NFL coaches and quarterbacks, we hear, receive too much credit after victories and too much blame after losses.
Baloney. As the Vikings’ season froze like a tongue to a flagpole on Sunday at frigid Soldier Field, the culprits were the Bear Market Brads.
Because Brad Johnson threw away the biggest game of the year, Brad Childress is facing the most important decision of his career.
Johnson tossed four interceptions in the Vikings’ 23-13 loss to Chicago, leaving Childress with no choice but to send in Brooks Bollinger.
That doesn’t take Childress off the hook.
Johnson’s mistakes lost this game. Childress’ mistakes might have ruined his first season.
The rookie coach so believed in the user-friendliness of his offense that he started his first season with a 38-year-old quarterback and no reputable backups.
He so believed in his ability to mentor quarterbacks that he chose the raw Tarvaris Jackson in the second round.
This week, Childress will pick between the flailing Johnson, the ailing Bollinger (who injured his left shoulder) and the unveiling of Jackson.
The Chiller had better choose wisely, or he’ll turn an already-seething locker room into the set of “Mutiny on the Bounty.”
After the game, defensive players laughed over the absurdity of holding Bears “quarterback” Rex Grossman to a 1.3 passer rating and still losing.
How bad was Grossman? If Johnson had changed sidelines, he would have improved both teams.
Viking defenders weren’t the only ones fuming. Those responsible for the running game wondered how they rushed 35 times for 192 yards and a touchdown against one of the NFL’s best defenses yet managed only 13 points.
Maybe it was attempting zero passes into the end zone, abiding by Childress’ philosophy that you take what the defense gives you, even if the defense gives you nothing more desirable than Enron stock.
“It wasn’t like we weren’t moving the ball,” center Matt Birk said. “We were gashing them. It wasn’t like they were playing Cover-2, either. They had an extra guy in the box every time, and we gashed them.
“They made more big plays than we did. That’s why, even though we felt like we outplayed them, they won.” Childress did more than the Bears to slow the Vikings offense in the fourth quarter.
The Vikings got the ball with 12:14 remaining, needing two touchdowns, two extra points and a field goal just to send the game into overtime, and yet Childress didn’t call for a time-saving, no-huddle offense.
Bollinger led the Vikings to a touchdown, but just 5:40 remained when Ciatrick Fason scored.
Childress then called for an onside kick. That’s a coaching non sequitur. If you deem an onside kick necessary, you are past the point where you should have been running a no-huddle offense.
Now Childress must fix his no-offense huddle, and he faces a coach’s toughest decision — whether to change quarterbacks when the playoffs are a mathematical possibility.
His options: Johnson, who’s playing like a victim of identity theft; Bollinger, who’s hurt; and Jackson, who sounds worried he might be asked to start.
Choose Johnson, and the defense might revolt. Choose Bollinger, and you’d better Mapquest directions to the emergency room. Choose Jackson, and you’re telling a veteran team with a strong defense and running game to wait ‘til next year.
The pick here: Bollinger if he can lift his arm, Jackson if he can’t.
The longer the season lasts, the worse the Vikings play. Blame this loss on Johnson, but it’s the other Bear Market Brad who has guided his team into this nasty recession.
Jim Souhan is a national sports columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune
Souhan's great.. and writes a lot of Minnesota Twins articles during that season, and appears on the Twins FSN broadcasts a lot.
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