Patrick Reusse: And returning to the lineup, an oft-wounded QB

There are a couple of things to make clear here, in regards to what Vikings coach Brad Childress had to say about quarterback Tarvaris Jackson during his Monday media session.

First, Childress did not say Jackson was a China doll. He merely raised it as a possibility.

Second, this was a reference to the historic fragility of China dolls, and not to that country's ongoing efforts to poison the youth of America with imported toys.

Jackson will return to the lineup Sunday against Oakland. That means he has recovered from a concussion, Jackson's fourth injury in 1½ seasons with the Purple.

Jackson suffered this latest injury Nov. 4 against San Diego.

Childress was asked this question Monday: "How much do you factor in that he may be injury-prone when you make a decision if he's your guy?"

The coach formulated his answer for a moment, then said: "You ask yourself, 'Is this just one particularly bad year? Is it the fact he is a China doll?' Somewhere you have to have some durability and resilience."

Jackson injured a knee in practice before ever playing a game as a rookie in 2006. He underwent arthroscopic surgery. He opened this season as the No. 1 quarterback and has made five of nine starts. He's completed only three of those five starts.

He missed two starts because of a groin injury, one because of a finger injury and Sunday's game in Green Bay because of a concussion.

Monday's headline was that Adrian Peterson had a tear in a ligament that will not require surgery. The subhead was Childress planned to go back to Jackson as his quarterback.

"I kind of erred on the side of caution with Tarvaris," Childress said. "It wasn't that he couldn't practice last week, but we started Brooks [Bollinger].

"It's still my commitment to want to continue to develop Tarvaris. I do feel like coming out of training camp, he was the best quarterback. So, we probably would end up being back with Tarvaris."

The only item that could change that would be if, say, Jackson goes to the barber shop this week and suffers an excruciating nick.

A few minutes after putting Jackson back in the lineup, Childress uttered "China doll," causing his media audience to perk up.

Question: "Is there a growing concern that maybe Jackson is a China doll?"

The coach answered quickly: "Not from my standpoint, no."

Jackson has been overmatched during most of his playing time this season. This has caused many of us on the outside to declare: "That young man is never going to be a capable NFL quarterback."

That's opinion, not fact. What we know for sure is Jackson suffers from the accelerated timeline in this salary-cap age.

For instance: Brad Johnson came to the Vikings in 1992 and didn't start until 1996. Rich Gannon arrived in 1987 and didn't play significantly until 1990.

The Vikings decided not to trade high draft choices for Atlanta's Matt Schaub, who went to Houston. The Vikings decided not to make a sizable bid for free agent Jeff Garcia, who went to Tampa Bay.

The Vikings brought in Kelly Holcomb as a backup to go with Bollinger -- two quarterbacks with no history as No. 1 guys -- and hitched themselves to Jackson.

"Gannon came out and talked to us," Childress said. "He said he was totally unprepared to play in his first season. He told Tarvaris, 'As a young quarterback, you don't know what you don't know.'"

As outsiders, we feel like we know this after watching Jackson play three full games this season: Can't play now, won't be able to play later.

Are Childress and the Vikings seeing enough from Jackson -- behind the closed doors at Winter Park -- to believe in his future as the franchise's quarterback?

"I see him do good things in practice," Childress said. "Talk to our defensive players. They have been around. They see his talents. They talk about Tarvaris' ability all the time. They have no agenda in saying those things.

"We put a lot of defensive pressure on him in practice. We replicate what he will see in a game pretty well. Tarvaris responds. He makes plays.

"Obviously, he has to start making those plays on Sunday and ..."

And? "Stay healthy," Childress said.

Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. • preusse@startribune.com