Another day, another drama with the Minnesota Vikings. For whatever reason this one feels more significant than others though.
To address the headline, I have been told by sources that Moss had a “blow up” following Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots where he confronted multiple Vikings coaches including head coach Brad Childress. Many things frustrated Moss; specifically how coaches ignored his advice earlier in the week on the Patriots defensive tendencies. Moss also on Sunday night gave a bizarre press conference both criticizing the Vikings coaching staff while also referring to Bill Belichick as the “Greatest Coach in the history of the NFL”. Moss also stayed in the New England area on Sunday night to be with family instead of traveling home with the team. Childress told his team that he waived Randy Moss this morning, however when Childress held his weekly press conference at 12:30 today no mention was made of this roster move.
This story is far from over. Moss did not appear on Monday’s waiver wire, so this would have to wait until Tuesday for the Vikings to officially cut him and allow other teams to place a claim. It’s also obvious that Brad Childress acted alone in this move within this last 24 hours. Childress does have the final say on who’s on the 53 and who is not, but what Childress fails to recognize is that while he’s coaching a losing team he does have is a beloved Minnesota sports figure back on the roster who puts fans in the seats for a team that is desperate need for a new stadium.
So again, where do we go from here? Obviously both Childress and Moss can’t stay with the Vikings and our front office has some key decisions to make within the next 24 hours…
Behind Door #1: Keep Childress, let Moss go, deal with an irate fan base, try to salvage any respect he has left of the locker room and hope that the same fan base comes around with hopes we win a stretch of games now having an easier schedule. After all, what fans care most about is winning.
Behind Door #2: Fire Childress, promote Leslie Frazier to Head Coach, keep Moss, maintain fan base and see how Frazier does coaching a talent laced team in what has been a very difficult season. There are thousands of Vikings fans (some of which have raised very valid points) who say “We have a major disdain for Brad Childress. Fire Him Now!” It must also be mentioned that Childress did receive a contract extension from Zygi Wilf for roughly $4 to $5 million a year to stay with the team through 2013. Buying Childress’s contract out would likely cost Wilf several million dollars, however if he believes that Frazier is to leave anyway after this season and it would appease the Vikings fan base (fans of any sports team are much more accepting of a team rebuilding while showing promise in comparison to a team that fails to deliver on lofty expectations)… Well that may make the most sense.
Jon Merckle may be followed on Twitter @thevikingpig