NFL

Brad Childress Doesn't Communicate Well With Others

Posted Dec 31, 2006 12:17PM By Ryan Wilson (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Vikings, NFC North

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Well, if we can say anything about Vikings' first-year head coach Brad Childress it's that he's nothing like the guy he replaced, Mike Tice. Tice was viewed as a players' coach while Childress has been described as aloof and distant. Kinda like a private school headmaster but without the nifty sports jacket with a fancy school crest.

The fact that the Vikings have struggled through a 6-9 season -- highlighted by Childress refusing to replace 38-year-old quarterback Brad Johnson while he played some of the worst football of his career -- didn't exactly endear him to fans. And it was some of Childress's coaching philosophies that didn't endear him to his players.

Upon his arrival last spring, the head coach introduced a "culture of accountability" following the sex boat scandal extravaganza from a season ago. So when Koren Robinson was arrested for DUI earlier this season, Childress released him. On Christmas Eve, Childress released wideout Marcus Robinson -- the team's touchdown reception leader -- but the coach's motives still aren't clear.
Robinson insisted that communication was his biggest issue with Childress. The receiver said he didn't know whether he was playing until he saw his shoulder pads in his locker on game days.
Other players have voiced similar concerns. To Childress' credit, he created a veterans committee made up of 10 players. The group meets every Wednesday with the coach to talk about "the week's schedule" and to get feedback and suggestions.

Safety Darren Sharper, who was on a similar committee in Green Bay, thinks it's a good idea, but the groups' biggest achievement this season is getting chicken tenders added to the menu on the team's charter flights. And there's this:
...in addition to chicken tenders as an alternative to hamburgers on the airplane, [linebacker E.J.] Henderson said Childress also allowed them to have catered food on Fridays laid out on tables in the locker room instead of in the cafeteria.
The veterans committee might want to hire a lobbying firm for future negotiations. Seriously, this kind of stuff only gets reported when a team is in the tank. If Minnesota was 10-5 and in the playoffs, we'd be reading about how discipline saved the Vikings from themselves. Just goes to show that there's a very fine line between winning and losing in the NFL. But hey, the Vikes will always have the chicken tenders.

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