Troy Williamson still wants to fight former Vikings head coach
By Adam Carlson
There were many rumblings about unhappy players during the Brad Childress era of the Minnesota Vikings and some of the stories made their way through the sports media about how he would treat many of the younger players on the roster.
Troy Williamson was not exempt from this treatment, as his distaste for the former head coach from 2006 through 2010 is well known among fans of Minnesota, but the roots of the issue were never made crystal clear to fans.
Recently, during an appearance on Episode 37 of the Bleav in Vikings podcast, Williamson was a guest and spoke to Bryant McKinnie and Dustin Baker about some of his interactions with Coach Childress and, to be honest, some of the conversation paints Childress in a very poor light.
At around the 20-minute mark of the podcast, McKinnie recounted when a personal friend passed away and Childress guilted him into staying with the team during training camp instead of going to the funeral.
Williamson’s situation that led to a public chastising and being docked one game check was a bit different, as it was his grandmother and he needed time to mourn with his family. He was gone for a week, which is a more than reasonable amount of time to deal with a loss of that magnitude.
Fans with good memories will remember that Williamson offered to meet his former coach at the 50-yard line for a fight when his current team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, took on the Minnesota Vikings later in his carer.
The former Minnesota Vikings receiver’s feelings haven’t changed
When asked if Williamson and Childress have reached out to each other or been able to bury the hatchet over the years, it was quite clear from the conversation that nothing has been done to mend the fences of the former player-coach relationship and it remains personal to this day.
Troy Williamson said he would meet him on the 50-yard line right now for that fight and he could beat an apology out of Childress.
Perhaps Brad Childress doesn’t understand what he put his players through and was attempting to run a tight ship, but the former head coach definitely made some enemies during his time with the Minnesota Vikings and he shouldn’t expect a Christmas card from Troy Williamson or Bryant McKinnie anytime soon.