Tag: mike mcmahon

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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 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.

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Mike McMahon Signs With Vikings To Backup Johnson

"Over the years, I’ve sometimes seemed to force some throws in third-down situations, where you can check it down or trust the back to go out and get the yards. Brad is very good at hitting the checkdowns and playing it safer…Playing behind Brad might get me to calm down a little bit and make better decisions on the field."

Doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, does it? That’s , by Star Tribune beat writers Kevin Seifert and Judd Zulgad.

Mike McMahon. If I recall correctly, the highlight of his career was coming off the bench . Don’t get too excited. We always get beaten by shitty second- and third-string quarterbacks. Remember when the picked us apart? Yeah.

So count me as underwhelmed with the signing of McMahon. All the guy has done is lose. He went 2-5 as a starter last year with a 55.2 quarterback rating, throwing eight interceptions and five touchdowns.

Here’s hoping the 37 year old has been diligently keeping himself in superb shape during the offseason because I’d hate to have to see us rely upon McMahon.

I would’ve been much more comfortable with former , who signed with , as the primary backup. Though he was a third-stringer in Green Bay, he spent five years under , so you gotta figure he learned something and he hasn’t had his confidence destroyed the way McMahon apparently has.

But we scared Nall away because rookie head coach Brad Childress told reporters that the Vikings might bundle some picks to move up and take one of the top quarterbacks in the draft. Nall had a taste of that in Green Bay, so he scampered off to Buffalo for a promotion.

What happened to the Viking’s tight-lipped policy?

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