Premature Extension

In January of 2006, Zygi Wilf thought he pulled quite the coup.  He was able to keep the highly sought after Brad Childress in Minneapolis an extra night, causing him to miss his scheduled interview with Green Bay.  On January 6, 2006, Childress became the seventh head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.  The Packers eventually hired Mike McCarthy, which was largely viewed as a reach, at best.

Within two years McCarthy was making the Packers look like geniuses for going with the unheralded coach, leading them to the NFC Championship game.  Green Bay promptly gave McCarthy a five-year contract extension.  Meanwhile, Childress was in the midst of installing his kick-butt offense and improving the Vikings to 8-8.  By the way, Childress was also 0-4 against the hated Packers.

The 2008 season saw the Vikings make modest improvements, making the playoffs for the first time under Childress' guidance.  Across the border, the Packers were transitioning to Aaron Rodgers after trading a certain legend to the Jets.

Ten weeks through the 2009 season, Childress has the Vikings at 9-1, while McCarthy's Packers are 6-4.  Wilf decided to extend Childress' contract through 2013. 

The common denominator for the contract extensions was Brett Favre.  Mike McCarthy was not a better coach than Brad Childress in 2006 or 2007.  Likewise, Childress is no better than McCarthy in 2009.  Brett Favre has made each of these coaches look good, and is directly responsible for both extensions.

It makes no sense for the Vikings to extend Childress' contract at this point.  Childress still has another year left on his contract, and is not going anywhere.  Why not evaluate him at the end of the season?  So far this has been an extraordinary year for the Childress and the Vikings.  However, if they lose in the first round of the playoffs, is it still a success?  Does Childress still deserve an extension?  How good a coach is Brad Childress without Brett Favre?  These are a few of the questions Zygi should have asked himself before committing three more years to Childress because I do not think Favre will be riding shotgun in 2013.