"Voodoo Child: Slight Return"

MNF: October 5th, 1998 On 1st-and-10 on the Vikings' 48-yard-line, and with 10:09 remaining in the 2nd quarter, Vikings' QB Randall Cunningham received a snap from center, took a 5-step drop and threw a shallow 40-yard rainbow to a rookie wide receiver streaking down the left sideline. Packers' corner Tyrone Williams was in excellent stride-for-stride coverage, and had safety help over the top from Darren Sharper. Neither DB was prepared for what would happen when the ball arrived. Randy Moss elevated four feet in the air while simultaneously turning his body in mid-air, catching the football just beyond the reach of Williams' outstretched right hand. When they both came down, Moss landed on his feet, and Williams landed on his stomach. Moss stepped over Williams before he could get up off of the ground. Sharper arrived on time to make a tackle, but had slightly over-pursued, in trying to avoid a collision with Williams. Moss glided past Sharper to the end-zone. If Vikings fans (or Packers fans) remember only one of the 90 touchdowns that Randy Moss scored as a Minnesota Viking from 1998-2004, then it is probably the one he scored on that play. His line for that night at Lambeau Field was 5 receptions for 190 yards and 2 TDs. Moss scored 17 touchdowns that season. He scored 17 TDs again, in 2003. A Complex Challenge Randy Moss's beyond-the-pale athletic skills are accompanied by the personality of a temperamental, perhaps even tortured, artist. His episodes of acting out are well documented, in this publication and many others, and have a wide range of severity. Moss's on-field antics have tended towards the annoying and juvenile. Some of his off-field outbursts have been malicious and toxic. Delving deeply into them here would serve little purpose. Suffice to say that his mercurial behavior has presented a significant challenge to NFL coaches over time. Dennis Green embraced that challenge, and managed to channel Randy Moss's complex energy for six mostly successful years. Mike Tice mostly ignored the challenge, thus leading to Moss's eventual 2-year exile in Oakland. Bill Belichick also embraced that challenge. This led to phenomenal success, with Moss scoring 23 TDs in 2007, but because of the season ending injury to Tom Brady early in 2008, Belichick had introduced a more conservative offensive scheme for backup QB Matt Cassel, one that reduced the premium on Moss's vertical skill-set. And now, in the space of four short weeks, Brad Childress has allowed that challenge to crush him. There are many disturbing facts that contribute to the present controversy surrounding Randy Moss, Vikings' Head Coach Brad Childress, and the Minnesota Vikings' organization writ large. The fact that I find most intriguing is this one. There are a select few people in every profession whose skills are so superlative that, in most competitive situations, they are not required to muster a 100% effort to defeat their opponents. It's not only intriguing. It's also more than a little annoying, given all of the lectures that most of us have received, regarding doing our best in all of life's endeavors. Randy Moss is one of these people who can essentially (and effectively) glide through most performances. His Iversonian attitude towards practice is also not helpful. One can probably count on one hand the NFL corners who can (mostly) be entrusted with single coverage of Randy Moss, and who will therefore require Moss to give a maximum effort in order to get open. In all other cases, Moss seems content to trot (or "slouch") downfield until he sees an opening, and then ominously raise his hand. There are still many shoes left to drop in the current controversy surrounding Randy Moss's having been waived following the Vikings' loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday. Even those who are willing to stipulate that Moss's behavior probably warranted suspension or banishment, nonetheless have begun to question the process followed by Brad Childress, to the extent that there was a process. Interviews of confused Vikings players, from Brett Favre to Percy Harvin, clearly indicate that the players were kept out of the loop in this affair. Whether this was by design or by oversight is itself a disturbing question. If Brad Childress was trying to send a message, then keeping the players in the dark regarding his motivation would seem counterintuitive. And although Childress has the contractual authority to make personnel decisions, waiving a future 1st-ballot Hall of Fame player is clearly the kind of non-trivial decision about which one's superiors should probably be appraised in advance. Frankly speaking, Brad Childress does not appear to be controlling for the sake of building a team. He rather shows every sign of controlling for the sake of control itself, mostly because he apparently does not understand the difference between control and leadership. Memo to Jeff Fisher: Fasten your seat-belt...