Tag: brooks bollinger

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Brad Childress & The Great Quarterback Fiasco



Originally uploade
by vitaminkg21

Okay, now it’s time to talk about and his responsibility for this alleged football team. There are a lot of things that Childress has messed up as head coach of the , but none is more glaring than the handling of the quarterback position.

One of the first issues Childress had to deal with upon becoming coach was ‘s whining about more money. You can hardly blame a post-T.O. Childress
for having no stomach for dealing with a another malcontent player, but
in retrospect you’ve got to wonder if the coach’s personality
exacerbated the situation with Pep.

Childress deserves full credit for everything after Culpepper, though.

After making a huge reach for Jackson, the Vikings sign to a two year contract to run the team and mentor Jackson. They make a trade with the Jets for . Apparently, not satisfied with Bollinger during training camp, they bring in , of all people, to compete for a job.

Childress knew McMahon from  the , so how did he not know that
the guy was useless? McMahon is eventually cast away and the team
settles on Johnson, Bollinger and Jackson as their quarterbacks.

Johnson becomes estranged with Childress because the head coach
won’t allow the veteran quarterback to audible based on the look of a
defense. Johnson is eventually benched in favor of Jackson, who get
injured, who is replaced by Bollinger, who gets injured, and is
replaced in favor of Jackson.

After the 2006, the Vikings jettison Johnson and proclaim Jackson the starter for 2007.

This season we’ve seen Jackson, Bollinger, and now behind center and none of them have really worked. Childress was very
excited about getting in the 2007 draft, but then let him
slip to Chiefs instead of ensuring him a roster spot. ? Have I left anyone out?!?

, not only is Childress’ ability to judge quarterback talent suspect, he has been completely irresponsible in not having a contingency plan in case Jackson didn’t work out.

Why didn’t the Vikings make a run at during the off season? Imagine what the team could have done with a good quarterback.

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Vikings vs. Packers Preview

I’m not too confident they can do it, despite , but if the are to have any chance at seeing post-season action, today is the day they .

Adrian Peterson kicked serious ass last week, but let’s be real; Chargers quarterback had an awful game, the team was without starting linebacker ; and standout was knocked out early in the second half. It’s not coincidental that Peterson ran for 253 yards and two touchdowns during the second half.

That’s not to say that it wasn’t a phenomenal performance by Peterson, it was a thing of beauty (). It’s no surprise, too, that the offensive line put in their best performance of the year and Peterson got a lot of help from outstanding blocking by the receivers down field.


Peace, man.
Originally uploaded by
vitaminkg21

Here’s something else that’s not a coincidence: The offense suddenly looked a lot better after was knocked out of the game and we got a signal caller with a semblance of passing accuracy in .

Before he was knocked out, Jackson threw directly to the defensive back who was positioned in front of on a five yard slant route. How did Jackson not see that Rice was covered? Later, Jackson missed an open on a deep route.

During the third Vikings’ series of the second half, after five straight running plays, on first and ten, Bollinger hits Sidney Rice for a forty yard touchdown on a stop and go route.

Those plays have been there all year but neither Jackson nor have been able to hit open receivers. This is how inaccurate our starter and primary backup have been: Tarvaris Jackson has an abysmal 46.4% completion percentage and Holcomb is not much better with 50.6%. Bollinger boasts a 70.8% completion percentage.

Indeed, Bollinger leads the team in every significant statistical category: Yards per Attempt (9), Touchdown Percentage (4.2%), Interceptions (0 verses 5 for Jackson and 1 for Holcomb), sacks (4 versus 5 for Jackson and 12 for Holcomb), and quarterback rating at 112.3. Is it time to stop grooming Jackson and put in the guy who gives us the best chance to win?

Which brings us to today’s game.

Running Against The Packers

The Vikings face the league’s 7th ranked defense today against the but then they faced the same challenge last week against the Chargers’ 7th ranked run defense.

Boasting the league’s best running back coming off a historic performance, it is no secret what the Vikings will do on offense today. .

The difference this week may very well be Brooks Bollinger, who is expected to start behind center. The Pack will stack eight or nine players in the box in order to stop Peterson and the Vikings need to–as they have all year long–take advantage of that defense.

Passing Against The Packers

Bolliger’s accuracy gives the Vikings the best chance to exploit the crowding of the box. Starting free safety is out, so rookie will be starting in his stead. Throw in the fact that starting strong safety (great name!) has been playing miserably lately, we may see some deep passes actually completed today.

And that would help open up the running game, as well.

Defending The Packers

The Packers’ offense is last in the league in rushing and second in the league in passing; the Vikes are second in the league against the run but 31st in the league against the pass, so we know what’s gonna happen.

The best defense for the Vikings must be a good offense. Just keep off the field for as much of the game as possible.

When the Vikings D is on the field, they should ignore the run, especially the play-action because it’s unlikely to be a run anyway. We need to get in Farve’s grill with a strong pass rush to keep him from getting comfortable and we need to jam the receivers to disrupt their short, West Coast routes.

The Vikings defense will need to bring the game they played against the Chargers if the team is going to have a chance to win.

It wouldn’t hurt at all if picked off his old mate.

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Vikings Quarterbacks Conundrum

head coach has tried to be vague about who he will start at quarterback all week, but all signs point to, and logic dictates, that will resume his starting role and continue his growth as an NFL quarterback. Or so we would hope.

By moving up in the draft in a move that many thought was a reach, Childress indicated clearly that he considered Jackson the future franchise quarterback. Forced to face the fire in his second year despite sparse NFL experience because the team refused to add a viable veteran signal caller to the roster, Jackson must develop whether he’s ready or not.

There have been some promising signs during Jackson’s short exposure to pro football: He’s obviously very athletic and can make things happen with his feet; he’s got an extremely strong arm; he has shown composure at his position; and for the most part he has not tried to force the ball where it shouldn’t go.

On the other hand, during his past two games, Jackson’s looked like a deer in the headlights: He’s looked panicky in the pocket and he’s tried to make plays that weren’t there, resulting in turnovers. And he’s still got to prove he can win a game. He’s taken steps backwards.

If the Vikings beat the Bears today, there’s still a faint hope that they can salvage their season. If we lose, we’ll have to consider it another rebuilding year and hopefully Jackson will blossom in the absence of the pressure of playoff hopes. Only time will tell if Jackson is the answer.

Aside from all the problems you typically get with a young, inexperienced quarterback, the most maddening thing about Jackson is that for a guy who’s got a rocket arm, he appears to have absolutely no feel for the long pass. He’s consistently missed deep receivers, even when they’ve been wide open.

Kelly Holcomb has had the same problem, which is pretty inexcusable for a guy with ten years experience. Worse, though, is Holcomb’s crybaby attitude. The most indelible image I have of Holcomb is him rolling his eyes or yelling at his teammates. That’s not just a lack of leadership, that’s poisonous.

0 for 4 At Quarterback

Jackson, , , ; thus far, Brad Childress is zip for four on his quarterback choices. We won’t know whether was a wise personnel evaluation for quite some time, as he is buried on the Chief’s depth chart and it is too soon to fairly judge whether Jackson is the real deal. But it is clear th McMahon was incompetent and Holcomb looks little better. Bollinger has all the look of a career backup.

Considering all of the Vikings quarterback problems under the current regime, you have to question their ability to evaluate talent. McMahon and Holcomb are the most glaring indictments of said weakness because they came from Philadelphia, so presumably Childress was much more familiar with them than he would be with a player that came from elsewhere.

Worse still, is the apparent lack of development of any of our quarterbacks.

That tells me that they are either 1) not being taught well, 2) they are being forced into the system and asked to do things of which they are not capable, or 3) both.

If the problem is the first, then, well, what can you say? The big selling point with Childress was his ability to develop talent: See . Maybe the coach ain’t all that. If the problem is that the QBs are being forced to do things they are not good at, there’s plenty of supporting evidence in that regard: all of last season was an example of that.