Jim Souhan: Blame this one on coach, not rookie QB

Thursday, the Vikings offered Tarvaris Jackson as hope personified, and he got spit back in their faces in much the way Fred Smoot got spit out of the Lambeau Stadium stands after his post-touchdown leap. It's not Jackson's fault. The problem runs much deeper than that.

By Jim Souhan, Star Tribune

Last update: December 22, 2006 - 8:45 AM

GREEN BAY, WIS. -Lots of Vikings fans are blaming Brad Childress for ruining their team.

Think of how the NFL feels. The Vikings' rookie coach might have ruined their entire network.

The NFL Network held broadcast rights to the Vikings-Packers game Thursday night. Next time, they might opt for NFL Films Vol. 126: Lombardi invents chalk.

With a 9-7 loss in which they managed zero offensive points and three first downs, the Vikings eliminated themselves from playoff contention. CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, TNT and The Food Channel rejoiced.

Rather than getting a chance to be the worst playoff team in NFL history, the Vikings will settle for finishing fathoms below expectations.

It's not Jackson's fault. The problem runs much deeper than that.

Those wishing to excuse Childress his first-year coaching foibles have offered current Patriots icon Bill Belichick as an example of a rookie coach who failed in his first step on the road to greatness.

Which is a brilliant perspective, unless you consider the 800 NFL coaches whose first-year failures foreshadowed their ultimate failures.

Belichick was the right-hand man of one of the great coaches in history, Bill Parcells. Belichick ran the defense that dominated Super Bowl XXI and stole Super Bowl XXV.

He proved himself a leader of men, even such challenging men as Lawrence Taylor. Belichick won championships by outthinking other great coaches, and was allowed by Parcells to run the defense as he saw fit.

Since they split, Parcells has won zero Super Bowls. Belichick has won three.

Childress was an offensive coordinator under an offensive coach who called the plays.

Anyone still wishing to compare Childress with Belichick will need to pretend Thursday night never happened, which is what most Vikings fans will try to do.

The Packers, supposedly inspired by Brett Favre's annual last-game-in-Lambeau ruse, meandered like contestants in Monty Python's 100-yard dash for the directionally impaired, and yet they outgained the Vikings 319-104.

The Vikings committed 10 penalties, dropped a handful of passes, ran third-down routes short of the first-down markers, threw to Mewelde Moore on third-and-long and ran their usual stultifying offense.

The Vikings have regressed steadily since October. Even the hope that should be invested in Jackson needs to be put in a safety deposit box until somebody fixes the offense, which was pathetic in design and function.

The Vikings had a short week to play their foremost rival in a game with playoff implications, and the offense played as if it was Week 2 in Mankato.

At least Childress admitted it.

"I have to take the hit on that," Childress said. "If they can't line up right, obviously I'm not teaching them right."

Which means that today is a good day to be Brad Johnson, or Mike Tice.

With Jackson taking over at quarterback, the offense was supposed to become more explosive. Instead, it imploded against an inferior defense. (The Packers, entering the game, ranked 19th overall and 26th against the pass.)

Somewhere, too, Tice was smiling, realizing he took a less-talented team to a 9-7 record a year ago.

Remember, Tice liked throwing the ball past the first-down markers, sometimes even into the end zone.

Jackson's first pass went to Troy Williamson, on third-and-4, for 1 yard.

His first long pass? A beauty to Williamson, who dropped it.

The Vikings managed three first downs, one via the pass.

When the Vikings traded up in the draft to select Jackson in the second round, Childress told us he couldn't wait to see what the kid would do after getting some coaching.

A lot of people can't wait for that.

Jim Souhan can be heard Sundays from 10 a.m.-noon on AM-1500 KSTP. • jsouhan@startribune.com

Recent Sports stories

And then there was 1: WBC champ resists temptations that cost many friends freedom — or worse - December 22, 2006

And then there was 1: WBC champ resists temptations that cost many friends freedom — or worse - Devon Alexander was 7 when his mom gave in and let him join the new boxing program in his downtrodden neighborhood. He came home the first day crying, his nose bloodied from a sparring session with his friend Terrance Barker. More