Vikings close-to-vest braintrust is taking chance

PHOENIX - It is the monologue of your dreams.

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! Come one, come all! Step inside our world of illusion and mystery. See the grotesque! Touch the bizarre! Hear what you've never heard before!

A good salesman can captivate the imagination, promote excitement and generate business -- even if the product is rooted in fantasy. Who doesn't remember an enchanting carnival barker, the guy who (for $5) will let you behind the curtain and into another world?

The analogy came up recently during an interview with Vikings coach Brad Childress, of all things. The topic was a question Childress faced several times during his media blitz last week: Amid unprecedented fan unrest, can you reassure season ticket holders that the product will improve in 2007?

"I don't feel like I need to be a carnival barker," Childress said. "Winning is going to put fans in the seats. That's the name of the game. You're in this thing to win. [Selling the program], I don't feel like that's my role."

As team officials gather here for the annual NFL meetings, the Vikings are selling only this -- that they someday will return to their winning ways. They are leaving the rest to the imagination, most notably their method and timeline.

It is no secret that Childress has been a reluctant public figure in his first 15 months as Vikings coach, and he no doubt has more important tasks than selling tickets from a soapbox atop Winter Park. But recent comments from fans and once-proud alumni suggest the Vikings are approaching a critical disconnect with their customers; worse, their current leadership structure leaves them ill-equipped to address it.

To the consternation of their fans, and the amusement of some NFL teams, the Vikings have left unexplained how a team with no proven quarterback, a substandard receiving corps and an aging defense can effect a quick turnaround from last season's 6-10 mark.

Why? Childress' reticence has been well-documented, but to be fair, Childress does not share sole responsibility for developing a plan and articulating the franchise's direction. The reality is that no Vikings official -- not Childress, not personnel director Rick Spielman or contract negotiator Rob Brzezinski -- has the authority or credibility to speak or rule globally.

Only owner Zygi Wilf carries that caché, and Wilf has gone underground after suggesting in January that he would get more involved in football operations.

Wilf, however, appears to have authorized an improvement program that seems destined to take much longer than anyone might have imagined. Childress is following through on his promise to acquire only players with high character, an admirable pursuit that nonetheless strikes many talented players from their sights, while Spielman is preaching a philosophy that de-emphasizes free agency and focuses more on the draft.

Logic suggests such a methodical building process will take several years to bear fruit. If so, the Vikings can only expect a widening gap with their fans/customers as long as their policy is to insulate from the public segment of building a winning franchise.

Childress said his only plan is to "be as good as we can as fast as we can," but even he acknowledges there are limits to its duration.

"I'm not foolish enough," he said, "to think that when you talk about a three-year plan, or a five-year plan, a seven-year plan, that I'm going to be like John Wooden. He took 16 years [at UCLA] to win a national championship. I'm not thinking like I've got 16 years here."

At that rate, he wouldn't have to worry about carnival barking. By then, the Vikings wouldn't be able to give tickets away.

Kevin Seifert • kseifert@startribune.com

« I don't feel like I need to be a carnival barker. Winning is going to put fans in the seats. That's the name of the game. You're in this thing to win. [Selling the program], I don't feel like that's my role. »

Brad Childress