Altering the Scheme

The beginning of the Childress' Era held strong to one philosophy - run the ball, stop the run. In other words, do what the Jets and Bengals are doing this year. It's a very old school way of thinking, one TV analysts have been harping for as long as football has been on television. But here's the thing - it doesn't work. It doesn't win Super Bowls. Not anymore.

Last year the Vikings we're the #2 rushing offense and #1 against the run. What did this amount to? An unspectacular team that scared no one, and a first round exit. The Jets are the #1 rushing offense and are #4 against the run. The Bengals are the #4 rushing offense and the #6 rushing defense, their strengths. What will this amount to? They're both totally unspectactular, both from a scheme and personnel standpoint. Cincinnati is considered by many to be dead in the water while the Jets are a Curtis Painter appearance from being on the outside looking in.

I emphasize "unspectacular". You know what you're getting from a talent standpoint, it's all very straightforward. The onus is on the coaching and the scheme. So why doesn't it work? Because guys like Brett Favre, Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice and Adrian Peterson have shown that you can't prepare for guys that are capable of anything. The NFL is changing into more of a Madden video game league. You need at least a couple guys who are capable of scoring from anywhere on the field.

Everyone's heard the stories of guys like Jon Gruden who work 20 hour days, sleep in their office, using every available moment to somehow gain an edge on the other team. Everyone's heard about how Bill Belichick was the son of a scout, a football lifer that was raised on breaking down film. Coaches were becoming the show. They were becoming rock stars - even offensive coordinators were known just as well as head coaches.

Belichick's skills in particular were unique and a decided advantage. All "cheating" aside (I'm in the "name one coach who wasn't trying to get away with as much as he could" camp), the guy put together plans stopping the most high powered offenses and ripping the most fearsome defenses. He's got three rings, a fourth SB appearance and a fifth AFC title game appearance. The players on the field almost didn't matter - wideout Troy Brown was a defensive back for much of one season, for chrissakes. That kind of stuff was unheard of. He set a standard nobody else could follow.

The old saying is that the NFL is a copycat league. Everyone dutifully followed Belichick's lead and built empires centered around mind-squeezing control and week-to-week gameplans, as opposed to an overall philosophy. Long gone were the days of the playground style, call-it-as-I-see-it football. Guys like Peyton Manning and Brett Favre were considered throwbacks. Calling their own plays on the field? How absurd. You're messing up the coach's insanely intricate and detailed gameplan! That's what he spent 120 hours preparing for this week!

I've been over this before - this is why Childress was scared shitless of bringing in Jeff Garcia this past summer. So why bring in Favre? Well, obviously, with everyone harping on the "missing piece" your entire tenure, and having a HOF QB available, (and considering you get the credit for bringing him aboard), it's hard to turn that down. But I guarantee you, if Childress had his druthers, Tarvaris Jackson would still be back there, subserviently carrying out his orders.

This all leads to one major reason why Favre has been so successful this late in his career. How can you prepare for a guy who improvises so much? Even if you get him on film, he still has an unpredictable element that's difficult to prepare for. He's a coach's worst nightmare, both playing against and playing for.

My point is this - what's become the best way to attack against an over-prepared opponent? Once Belichick set the standard for coaching and how to prepare, what's the answer? Unpredictability. Explosiveness. Guys like Favre, DeSean Jackson, Chris Johnson, Deangelo Williams, Calvin Johnson (when healthy), Joshua Cribbs, on and on... more and more players of this nature are blowing up gameplans left and right. They're capable of anything on the field. There's just no preparing for that. Like Dan Patrick says, "You can only hope to contain them."

This past Sunday was again the Brett Favre Show Starring Brett Favre, and at the behest of Childress (not a stretch if I had to guess), his unpredictable style put up 61 points in a 60 minute stretch dating back to the Chicago game. There was a fantastic example of this when Favre changed the play at the line, pump faked twice on immediate routes, and went deep to Sidney Rice for 50 yards.

If Childress has a brain (a stretch if I had to guess), he's gotta stick with Favre calling it as he sees it on the field.

Your... 2000(?) Minnesota Vikings!

Every sports fan hates their local newspaper columnists - it's practically written into law. That said, I don't usually hate Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press... when he writes about anything but the Vikings. He turns into Dan Shaughnessy when the Vikings lose and it is annoying as hell.

One of the first lines in Powers' column today for the Pioneer Press is, "To panic or not to panic?" I deeply resent the notion. Panic? Like we're some kind of amateurs?

Vikings fans are trained animals, but we're old dogs, not monkeys. When our owner yells at us, we know whats up - we skulk away and shut the hell up. We don't sit there and whine and bark louder and piss all over the floor.

No panic, just the swift removal of any expectations. We've clearly seen the best and worst of this team this year. Hell, we just saw it all in one game just last night. And I'm not gonna wet my pants like some amateur - spare me, I'm not a Saints fan. This is the Vikings we're talking about.

I don't care about a bye anymore. I still think they beat the Packers at home. If you have any more expectations after that, you get what you deserve. Besides, if you're a football fan and you're NOT rooting for Vikings/Packers Round 3, something is wrong with you. And if they lose, Childress is that closer to being fired. (Sure, whine about the extension he just signed, as if contracts to pro and college coaches' contracts are worth more than the paper they're written on.)

Enough with this panic garbage, we've seen this before. Want an example? This is the same team as the 2000 Vikings. Look at the parallels:

- New quarterback that starts out hot until the rest of the league gets him on film catches up
2000: Daunte Culpepper
2009: Brett Favre

- Fast start when it doesn't matter
2000: 7-0
2009: 6-0

- Shitty coaching bogging down an enormous talent advantage
2000: Denny Green with Moss, Carter, Robert Smith, Randle, Stringer, Birk, etc.
2009: Brad Childress with Peterson, Rice, Harvin, Allen, Williams Wall, etc.

- Worthless on the road
2000: 4-4
2009: 4-4

- Taking a Chipotle-induced diarrhea dump all over the field in December
2000: lost three in a row to end the season, still backed into a 1st round bye and finished 11-5
2009: lost three out of four in December, still may back into a 1st round bye

They have 5 sacks in their last 4 games. Their safeties are not fast and cannot cover anyone. Special teams would give up at least 9 touchdowns to DeSean Jackson. And Reggie Bush for that matter. Most alarmingly, Antoine Winfield is either still not healthy or he is finished as a cornerback. He has zero speed and zero quickness, especially to keep up with the world-renowned wideout Devin Aruon... Aero.... Aromasheedoo? Would it be possible to just keep him in on running plays like they do Pat Williams?

So there it is. Panic? Go Twins!