Is Childress on the Hot Seat?
By Jon Merckle
Another day, another story involving one of the Bs. Today it was Brad. Michael Silver of Yahoo Sports reported that some in the organization believed that Brad Childress would have been fired had the Vikings failed to beat the Dallas Cowboys and been replaced with defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. Silver also goes on to say he wonders if we lose the Patriots that Childress could possibly be canned. For those that do not read a significant amount of Silver’s stories, he has developed a history of having a negative tone when discussing the Vikings. Not saying that’s a good or bad thing, just the way Silver is. At any rate, Judd Zulgad of the Star Tribune dismissed those rumors on how Childress was safe regardless of the outcome of the Cowboys game.
If Childress were to be fired, Vikings fans would either rejoice or feel this would be a desperate move for a franchise that has seen it’s season unravel. No grey area in sentiment there.
From a business sense however, it would come as a shock to see Childress lose his job during the 2010 season. Beyond him signing a contract extension last November, too many coaches right now are on the hot seat (Jack Del Rio, John Fox, Wade Phillips, Mike Singletary, etc) and not one has lost their job up to this point. Owners seem to be borderline frightened on the possibility of a lockout with so much uncertainty surrounding the CBA. I could only speculate as to how the Wilfs view Childress on this day, but a dollar saved now on not having to pay a severance and paying someone else to coach certainly leads to more money in the bank if there is no football in 2011.
Jon Merckle may be followed on Twitter @thevikingpig