Brad Childress: Vikings' top gun

Brad Childress leaned over his computer and clicked. A picture of the Vikings coach holding a 65-pound goliath grouper flashed on the projection screen in his Winter Park office.

Childress smiled at the memory of landing the whopper off the Florida coast, although the fish put up a long fight and left Childress with a sore back for a few days.

Returning from vacation last week rested and sporting a full beard -- which he subsequently trimmed into a goatee -- Childress also enthusiastically agreed to fly in a Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet.

"I'd like to believe it's pretty safe," he said. "It's an $18 million machine."

At age 52, Childress is not experiencing a midlife crisis as much as he has found a certain comfort level entering his third season with the Vikings. He might feel more at ease, but the scrutiny over his job performance could get dialed up considerably.

Unlike his backseat ride with the Blue Angels, Childress -- with an 14-18 record in two seasons -- is at the controls of an expensive machine that is expected to perform with precision.

The Vikings report to training camp in Mankato today under heightened expectations based largely on the team's active and historic offseason. Ownership shelled out nearly $70 million in guaranteed money, an infusion of talent that led at least one national pundit to pick the Vikings to win the Super Bowl. This, mind you, for a team that finished 8-8 and failed to make the playoffs last season.

More than one Vikings player, without prompting, expressed similar goals this offseason, raising expectations for the team and the coach.

"I think that always goes with the position, just like the quarterback," Childress said. "People are always going to discuss that. It is what it is. I don't know there is going to be any more or any less."

Pressure?

"No more than I put on myself," he said.

Vikings owner Zygi Wilf said in April that Childress' job security -- he is in the third year of a five-year contract -- will not hinge on a playoff berth. Even so, anything short of the playoffs would be a major disappointment considering the expectations, returning talent and money spent this offseason.

"I think not only is Brad growing as a coach and Rick [Spielman] as a personnel [chief], but so are we as owners," Wilf said last week. "And I think working together as we have been over the last few years and having the staff work together with the team, we're at a point right now that we expect great things to come forward in the next couple of years and many years to come."

Childress acknowledged last week that he is likely to talk to his players during training camp about watching what they say publicly in regard to expectations. He could probably live without any "Super Bowl, homeboy" quotes filtering out of Mankato. But Childress also didn't seem bothered by some of the big talk.

"It beats the alternative," he said. "You can have 32 teams that are in training camp and what do you want to say? Whistling in the dark. There are surprises every year. What I see our guys exuding is confidence in themselves and their teammates. They like being around each other. I like being around them, and I think you'll see some genuine enthusiasm there."

Exhibit A: Jared Allen. Traded for and then signed to a $74 million contract this offseason, Allen has been unabashed in his optimism. "We expect to go to the Super Bowl," he said during minicamp.

Veteran center Matt Birk couched it more than Allen, but he isn't inclined to place limitations, either.

"I like this team," he said. "Some teams you look at -- and just kind of the personality or how they're built -- and you say, 'Well, OK.' But I like this team and the way that we work. I think that's the biggest thing."

Less uncertainty

Childress clearly likes this team, too, and presumably fewer unknowns should exist in Year 3 in his system.

Childress has often repeated that he might only get one crack at being an NFL head coach so he's going to stick to his plan. That's not to say his approach hasn't evolved. He is more open and cordial with his players and media than he was in his first season, revealing a more human side.

"These guys -- the players -- would tell you there's a different side that they see," Childress said in May.

The travails have been well-documented, from his iron-fist first season to the growing pains of his "kick-ass offense" and young quarterback Tarvaris Jackson.

Childress undeniably has more talent to work with this season, even if questions remain at quarterback. The blueprint looks solid, but Childress said there's always room to make it better.

"I don't ever think I look at it like it has arrived," he said. "Like, 'OK, we're here; we're fine.' Because you are never there. I'm still going through the [waiver] wire every day. I get it on my Blackberry every day. You see who's signed, who's leaving, is there one guy that makes our 80 better than the 80th guy. There is always something you can do to shape it a little bit better."

Childress said his experience as an assistant under Andy Reid in Philadelphia provided some insight into how to manage a team that begins a season with large expectations.

"You tell the guys, 'You have a chance to be a good football team,'" he said. "Now we need to do all the right things to be a good football team."

Facing expectations

That process begins today. Childress declined to reveal the specific message he will deliver to his team after it convenes in Mankato. But how he and his team deal with a different set of expectations will be worth watching.

Childress laughed as he recalled a story from a fishing trip on Lake Mille Lacs with other NFL coaches this summer. He rode to the gathering in the same car with Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier and Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, and the three friends talked football and engaged in "a little gamesmanship."

"We play them the second game," Childress said, smiling.

After stopping at a corner store to get their fishing licenses, Dungy told Childress that the Vikings have the best defense in the NFL and will win the Super Bowl.

"I said, 'What the hell are you talking about?'" Childress remembered.

Dungy informed him that Sports Illustrated's veteran NFL writer, Paul Zimmerman, picked the Vikings to win the Super Bowl a few days earlier.

"I said, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" Childress said. "I'm thinking, 'Bulletin board [material] all the way.'"

It means nothing right now, of course. But, as Childress said, it sure beats the alternative.

"I think that there's some conversation about the Vikings," Childress said, "and it's probably good conversation."