The press conference took approximately 20 minutes. Minnesota Vikings' head coach Brad Childress took about thirty seconds of that time to offer his "prepared" statements. Those statements, and the answers and non-answers to questions following therefrom offered further evidence that Childress simply is not meant to be the face or the mind behind an NFL football team.
Childress began his press conference by informing everyone of what they already knew, that the Vikings had waived wide-receiver Randy Moss. He then proceeded to throw everyone in the organization under the bus, before finally, absolutely begrudgingly acknowledging that coaching has something to do with the Vikings' current predicament.
"We need to catch the ball, throw the ball, and make plays on the ball better than we have," Childress said in response to a question regarding his decision to release Moss. Nowhere in that initial answer was there even a hint of Childress taking responsibility for the team's situation. That allowance came only at the tail-end of a response late in the testy press conference, during which Childress sounded like he had read the writing on the wall.
When questioned about his release of Moss, an explanation which seemed to be the entire purpose for the press conference, Childress offered that he was "not going to go there." He repeated this early and often. His only qualification to that poorly conceived response was that "it just didn't work--it just wasn't a good fit from a programmic [sic] perspective." Childress did allow that the decision to pick up Moss was on him, though the tab would be on the Wilfs. None of this makes the organization look good, none of it helps anyone.
After refusing to answer questions pertaining to the purpose of his press conference, Childress noted that he followed "process" in releasing Moss. When pressed, he stated that everyone in the organizational chain of command was in the loop prior to a decision being made and all but stated that he discussed the move with the Vikings' owners prior to making the decision. That, of course, debunks the Wilfs' claims of shock and dismay--and purported sense of helplessness--over the decision and should be recalled when our local octogenarian claims that "the Wilfs never supported the move and wanted to keep Moss."
More disturbing than Childress' refusal to answer straight-forward questions regarding his release of Moss was Childress continuing insistence on mischaracterizing information for which mischaracterizing serves no purpose. Like his childish misinformation regarding any number of previous acts, Childress claimed that, one hour prior to informing his players that Moss was no longer with the team, he did not know that he planned to release Moss. He also claimed that Moss' stay in New England was planned well in advance and that Moss' subsequent failure to return with the Vikings had nothing to do with his decision to release Moss.
Star-Tribune reporter, Judd Zulgad, became the first local reporter in recent memory to properly take a local sports coach or entity to task for a bold-faced lie, pressing Childress on clear misinformation. Childress' failure to provide an honest answer is simply a microcosm of Childress' inability to relinquish control of anything under any circumstances. It is a mind-set reflective of an individual who is not equipped to coach in the NFL. Mike Tice was stubborn, Childress is psychotically so, and it reflects poorly on the Vikings' organization and bodes poorly for the team which must continue to try to win in spite of Childress.
Up Next: Metal Pipe to Head Versus Childish Comment.
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10 comments:
Another classic, VG. Getting Chilly out of here cannot happen soon enough.
Seriously, I think Tice would have done a much better job the last 4.5 years. He overachieved while he was here, working for a cheapskate owner, and coaching limited talent with limited assitant coaches.
We need to get a real coach in here ASAP to get the court of public opinion back on the Vikings side. The lease expires soon, so this is no time to be screwing around with a buffoon of a coach.
Little known fact: it is actually "Balde faced lie" instead of "bold faced lie."
It derives from an old time belief that people with beards were better liars than those without beards. Those without beards were considered "bald faced." Those with beards could better hide their true intentions behind a mess of facial hair. Came in handy at a poker table.
I figured this trivia might be of importance given Childress' blatant lies, his famous bald head, and who can forget Brad's beard.
He's a scruffy faced, bald headed, liar.
It is too bad that the Vikings cant make up their mind and stick to a plan.
I thought the plan was to bring in Farve for 2 years and go all out to win a superbowl?
If that is the plan, having Randy Moss on the team playing with Sydney Rice & Percy Harvin gives them a chance if they can get on a little roll. They should have kept Randy Moss, bit their tongues and see how far they could go.
Now the plan seems to be... we want character guys and the "All In " ... lets just win baby... plan is out.
Sheesh, wish they would make up their minds.
Adam,
"Bold faced" makes sense to me, but I certainly like your phrase better--particularly when using Old English. And it definitely fits better with the person conveying the lies in this instance. Nice.
VG
Shawn,
The Vikings made the same mistake that the Gophers made and, unfortunately, many people saw this coming. While the Gophers went from a (then) fan unfriendly coach who consistently poor-mouthed the program's prospects to a carnival barker/used car salesman, the Vikings went from a heart-on-the-sleeve to stone-hearted coach (both without pedigree). Both programs clearly overcompensated in making their changes, missing the bigger picture. The issue was not whether Mason or Tice had plateaued--both clearly had. Rather, the issue was that both needed to be replaced with better, not just different, head-coaching talent. The Gophers not only swung from one side of the personality pendulum to the other, they also hired arguably one of the worst "coaches" in college football history. The Vikings did not reach to such depths, but, given the limited number of head coaching positions in the NFL, a miss at the NFL level is even more glaring, particularly when the person brought in came with a suspect pedigree (offensive guru, quarterback coach?). The University finally has owned up to its mistake, the Vikings have yet to do so.
I'll take Tice any day as a offensive line coach, but not as head coach.
VG
Mush,
There is a reason that no other team has attempted to follow the character model--there aren't enough character guys with skill to fill out an NFL roster (absent a miraculous set of coincidences). Every team has a handful of cancerous players and coaches simply have to do the best they can to work with that. Bryant McKinnie attempts to kill someone with a lead pipe and the Vikings retain him. Moss spouts off and the Vikings dump him. Clearly, the Vikings don't even know in which direction they want to go within either the character model or the modified character model, so it's not surprising that they cannot decide on a model. It's too bad, given the aging talent on the roster.
VG
Correct me if I'm wrong, VG, but so far I don't think Moss himself has uttered any public comment about this debacle. That's interesting and a little peculiar, considering how often his big mouth has landed him in trouble, including now. Maybe his agent told him to keep a lid on it, in order to avoid damaging his marketability, but I think there's a better explanation.
The general consensus out there, and I concur with it, is that Moss deliberately engineered his own release after quickly realizing that Chili is a dolt and a loser. The catering fiasco and bizarre press conference were orchestrated to alienate himself from a coach he could no longer tolerate. So why hasn't he said anything about this underlying motive? Simple -- if he expressed his disdain for Chili in public, he would be creating a lot of trouble for his ex-teammates on the Vikings. Imagine the atmosphere in the locker room, the questions from reporters ("do you agree with Moss that ..."), etc., if Moss's views were aired for all to hear. We can all agree that Moss is a jerk and a loudmouth with a few screws loose, but he's not all bad. I give him full credit for being a good team player who has managed to escape Chili without causing further trouble to Favre and his other friends on the Vikings. Thanks, Randy.
Cabrito,
I have a hard time viewing Moss as a good team player or anything other than self-serving. I can live with that on the team, but would not try to find a way to explain it away as a defense of Moss' near-certain personality disorder. I think Moss did what he thought he had to do to get out of Minnesota and potentially onto a team more certain of qualifying for the playoffs. That gamble, if it was his gamble, seems to have paid off. He now is united with a strong runner and one of the better head coaches in the NFL. It probably will end poorly for Moss in Tennessee, but he might at least make it through the year with them. As I said from the very beginning, Moss' signing in Minnesota was going to end badly for someone. It now appears that it might end badly for everyone involved, except for Moss.
I am certain that Moss will have more to say on the matter, though the league has probably suggested that he refrain from speaking too freely. That notwithstanding, Moss certainly suggested why he was on the way out during his peculiar media event after the game in New England. More to come, I'm sure.
VG
VG, I'm jumping the gun a bit with this comment but I'm itching to get your take on yesterday's game.
Yesterday's game was positively fascinating. It's been years since I've seen a Vikings team give up on their coach and their season to the degree that this one did for the first 50 minutes of the game.
Conversely, I'm not sure if I've ever seen professional football players play as angry as Harvin, Peterson and Favre did for those last ten minutes. Perhaps I'm reading too deeply the emotions that were displayed on the field yesterday, but the impression I had was that this team decided that they were going to win despite their lack of a competant head coach. The final 10 minutes had this bizzare tone as though the players were treating Childress as every bit as much of an opponent as the Cardinals.
The shame is that according to a close relative of mine (who is a director within the Vikes organization), had the Vikings lost, this would have been Childress' final game.
Finchy,
I was certain last Monday that a home loss to the Cardinals would have been Childress' last game. A road loss to the Bears likely will have the same result. I'll have more on this in today's write-up.
VG
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