Brad Childress has Vikings 4-2

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 10/25/2006

After beating the NFC defending champion Seattle Seahawks 31-13 Sunday in Seattle , the Vikings’ most dominant performance of the year to date, the team has improved to 4-2. Next week, the Vikings have a date on Monday Night Football at the Metrodome with the first-place (5-1) New England Patriots.

 

Head Coach Brad Childress has the team moving in the right direction. When he was introduced on January 7 as the seventh head coach in Vikings history, he made a point of saying he would bring discipline and accountability to the team.

 

Childress, a 30-year coaching veteran, had never before been a head coach on any level. However, the first thing Childress did was what former Vikings head coach Dennis Green did: He hired a promising young first-time defensive coordinator in Mike Tomlin.

 

In 1992 Green hired Tony Dungy as defensive coordinator. In 1993 Dungy had the NFL’s number-one defense, and he is now one of the NFL’s outstanding head coaches. Tomlin’s defense has been outstanding; after six games, nobody has scored 20 points on his defense, including the 6-0 Chicago Bears, and the Vikings lead the NFL with four defensive touchdowns.

 

Childress has a vision for Vikings football, and he (BC) sat down and talked with me (LF) about it. “You work for 30 years to put yourself in this position,” said Childress.

 

LF: You’ve made a lot of tough decisions when you take a roster from 85 players in training camp to 53. You also made the decision to trade quarterback Daunte Culpepper to Miami . Talk about some of those decisions and some of the things that went into making them.

 

BC: The easiest thing as opposed to singling anybody out is to tell you [that] as the head coach the only decisions you make are in the best interest of the team. And that’s all that I’ll ever do. I just had a very difficult conversation a couple of days ago with somebody to leave our team. And you have to do that whether you like to do it or not, and it’s part of the deal.

 

LF: You’ve been in the business a long time. You’ve been very disciplined. Did you have any doubts that one day you would get this opportunity to have your own program?

 

BC: I always got a good job when I had a good job. If you take care of the job you’re in and do a great job with it, people notice. So, I was satisfied I had a good job with the Philadelphia Eagles. We were in a position where we had a chance to win every year. If you do a good job, people usually stand up and notice.

 

LF: Many of your players, some veterans, all said your training camp was the toughest they had ever been through. Talk about some of the ingredients that go into building a tough-minded and disciplined team that brings out character.

 

BC: Well, I think at some levels, obviously, football is a physical sport. It’s hard to compromise in some of those areas. It’s a fine line between running a physical training camp and getting a bunch of guys nicked and injured, but by the same token you want to have a battle-hardened team. These guys have been through it. They don’t have to worry about if they can play and for how long. You kind of follow through with that.

 

LF: You hired 21 new coaches. Talk about those decisions in putting a staff together and choosing one guy over another.

 

BC: Well, when you take one of these jobs, one of the things is what’s your vision, what’s your plan, and what kind of staff can you get your hands on. And so you come in here with names of people that you have in order, who you want as your defensive coordinator, who you want as your offensive coordinator, who’s the best wide receiver coach, who’s the tight end coach.

 

You know that from those 30 years in the business. And spending time with people, you know what kind of coaches they are, and just as importantly you know how they work and what kind of people they are.

 

LF: You extended the contract of big left tackle Bryant McKinnie before the season. Why was that important to do before the start of the regular season?

 

BC: I think you like to eliminate any distractions that you can. It’s been in the works. It’s hard to find good left tackles in this business, and he’s one of the better ones in the NFL. We wanted to lock him up for a long period of time.

 

LF: Coach, you brought in some outstanding talented players that have been a part of winning programs — Steve Hutchinson, Ben Leber, Ryan Longwell, Tony Richardson, Dwight Smith, Chester Taylor. Talk about those decisions, why this core of players would benefit you, and what you’re trying to establish in Minnesota .

 

BC: First of all, the people that you just mentioned are good people, and all things being equal, when you can find talented people you know are good people, you know where their heart is, I think that is as important as anything. And obviously, in their own right, the Longwells, the Lebers, the Hutchinsons are very, very good football players. When the going gets tough, you kind of know where they are going to be.  

 

LF: You’re the first Vikings head coach to go into a season with a starting quarterback who’s won the Super Bowl before, Brad Johnson. Talk about that.

 

BC: You know that gives you a bit of confidence. It’s what we’re all fighting for, to get that Super Bowl ring, and you can’t put a premium on that 15-year wealth of experience. He has that; he knows how to play the game; he knows who he is both mentally and physically. And again, I think that’s as important as anything.

 

LF: Coach, thanks for the opportunity, two Chicago guys getting together. Best of luck to you.

 

BC: A Fenger High School grad — that’s a good thing. 

 

So far so good for Childress — he’s trying to get the Vikings back into the playoffs. The Vikings have missed the playoffs three of the last four years, but after six weeks and having beaten three of four teams that qualified for the playoffs last year — Washington, Carolina, Chicago and Seattle — the Vikings are moving in the right direction with Childress.

 

Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio, 89.9 FM, at 8:20 am, and Monday evenings 6-7 pm. He welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.