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Lay off Childress--we're in the playoffs.
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Brad Childress of the NFC North Champs!
While watching the Vikings play last Sunday at a local sports bar, the consensus among the 150 or so experts eating wings and chugging beers was that Viking's coach, Brad Childress, should be fired whether Minnesota won or lost their game versus the New York Giants.
I might have been the coach's only supporter.
The goal of each of the NFL's 32 teams is to make the playoffs. It doesn't matter if you go in head first, back in, or drop in from the sky. Either you're one of the 12 playoff teams or you're not. The Vikings are one of those dirty dozen.
When it was clear that the Chicago Bears would lose, thus allowing the Vikings to make the playoffs regardless of their game's outcome, some more sports bar quarterbacks started using the term, "backing into the playoffs," as in, "if the Vikings lose to the Giants but still make the playoffs, that's backing in!"
Let's look at the 12 teams that made the playoffs. The 10-6 Vikings had a better record than Arizona and San Diego, who both won their divisions like Minnesota. And, "backing in" would imply that the Vikings started hot and fizzled in the end, only to be helped by other teams to get into the playoffs. Actually, the Vikings, using the actual records, are as hot as any team in the NFL in the last five games, going 4-1, save Indianapolis who has won five in a row.
The Vikings don't make out the schedule, don't tell the other teams what players to play, and they don't choose their division. Come January, the only question that the coaching staff should need to answer is, "are you in the playoffs?" Coach Childress can say "yes" to this question and he has nothing to be ashamed of. Bill Belichick, supposedly the smartest coach in the NFL, lost his starting quarterback, Tom Brady, and didn't make the playoffs. Childress never really had a starting quarterback, just a young kid learning the game (Tarvaris Jackson) and a worn-out back-up (Gus Frerotte), yet the Vikings are three games away from being Super Bowl champs! For that, I think Childress deserves a raise!
Do I think the Vikings can win in all? Probably not. But I honestly believe that they can beat the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday, then who knows what might happen? We've got one of the best defenses in football, and the best running back of the last five years in Adrian Peterson.
Relax, fans. The Superbowl is the Powerball of football, and at least we've got a ticket!
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