vikings/nfl

Brad Childress' return to the NFL will come as offensive coordinator of a Cleveland Browns team that scored only one more point (218) than it did as an overmatched first-year expansion squad in 1999.

Fired as Vikings head coach after a 3-7 start in 2010 and out of football for the first time in 33 years in 2011, Childress was reunited with fellow former Eagles assistant Pat Shurmur, who is coming off a 4-12 season in his first year as an NFL head coach. It's unknown whether Shurmur, who went without an offensive coordinator in 2011, will hand over the play-calling duties to Childress, whose only experience with calling plays came as a first-year head coach with the Vikings in 2006.

"I know Brad very well," Shurmur, who spent seven seasons with Childress on Andy Reid's staff in Philadelphia, said earlier this month. "I think he's a terrific coach."

Childress' hire also is welcome news at Winter Park because it means the Vikings won't have to pay the full amount of Childress' salary this season. Childress was owed about $6.6 million in 2011-2012, the final two years of an extension he signed during the Vikings' run to the NFC Championship Game in 2009. The Vikings will owe the balance of what's due after what the Browns pay him this season.

Restoring his image and jump-starting the Browns' offense won't be easy. The Browns ranked 29th offensively (288.8 yards per game) and 30th in scoring (13.6 points per game). They also happen to play in the AFC North, where Pittsburgh (first), Baltimore (third) and Cincinnati (seventh) all ranked among the NFL's top seven defenses in 2011.

Childress, 55, was the Eagles' quarterbacks coach from 1999 to 2002 and offensive coordinator from 2003 to 2005. Calling his own plays in 2006, he led the Vikings to a 6-10 season. They improved to 8-8 in 2007 before winning back-to-back division titles with 10-6 and 12-4 records. Overall, Childress was 40-37, including 1-2 in the playoffs.

Childress was in the running for the Tampa Bay head coaching job before the Bucs hired Greg Schiano from Rutgers. The Browns also were considering former Packers coach Mike Sherman, who ended up being hired as Dolphins offensive coordinator.

Childress was attractive to the Browns in part because of his devotion to the West Coast offense, which the Browns run, and strong belief in running the ball, which the Browns strayed from, ranking 29th in Shurmur's first season. In Childress' four full seasons in Minnesota, the Vikings ranked fourth in rushing yards (136.1 per game) and third in average yards per carry (4.5).

It also helped that Childress is represented by Bob LaMonte, the agent who also handles Shurmur, Browns President Mike Holmgren and General Manager Tom Heckert.

Childress gained a reputation among Vikings players, particularly on offense, for being too rigid. But he also helped make 2009 one of Brett Favre's best seasons. Favre set career highs in passer rating (107.9) and completion percentage (68.4) while throwing a career-low seven interceptions that season.

Childress also will be remembered in Minnesota for having 12 men in the huddle during a meltdown of events in the closing minute of the NFC title game loss at New Orleans. But he also was the first Vikings coach in 28 years to post back-to-back division titles and has watched as the Vikings have gone 6-16 since his ouster.