Childress: Training Camp Not Soft

It’s been suggested by certain members of the media that the Vikings are going too easy on their players in training camp this year.  I couldn’t really say because I don’t get to see the sessions…I do know that the team has only been in full pads 4 times out of 26 practices, which doesn’t seem like a very high percentage.  Brad Childress, being the coach, has had to answer these accusations of softness, and he doesn’t seem to be taking it very well.  He even whipped out the old “if you think it’s so easy why don’t you try it” argument:

"You guys want to select [a reporter] and we’ll put him in just shoulder pads out here and come out for a 9-on-7 someday.  You guys go ahead. You need to sign a waiver, and I’d be happy to put you out there in the 9-on-7. And then you could comment afterward on if you think it’s soft or not."

This remark makes me want to slap the moustache right off Childress’s face.  Of course Chilly, we know that a normal person participating in even the easiest of football practices would probably get beat up by it…we’re not pro athletes.  The issue here, however, isn’t whether the practices would be rough for a fat, doughnut-chomping reporter or blogger…it’s whether they’re too easy for football players attempting to prepare for a 16-game NFL season.  Your evasion is weak and frankly disrespectful, and I wish one of the reports had called you on it to your face.  But of course they’re too afraid of losing access.  I, being a nobody who can only observe this stuff from afar, don’t have to worry about that, so I can call you on your lame-ass remarks all I want.  I can even call you Prince Poopyface if I feel like it.

I was too nice before…now I’m going to come out and say it:  4 full-pad practices out of 26 is waaaay soft.  It’s coddling.  It’s a set-up for disaster.  I wonder how some of the new guys like Bernard Berrian and Jared Allen feel.  Do they think it’s soft compared to what they’ve had in the past?  This is going to come back and bite Chilly right in the ass.  If the team shows signs of not being physical and tough enough…he’s going to get hammered and frankly I’ll enjoy it.