MinnesotaSportsScene.com

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.

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.