Ken Whisenhunt absolutely should have gone out and gotten himself a better QB this offseason than Derek Anderson, but at least he's willing to admit when he's wrong about something and bench Matt Leinart. It's easy to bullshit people into Matt Leinart, as he's a former college star and first round draft pick. But Whisenhunt knows Leinart will not get the Cardinals to the promised land, so he's going to give Anderson a try.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have Brad Childress. His stubborn refusal to give up on Tarvaris Jackson is going to be the death of this franchise, I swear. The Vikings traded Sage Rosenfels (and Darius Reynaud; also a mistake in my opinion) to the Giants today, and will now go with Jackson and Joe Webb as the backups to Favre. Jackson has been, to put it nicely, terrible this preseason. He finished the preseason 12-26, including 2-8 in the final preseason game against Denver. Rosenfels may not be great, but he was certainly better than that and he deserved to be the backup.
But you see, Brad Childress can't get himself to admit a mistake. Four years ago he drafted Jackson and said he could be Donovan McNabb someday, and damnit it's going to happen come hell or high water. It really makes you wonder why this team even traded for Rosenfels. It's obvious that no matter how much he outplayed Jackson, he was never going to be placed higher on the depth chart. It's like Childress had to throw people off the scent, so he traded for Rosenfels in order to make it look like he was creating a competition.
Favre hasn't missed a start in a very, very long time and odds are he'll make it through these 16 weeks unscathed. But you never know, and you always want to have a trustworthy backup in place. The Vikings do not have that. They had that in Rosenfels; sure, he's had his problems in the past with some untimely interceptions and fumbles, but damnit the guy can throw the ball with some touch and accuracy, which is more than you can say about Jackson.
During the final preseason game, tight end Garrett Mills ran a seam route and got behind the defense. Jackson threw the ball well behind Mills, who could not catch it. It was a throw that would have tempted me to cut the guy on the spot if I were his coach. That is a throw an NFL QB needs to make 9 times out of 10, and Jackson has trouble making it 5 times out of 10. The Vikings have waited four long years for Jackson to develop, and it is time to cut the cord. This isn't to say that Jackson couldn't be a decent backup for someone else. He can play decently in stretches, and at the very least he can always take off and run. But as long as he's with the Vikings and Childress is the coach, he will never be fairly evaluated. He had no business beating out Rosenfels for the backup job, and only did because Childress refuses to admit his mistake.
What worries me is that Childress apparently still believes Jackson is the QB of the future, which is ludicrous. Jackson is what he is at this point; he's a scattshot passer with great arm strength and great athleticism. This is his fifth year in the league, and judging by this preseason he hasn't changed and I'm pretty sure he never will. Favre only has one year left, and it would be ridiculous for the Vikings to consider Jackson as a starter for next season. But that appears to be exactly what they're doing. At which point they'll be just like the Cardinals, foolishly believing in a former draft pick who never panned out and then benching him for an underwhelming veteran.
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