Where I become convinced I should be an ESPN writer

ESPN's Elizabeth Merrill did a profile on Brad Childress, and here, in my opinion, is the money quote:

Crazy? Maybe. But in "Chilly's" world, it isn't. He's a risk taker hidden in a mathematician's body, a psychology major buried behind a pair of glasses and a clipboard.

What does that even mean? The only thing worse than bad writing is bad writing disguised as clever prose. At first blush, this all sounds poetic, but once you break down what she's actually saying, it makes no sense at all. These are just a bunch of words strapped together in a sentence; they have no meaning as a group. In other words, this is garbage.

And by the way, anyone who's watched Chilly coach knows he's pretty much the opposite of a risk taker. Back in 2007, he not once but twice punted on 4th and inches late in games, when a first down ends the game and the ball was on the other side of the 50. The only way the opponents (Chicago and Oakland, respectively) could win was by getting the ball back, and Childress willingly did just that.

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A question nobody is asking Childress, but I feel is pretty relevant; why exactly are you pinning your hopes on Tarvaris Jackson in the case that Favre doesn't come back? Childress either has a huge blind spot for Jackson, or he was so confident that Favre was coming back that he didn't bother to change the QB position. But either way, the Vikings are perilously close to opening the season with Jackson under center.

I think Jackson is fine as a backup QB, and there's no question he's better than most people realize (meaning, he's mediocre while most people feel he's UFL-quality), but that doesn't mean he should be QBing a team with Super Bowl aspirations. Jackson will never be starting quality because he'll never be accurate enough, and for that reason alone the Vikings should have done something at the QB position to at least secure it for the future, if not finding someone who could start this season in case Favre doesn't come back.

The window of opportunity for the Vikings is closing. Steve Hutchinson, Bryant McKinnie, Pat Williams, Antoine Winfield, Kevin Williams and E.J. Henderson are all getting up in age, and they can't play forever. That means the Vikings probably have one more good run in them before these guys start retiring, and once they start retiring there's no guarantee they'll be replaced. And if the Vikings don't get good QB play, they probably won't be making that run.

That day in 2006 when they drafted Jackson may well end up being the day that the Vikings sacrified numerous runs at a Super Bowl. Because of Childress' blind loyalty to Jackson, and his inability to ever be an accurate passer, the Vikings have not done anything to secure their future at QB. They got lucky with Favre last year, but if he does, in fact, retire then the Vikings are right back to where they were, a potential playoff team hindered in its Super Bowl aspirations by a mediocre QB. A mediocre QB that Childress refuses to replace.

This apparently is the Vikings' continued destiny; to be good enough to make a Super Bowl, but never actually get there. They made four Super Bowls in the '70s and haven't been back, despite having very few actual bad seasons. The '80s Vikings had enough talent to go to the Super Bowl; they never did. The '90s Vikings amassed enough talent by the end of the decade to be a Super Bowl team; they never made it. And now in the late '00s the Vikings once again have enough talent to make a Super Bowl, but will probably never make it as well.