart gun at Soldier Field come Sunday.  He’s just out to bag some big game…that goes by the name of Julius Peppers. As Shiancoe explained to reporters on Thursday, “You can’t have no wild lion [like Peppers] running around the neighborhood, you know? … We’ve got to tranquilize his ass.” Shiancoe clearly remembers the last time the Vikings faced Peppers.  As a member of the Carolina Panthers, Peppers abused Bryant McKinnie, finally forcing Brad Childress to yank McKinnie from the game.  Peppers finished with 1 sack and 3 [...]

Bernard Berrian was so much more likable versus the Arizona Cardinals. Those flashy penalty flag looking yellow shoes provided style and 9 receptions for 89 yards on vastly improved chemistry with Brett Favre provided substance. But the NFL has again proved that they hate the Vikings (Ray Edwards words, not mine) by fining Berrian $5000. Before we complain too much about this, the NFL does have a rule that teams must report to the league what color uniform and shoes they will wear and that individual players are not allowed to deviate from that color. Remember when Peyton Manning wanted [...]

This is turning into Groundhog Day. Percy Harvin’s fine, Percy has migraines. Percy’s “bright eyed” as Chilly would say, Percy needs to see a specialist at Mayo. At any rate, I’ve lost count on the number of practices Percy has missed over the past two years with migraine headaches. They’ve only cost him to miss one game in his career and the sleep machine he apparently uses now appears to have mitigated the problem to a certain extent. We’ll know more later in the week on his status versus the Bears. His ankle is also not 100%, but Percy has [...]

Sean Jensen has moved on from the St. Paul Pioneer-Press to the Chicago Sun-Times, but clearly, he still has a lot of sources on the Vikings.  And what these sources are saying about Brad Childress and the team’s relationship with him can’t be encouraging to Chilly or reassuring to Zygi Wilf. In his Wednesday piece, Jensen relays some very strong comments from unnamed Vikings players concerning Childress.  On the subject of why no players came forward to publicly support Childress even after Sunday’s season-saving win over the Cardinals, one Viking said, “We know that Childress doesn’t have our backs, so [...]

So is everything cool between Brad Childress and his players now or not?  Is there still locker room tension after a string of incidents including the Randy Moss release and a dust-up with Percy Harvin that almost ended in a fight, or did Sunday’s come-from-behind win over the Cardinals quiet all that? To be honest, it still seems that, in spite of the victory, Vikings players are not all that high on Chilly. After Sunday’s win, multiple Vikings were asked if their rally was motivated by a desire to save Childress’ job.  Every player answered by saying they did it [...]

Anyone wanting to know what has been wrong with the Vikings in 2010 need only look at the tape of Sunday’s 27-24 win over the Cardinals.  Nearly every issue that has plagued the team this year cropped up during the course of that game:  penalties, turnovers, special teams breakdowns, lack of pass pressure, pass protection failures including missed blitz pick-ups by running backs, inconsistent quarterbacking, questionable playcalling.  By the mid-point of the fourth quarter it appeared the Vikings had finally crumbled under the weight of all these accumulated problems – most of which, I don’t need to point out, were [...]

To the dismay of many in Viking Nation, Brad Childress‘ job appears to be safe for one more week.  This after the Vikings rallied from 24-10 down to record a stunning 27-24 overtime win over the Arizona Cardinals. For a moment, it really looked like we had seen the last of Chilly as Vikings coach.  After looking totally flat in the first half, the Vikings started the second half by watching Percy Harvin fumble the opening kickoff to the Cardinals’ Michael Adams who returned it for the touchdown, giving Arizona a 21-10 lead.  Those who had already given up on [...]

The season flashed before the Vikings eyes early today against the Cardinals, when Brett Favre threw a pick to Kerry Rhodes that looked like it was going for a touchdown.  But Greg Camarillo, in a heroic effort, chased Rhodes down from behind, forcing a fumble that bounced out of the end zone for a touchback.  That play may have saved the Vikings’ season and Brad Childress‘ job. Or maybe not.  Because since then, the Vikings’ defense has gone in the tank the same way they did in the second half against the Patriots last week.  A combination of poor coverage [...]

More details are coming up about the little practice dust-up between Brad Childress and Percy Harvin on Friday.  Previously, we had been told that Chilly and Harvin got into a “heated argument” after Childress questioned Harvin’s effort on the practice field.  Now, ESPN’s Ed Werder is saying the altercation between coach and receiver actually went beyond a mere exchange of words.  Sources say Harvin and Childress came close to getting physical with each other, and had to be separated. Here’s the amusing part for those who’ve made a hobby out of hating Childress:  after the near-fight, one of Harvin’s teammates [...]