Childress takes diplomatic approach

During the course of a team meeting called by Brett Favre last Thursday to address a report that the quarterback's disdain for coach Brad Childress had nearly caused him to not return, it was made clear by veterans that the Vikings needed to keep things in-house.

Players and coaches might have problems with each other but when those rifts become public is when problems are created.

Perhaps it was with this in mind that Childress attempted to be as diplomatic as possible as he discussed wide receiver Sidney Rice's decision to have hip surgery that will keep him out for probably half the season and maybe longer. The issue: The surgery took place seven months after Rice was injured.

Make no mistake, Childress is capable of showing his disgust about a player's decision when he wants. Flash back to June when running back Adrian Peterson decided to skip all three days of the Vikings' mandatory minicamp so he could attend one day in his honor in his hometown of Palestine, Texas. Childress did not mince words or attempt to hide his feelings.

But on Tuesday as he was fed a steady diet of questions about Rice, Childress did not bristle once. Instead, he laid out the timeline of events that led to Rice's surgery, dropped in a few subtle comments and allowed reporters to draw their own conclusion.

Childress said the Vikings knew that Rice hurt his hip in the NFC title game. But by March when head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman went to visit Rice in Miami, the hip didn't even come up. In fact, it wasn't an issue again until the day before the minicamp began.

Rice had stayed away from the voluntary portion of the Vikings' offseason program, electing instead to workout and spend time in Florida. Childress acknowledged Rice "evidently" had some discomfort in the hip during the minicamp, dropping in that might have been "because of inactivity." (OK, so he got one potential shot in.)

It probably only matters to the extremely curious at this point, considering Rice has made his decision on a course of action.

Childress said the Vikings' options include placing Rice on the physically-unable-to-perform list to open the regular season -- that would mean he would be out for at least six games -- or possibly putting him on season-ending injured reserve. The latter seems like a long shot unless Rice's rehab doesn't go well.

The thing that's too bad about this for everyone involved is if Rice had simply had the surgery in the offseason, he could have been back for the start of the regular season or shortly thereafter. Instead, a player coming off a Pro Bowl performance and entering the final year of his contract, is going to miss games against New Orleans, Miami, Detroit, the Jets, Dallas and maybe more.

That does the Vikings and Rice -- not to mention Favre -- absolutely no good.

"You lay all those options out there and it's not like I'm trying to sell him one way or the other," Childress said when talking about the approach Rice took. "The athlete knows what he has to have done."