Jim Souhan: Vikings claw back to where they once were

Now that we've had a couple of years to observe the Vikings' new operation, to appreciate the challenges the job presents, it's time to concede that the coach did a pretty good job.

And by "the coach," we, of course, mean Mike Tice.

Brad Childress? In his two years at Winter Park, he's succeeded only in the way the tide succeeds when it returns to the beach. He has regained lost ground.

Tice wasn't given much of a chance to win. Red McCombs gave him the job after firing Denny Green because Tice was enthusiastic, available and cheap.

Tice wasn't ready for the job, having never been a head coach or coordinator at any level above youth football. He was poorly funded, leaving him with huge gaps on his roster -- especially on the offensive line and at running back -- and a constant brain drain on his coaching staff.

In his last two seasons, Tice went 8-8 and won a playoff game at Lambeau Field, then 9-7 while rallying his team to a winning streak after the Love Boat scandal shamed the franchise and Daunte Culpepper blew out his knee.

In Childress' first two seasons -- after he described the Vikings as a plum job featuring a talented roster that was bolstered with aggressive spending in free agency and the drafting of Adrian Peterson -- he went 6-10 and 8-8.

At Childress' year-end news conference Thursday, he'll probably claim progress in many areas, and often he'll be justified. His 2006 team collapsed; his 2007 team surged before losing its last two games. In 2006, he relied on a quarterback, Brad Johnson, who had little chance to be a long-term solution; in 2007 he relied on a hand-picked quarterback, Tarvaris Jackson, whose many mistakes were tempered by occasional signs of promise -- and a winning record.

In 2006, Childress' emotional range seemed to span the gamut from obtuse to hostile. In 2007, he better grasped the public nature of his job, becoming more human, and fewer of his players rolled their eyes when talking about him.

And whether it was the coach or the veteran leadership or just a soft schedule that deserves credit, Childress did preside over a five-game winning streak after the 34-0 loss at Lambeau called into question every decision the franchise had made the past two years.

Last year at this time, you could look at Childress in black-and-white terms -- he had a lousy first year. Now his tenure is battleship gray.

He has built a physical, veteran roster. Most of the high draft choices taken in the past two years have contributed. He has stopped pretending that he's going to invoke the infamous Vikings Code of Conduct every time one of his players lands on a police report.

Even if you are willing to give Childress credit for getting the Vikings back to .500, there remains one glaring disconnect in the Vikings' approach:

At defensive line, linebacker, defensive back, offensive line, tight end and running back -- and even on special teams -- the Vikings are a talented and largely veteran team. At quarterback and receiver, perhaps the two signature positions in the current NFL, the Vikings are rebuilding.

Think of the elite teams in the league, and you immediately think of their passing game. The Patriots are Brady to Moss. The Colts are Manning to Harrison or Wayne. The Packers are Favre to Driver. The Cowboys are Romo to TO.

For all of their strengths, the Vikings this year too often were reliant on Jackson to Williamson.

Where the 2006 season was a whitewash, in 2007 the Vikings turned battleship gray.