MinnesotaSportsScene.com

People were keeping a close eye on their Guess watches today as time ticked off the clock in the Bears-Vikings clash at Soldier Field in Chicago. It was a high-scoring affair that left each team counter-punching the other most of the way.

In the end, though, it was Gus Frerotte’s fourth interception, the fourteenth turnover of the day by the Vikings offense, that sealed the team’s fate in a 48-41 loss to the Bears. When a team can have 14 turnovers and only the last one takes away their ability to come back and win the game, you know it’s been a sloppy day on defense for both teams.

Adrian Peterson did his best, offering up 121 yard rushing and two scores in the game; Frerotte threw for just under 300 yards and scored two touchdowns despite the four interceptions. And the game was not an example of sterling offense for the Bears, as three of their scores came off special teams or defensive plays.

The Vikings definitely gave this one away. But with Childress going 2-1 over the past three games and entering the bye week with a record of 3-4, I believe he’s earned a reprieve. Let him finish out the season and avoid the chaos of a mid-season coaching change.

But make no mistake about it: he’s still a prime target for firing, once this season is over. Zygi should can him as quickly as possible after the season and open up the coffers wide enough to lure a quality head coach to this team.

Bill Cowher’s still out there, my friends. Ripe for the hiring.

Whether Brad Childress, whose tenure with the Vikings is on a pulse oximeter, gets to finish out this season as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, or becomes the next coach to be fired mid-season, is a tale that may be told over the next three games. Currently a very disappointing 1-3, the Vikings face crucial opponents, starting tonight.

First, on Monday Night Football tonight, the Vikes will have a showdown with the New Orleans Saints, a game they ought to win. After that, there will be key division match-ups against NFC North foes Detroit and Chicago.

If Childress secures all three wins, he’ll survive the season, at least, leading the Vikings into their bye week with a 4-3 record. He’ll probably survive if he drops one of those games.

However, if Childress loses two of the next three games, or worse, loses all three, we may see a coaching change going into the bye week. And it will be long overdue.

If owner Zygi Wilf does decide to release Childress during the bye, look for assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier to be named to the interim spot, with a strong chance to retain the job once the season’s over, if he can turn things around. If Frazier can’t turn things around, expect Wilf to clean house and start over fresh in January.

You heard it here first.

Coach Brad Childress saw his Minnesota Vikings drop the final two games of the season, robbing his team of a playoff turnaround to their season. After starting the season 2-5, the Vikings turned their season around more efficiently than a New York moving company, beginning with a big win against the New York Giants. After a loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Vikings when on a six-game winning streak to reach 8-6 and be within two wins of the playoffs.

But the Vikings choked against Joe Gibbs’ Washington Redskins, putting them behind the eight-ball, as they not only need to win their final game against Denver, but hope that a Dallas team resting their starters for the playoffs could still beat the Redskins. Neither happened.

Despite an emotional, two-touchdown, two two-point conversion comeback against Denver to tie it up and force overtime, T-Jack fumbled the game away almost immediately, robbing the Vikes of even an emotional, moral victory of going out on a win.

And even with all this, Coach Brad Childress will be invited back for the third year of his five-year contract; his only hope is to immediately improve the quality of the team’s receiving corps; even Tom Brady would look average throwing to these stooges and greenhorns. Of the lot of them, only Bobby Wade and Sidney Rice have proved they deserve to be back next season.

Bill Clinton won the presidency with a four word motto that helped him stay on message: It’s the economy, stupid.

Perhaps when addressing the problems that remain with the Vikings this off-season, Coach Brad Childress would do well to adopt a similar catch-phrase: It’s the receivers, stupid! When going out on the free agent market for body shop supplies, that’s what we need to stock up on most on offense, not a new quarterback.

That will change once the Vikings rid themselves of receiving cancer, former first-round draft pick WR Troy Williamson and sign a key receiver or two who can actually catch the ball. The problem is not so much in inexperienced QB Tavaris Jackson as it is a dearth of talent in the receiving corps.

Sidney Rice looks like a keeper, and Bobby Wade’s not bad; we just need one or two more decent receivers to back them up, since Robert Ferguson is not a long-term fix. Wade finished the season with 54 receptions, Ferguson and Rice with 32 and 21 respectively. Williamson had only 18. Time for him to go, especially after two yet drops that could have been difference-makers against Denver.

Not even heroic QB Tom Brady would be able to win with this year’s group of sad-sack receivers.

TE Visanthe Shiancoe.

LB Vinny Ciurciu.

WR Bobby Wade.

You call this free agency?

Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress sure does. He’s selling these mediocre prospects as the keys to turning his 6-10 debut season into a 10-6 playoff contender. Sorry if I find that a bit hard to swallow. Childress would have an easier time selling my Las Vegas luxury condos that I have ability to afford!

As Judge Judy became famous for saying, don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining, Coach Childress. I have an IQ above 9. I can tell the difference between last year’s free agency season and this year’s.

Sure, it’s nice to talk about putting together a team of stellar character; but even in that pursuit, you are still responsible to field a team. The Vikings have inexperience at QB, virtually nothing at WR, and an aging defense. Help is needed just about everywhere, they have money to spend, and they’re sitting on it.

I’ll grant that it’s not a stellar list of free agents this season, but one has to think that a bit more could be found on the NFL scrapheap than these three players. I stood behind Coach Childress getting a second season. I won’t stand behind a third season if we go 6-10 again, and right now that’s looking optimistic.

The Vikings have traded away or cut all their stars; there’s no sign the team is acquiring anyone who’ll make fans forget the glory days of Daunte Culpepper and Randy Moss. They may have never reached the Super Bowl, but at least their teams were always exciting to watch.

Former Cretin-Derham Hall QB Chris Weinke, 34, who won a Heisman Trophy at Florida State and spent all of his pro career so far with the Carolina Panthers, was released by Carolina recently. He’s made it known he’d love nothing better than to become a Minnesota Viking. Weinke might be the “experienced veteran backup” the purple and gold need behind Tavaris Jackson, the 2006 second-round pick who is projected to start next fall.

The Panthers never committed to Weinke as a starter, partially because he went through college football at a much older age than most kids do; he was in his mid-20s after spending his post-high school years trying to work his way up the minor league baseball system, but never cracking the majors.

It doesn’t take budgeting software to figure out that Weinke would be a good risk for the Vikes. Ownership could pay him a small but incentive-laden contract, much the way they did Brad Johnson the past two season, and yet his age would not pose a threat to T-Jack.

This one ought to be a no-brainer for Coach Childress and his “kickass offense.”

The Minnesota Vikings had one Brad too many this past season and today the organization let one of them go. Coach Brad Childress is still in charge as the head coach, but the NFL’s oldest active quarterback, Brad Johnson, was given his walking papers today.

Despite a decade and a half of good will in Minnesota, it was long past due for Johnson to be sent packing. This past season, the Johnson-led offense was so feeble and unexciting that it acted as a better appetite suppressant than Ionamin.

Sure, Coach Brad had some responsibility for transforming the Vikings’ kickass offense into a “getting our asses kicked” offense. Sure, with all our troubles at wide receiver, it would have been hard for any QB to look good under center.

But QB Brad was completely uninspiring, would only have been worse next season and, frankly, deserved to try and find a better gig with another team, out of respect for his overall career.

Bye-bye Brad. You will be missed, but not for what you did last year and not because we wanted you back next year. Thanks for all the good seasons that actually were good.

Indianapolis Colts defensive assistant Leslie Frazier has been named the new defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, replacing Mike Tomlin, now head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to the Pioneer Press.

At first blush, this appears to be a great hire. It keeps our top defensive line and linebackers coaches in place, and Frazier has been a specialist in coaching defensive backs. Considering that pass defense was the weak point of the Vikings’ defense this past season, Frazier’s expertise could help shore up that weakness. Plus, he coaches the same Cover-2/Tampa-2 scheme that Tomlin installed and that head coach Brad Childress wants to see continued.

Coach Frazier met the local press at a press conference on Thursday, and while he wasn’t exactly given an address plaque for it, he seemed to be a welcomed hire. Frazier, like Tomlin before him, hopes to be a head coach in the NFL someday. If he does well, and Childress continues to annoy folks, Frazier’s opportunity might even come with the purple and gold! Stranger things have happened. Kudos to the Vikings for hiring a top-notch guy, rather than a Denny Green-style, Richard Solomon yes-man type.

There’s a “former” in front of the title of Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin, who is now the deserving head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, which means the Vikes are on the lookout for their next defensive coordinator.

While some are lobbying for solid defensive line coach Karl Dunbar to get the promotion and a few even mention linebacker coach Fred Pagac, I have to say that while Dunbar might be OK, I think at the moment, of the names mentioned, the best option is one outside of the organization.

Nebraska defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove is, by far, the best-qualified choice. He turned down a linebackers position coaching offer from Childress last spring, but offering him a chance to be defensive coordinator could be the lure that lands him.

While each candidate looks into presentation folder printing in preparation for their interview, let’s hope Childress doesn’t pull a Dennis Green and hire the most convenient in-house candidate. Cosgrove is a worthy successor to Tomlin.

In at least one way, the Brad Childress era of the Minnesota Vikings is starting to feel a bit like the tenure of another Vikings coach, Dennis Green. What I mean is this: early in Green’s run, he had a top-performing defensive coordinator who was snatched away for a head coaching spot, ensuring Green remained coach of the Vikings long-term. I’m speaking, of course, about SuperBowl-bound Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy.

The Vikings have, ever since, regretted keeping Green and letting Dungy slip through their fingers. Now history is repeating itself as the Pittsburgh Steelers have hired away the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, Mike Tomlin, who many regard as a better coach than Childress; with his departure, many feel Childress has improved his job security with the Vikings.

Of course, Coach Childress had best not leap to looking into the painting costs for redecorating the head coach’s office in his own style; fans are still fairly unforgiving around here and Childress’ debut season with the Vikings had many calling for his head after only one chance.

That’s a bit ridiculous, but next season may already put Coach Childress on the hotseat with the Vikings; after all, firing coaches is becoming pretty trendy in Minnesota lately. In the past month or so, Dan Monson, Glen Mason and Dwayne Casey have all been kicked to the curb.

Could Childress be next?