Jim Souhan: Childress' future as coach is now

The lower his approval ratings sinks, the funnier Brad Childress becomes.

Challenged to a fight by Troy (Hands of Stone and Conscience to Match) Williamson, Childress didn't become defensive; he described his method of self-defense.

"I'm 190 pounds of twisted steel," he said. "Romping, stomping dynamite."

We all thought he was a pale, soft autocrat with a funny mustache and a funnier speaking style. Turns out he's prepping for an MMA career.

He might need job options soon.

The Vikings are playing their second-string quarterback; they have lost their star middle linebacker; their star defensive end can't lift his right arm; their stout defensive tackles might face suspension; they just blew a game on the road in typical, gut-churning fashion; and yet they are tied for first in the NFC North.

With six games left in the season, the situation is perfect. Perfect for making a final judgment on their embattled, besieged and less-popular-than-black-ice head coach.

After the arrival of Adrian Peterson, Childress' second team underachieved slightly, going 8-8. He could argue that, if you want to develop a young quarterback, you must expect growing pains.

After the arrival of just about everything he could have asked for in free agency and trades, Childress' third team is underachieving slightly again, at 5-5, having thrown away victories against Indianapolis and Chicago. Once again, he could offer excuses -- the implosion of Tarvaris Jackson, the injury to E.J. Henderson.

Now, though, the excuses ring even more hollow than they did in the past. It was his project quarterback who imploded, and it is his hand-picked backup who, after a run of impressive games, is struggling to run the offense, and the influx of talent in the offseason should offset any injuries and suspensions, considering most NFL teams deal with the same obstacles.

However the landscape has changed, Childress should and will be judged by his ability to rally his team in the next six weeks in a mediocre, winnable division. That's what a good coach does -- overcomes problems and emphasizes his strengths. If Childress can navigate the Vikings into the playoffs, he will have justified the Wilfs' curious faith in him. If he can't, his three-year head coaching résumé will offer little justification for his hiring or continued employment.

Lunatic-fringe Vikings fans get it wrong when they accuse Childress of being a bad guy, or when they try to blame everything that goes wrong on the head coach. They have this right, though: Over three years, Childress has been given more than enough time to impose his personality on the team, and more than enough talent with which to win.

The final three games of the season are at Arizona (the Vikings rarely win on grass fields on the road, and the Cardinals are tough at home); at home against Atlanta (an overachiever the Vikings should beat in the Metrodome); and home against the Giants (maybe the best team in football, but will they have anything to play for the last week of the season?)

Which means that this is the perfect time for Childress -- here we invoke one of his favorite phrases -- to impose his will. The Vikings have played to their capabilities for one stretch of Childress' tenure -- when they won five in a row last November and December, beating one good team -- the eventual champion Giants, in Jersey.

Another such stretch will save Childress' job and send the Vikings to the playoffs. More mediocrity, and the Wilfs soon will be conducting another one of their exhaustive five-day coaching searches.