I'm trying so hard to love Vikes head-coach Brad Childress. I'm from the "40 for 60" Joe Kapp generation of Vikings fans in which I truly try to get behind the entire team, ownership, and coaching staff. It's a tough sell for me when it comes to the head-coach.

While the rest of the sports world refers to Childress as "Chili", I prefer the nickname "Chilly" as in Chilly-Willy the penguin from the old cartoon days. That's one cold fish we've got over on the sidelines.

This past Sunday, Judd Zulgad had a piece in the STrib which had several quotes from Chilly that hammer home my point. Here are some examples followed by what I'd rather hear:

The 10-6 Giants, a wild card team, winning the Super Bowl: "I think if you look at the playoff run and you look at [quarterback] Eli Manning's play throughout the postseason, he played turnover-free basically, aside from the one the guy batted in the air [that led to an interception in the Super Bowl]. I think I mentioned the last time we talked, what were we, 10-1 in the last three games? Turned it over 10 times, got one takeaway. That's always what's the most significant stat. You watched the Giants take care of the football. Was it always pretty? No. Was it always clean? No. But you saw Eli get a little bit better from our game [a 41-17 Vikings victory in late November in which Manning threw four interceptions] on, and he just kind of grinded away at that."

Would have rather heard: “No matter how much you've won, no matter how many games, no matter how many championships, no matter how many Super Bowls, you're not winning now, so you stink. And right now, we stink.”

Tarvaris Jackson as the Vikings' starting quarterback: "I don't want to characterize it any way. Logic would dictate that he started at the end of the year, and I know he's going to spend time [working] on his trade. He'll be that much better with the wideouts, etc. But it's always a fluid situation and you know that change is part of this deal. Provided there is no change, that will be the guy."

Would have rather heard: “There will be changes here, there's no doubt about that.”

On making it clear to Jackson that he is the guy: "He knows how I feel about him, and that's the most important thing. I feel like he's progressed; he knows we stepped back a little bit toward the end of the year in terms of taking care of [the football]. When we were on that pretty good run [a five-game winning streak late in the season], we were taking care of it, at times, decently. He knows what he has to eliminate: those multiple-turnover games."

Would have rather heard: “In this climate of football as we've witnessed, you have to show some progress or there's a good chance you won't be in some place for very long.”

The NFL's upcoming free-agent class, which Vikings officials spent last week discussing: "It's not devoid of talent. There are some talented guys that are going to command big bucks. ... I think there's also probably some value. We [evaluate] all of them. All the way down the line, no matter how many snaps they have. Are they showing an upside? Do they fit our system? All of that. Whether they fit at the top of the roster or the bottom of the roster."

Would have rather heard: "I got problems here, I got problems there, ... I'm trying to get mentally organized.”

What needs to happen to turn around a pass defense that has finished at the bottom of the NFL for two seasons: "Different things in different situations. Obviously, we upped the sacks from 30 to 38, which this year put us eighth in the league. Probably just the steady pressure, continuing to change up with blitz and coverage. This is a roundabout way of saying rush and coverage. There are times when we need to rush better and somebody needs to beat a 1-on-1, and there are times where we flat need to cover better. ... Those are things that you look forward to working on in terms of cleaning up some of your technique in the offseason and then getting it on the field of play as we start the fall."

Would have rather heard: “When you don't know that you don't know, it's a lot different than when you do know that you don't know.”

The above "would have rather heard" are direct quotes from a Mr. Bill Parcells. What I'm trying to state is instead of trying to sound like any politician at election time and not actually answering any question, it may be better for Chilly to loosen up a bit and have some fun. Chilly, and the front office, need to figure out that there will be continued issues breathing life into a weakening Vikes fan base with the coach spouting cerebral dialogue and finding appropriate emotional beats amongst the beer-swilling crowd.

Maybe Chilly can attend a seminar sponsored by those wacky Coors Light commercials. He can attend classes given by Parcells, Dennis Green, Jim Mora, and Mike Ditka. Those are some boys who know how to have some fun. Maybe they can get Chilly to warm up.

Agree? Disagree? Am I being too harsh? Not harsh enough? Let me know..leave a comment.

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Posted by briankeithmaas@msn.com at February 12, 2008 01:01 AM