Childress noncommittal over quarterback's long-term future

That's it. They've seen it. Barring a run into the 2007 postseason, the Vikings have collected the vast majority of raw data they're going to have for making the most critical decision of their offseason.

Namely: Will Tarvaris Jackson be their unchallenged starting quarterback in 2008?

After an unspoken midseason benching, Jackson has led the Vikings to a 5-1 record entering Sunday's regular-season finale at Denver. Jackson, however, has also been credited with six turnovers in the past two games; two came in the first half of Sunday's 32-21 loss to Washington, a game that left them needing help to earn a playoff berth.

Jackson has won eight of his 11 starts while accounting for 10 touchdowns and 14 turnovers this season. Monday, coach Brad Childress proved noncommittal about Jackson's long-term future, citing his recent spate of turnovers and terming his decision-making as "decent."

"His record as a starter speaks for itself," Childress said. "I'd like [him] to do a little bit better job with that ball security, and that ends up being the premium. By and large, he's been decent [in] decision-making. I always want to see us make the routine plays routinely. [Sunday,] I thought we left a couple throws on the field. ... But then, I think he has made some very, very good throws.

"But I'd just like to do a better job of securing the football. And some of that is on him and some of that is on other people."

Childress has spoken often this season about evaluating Jackson based on a "body of work" before deciding about next season and beyond. If the past six games have led Childress to a decision, however, he wasn't saying so Monday.

"I want to see the rest of the season, obviously, and I'm not looking at [Denver] as our last game," Childress said. "But the best thing I think to do is, we always talk about it. [Vice President of Player Personnel] Rick [Spielman] and I will talk about it. The coaches will talk about it. And you're always better served just to step away and look at things from a distance."

Vikings players were off Monday and Jackson was not available for comment. Sunday night, he lamented his pair of interceptions, which led to nine Redskins points and contributed to a 22-0 halftime deficit.

"You cannot turn the football over like that," Jackson said. "So I take the blame for that. It's my fault, and the reason we got down by so much so early. So we have got to cut those turnovers out and that is pretty much it."

In the bigger picture, however, the Vikings acknowledge that Jackson's impact has extended beyond turnovers. The Redskins became the third consecutive opponent to disregard the Vikings passing game in order to focus on stopping their No. 1-ranked rushing game.

The results have been astounding. While devoting no more than three defenders to pass coverage, the Redskins -- along with the San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears -- have cut the production of tailbacks Chester Taylor and Adrian Peterson almost in half. Taylor and Peterson have combined to average 85 yards over the past three games after averaging a combined 151 yards per game through the Vikings' first 12 contests.

After Sunday night's results, there is no reason to believe the Broncos will approach the Vikings any differently unless Jackson is able to take advantage on a consistent basis.

"Whenever you become one-dimensional it is hard to win," Jackson said, "and it's harder to get the offense going. But teams have been doing a pretty good job of stopping our line. We used to rush for 200 yards a game, but we have just got to step it up in the passing game. Just point blank, we are a team so we can't just depend on the run game all the time. We have got to be able to pass the football."

Will Jackson be the one doing the passing in 2008? At the very least, the raw data is in. Soon, it will be decision time for the Vikings.