Vikings: Childress suggests Jackson likely to remain starting QB

The coach sees room for improvement but also doesn't want there to be a cloud of doubt.

By KEVIN SEIFERT, Star Tribune

Last update: January 4, 2008 - 12:19 AM

In a thoughtful moment during the 2007 season, Vikings coach Brad Childress revealed his deep respect for Occam's Razor -- a theory that suggests the simplest answer is generally the right one. "It's one of my favorite tenets," Childress said.

Although Childress failed to clarify his quarterback situation during a year-end news conference Thursday, the simplest answer hasn't changed: Tarvaris Jackson seems likely to get another year to establish himself as the Vikings' long-term starter. Childress and Jackson met Thursday morning at Winter Park, and while Childress would not reveal the specifics of the discussion, he said it would "probably be pretty good" for Jackson to assume he is the favorite to start.

Childress, however, called it a "fluid situation" and said he had yet to evaluate his options in either free agency or the draft.

"I don't know that it's ever good to get comfortable," Childress said. "But I'm glad that I saw progress from him, positive progress from him. He, as everybody does, has a lot of things that they collectively and individually need to improve on. So we'll just see if those things come to fruition as we keep moving."

Specifically, Childress pointed to the final five minutes of last Sunday's regular-season finale, in which Jackson threw two touchdown passes and ran for a pair of two-point conversions to force overtime.

"Hopefully that's a things-to-come picture of what you saw there in the last five minutes," Childress said, "playing wide open and cutting loose with it and making plays with his arm and his feet."

Childress has been known to leave the role of some players undefined as a motivational tool, but he denied doing so in this case.

"I'm not interested in trying to motivate him by leaving a cloud of doubt," Childress said. "He knows exactly how I feel about him. And again, those are conversations that are between coach and quarterback."

Part of the public uncertainty could be strategic; NFL teams generally try to protect their offseason plans, including whether they hope to draft or sign a quarterback. In other instances, a team might come upon an opportunity to upgrade in March that wasn't even on the radar in January.

"Good football players are what we're all about," Childress said. "I haven't even started to assess the draft or free agency yet and see what is out there. This is a fluid situation. I'll keep [the media] educated but I may not always be completely forthcoming."

Whether it is with Jackson or another quarterback, Childress said one of his primary points of emphasis in 2008 is to improve the passing game. The Vikings ranked No. 28 among NFL teams in passing yardage while setting new franchise lows in attempts (432), completions (249) and touchdown passes (12)

"Suffice it to say," Childress said, "we need to improve the pass game whether it be throw and catch, accuracy, protection [or] another good player. We just need to improve that, and I think the more you improve that it's just a pick 'em type of choice by the defense."