I’ve always wondered why teams give contract extensions to coaches in the middle of a season. Isn’t it better to wait until the year ends to see how things turned out? I raise this question because the Minnesota Vikings just extended Brad Childress’s contract out to 2013. The original contract was set to expire at the end of next season.
The Vikings are 8-1 and are, in my opinion, the best team in the NFL thus far in 2009. Overall, Childress’s head coaching record sits at 32-25 with the Vikings (his only head coaching position) but it’s worth noting that before the ’09 season began, he was 24-24. One wonders just how much of this contract Childress should pay to Brett Favre as thanks for saving him from a season of either Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson. I detest Favre but it’s hard to argue that he hasn’t been the NFL MVP thus far.
Although I fully expect the Vikings to continue their march deep into the NFL season, one does have to wonder what happens if they flop in the playoffs. Their remaining regular season schedule looks pretty easy on paper – home vs. SEA, CHI, CIN, NYG; road vs. AZ, CAR, CHI – so it’s entirely possible that they only lose one more game this year and finish at 14-2. But weren’t the Vikings Super Bowl favorites this pre-season? What to make of a coach that can’t win until he gets Brett Favre on his roster and still can’t win the big one?
I just want to know what the rush was to lock Childress up in mid-season. He had another year left on his deal so it’s not like he was going anywhere. If the Vikings finished the year as strongly as they’ve started it, sure, rewarding the coach would be a perfectly normal thing to do. But why now? Why hurry to make a decision when there is still room for things to go horribly, horribly wrong?
A career .500 head coach convinces a Hall of Fame quarterback to come out of retirement to save the team from another season of mediocrity and gets a contract extension? Wow, what a country.
The Vikings are 8-1 and are, in my opinion, the best team in the NFL thus far in 2009. Overall, Childress’s head coaching record sits at 32-25 with the Vikings (his only head coaching position) but it’s worth noting that before the ’09 season began, he was 24-24. One wonders just how much of this contract Childress should pay to Brett Favre as thanks for saving him from a season of either Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson. I detest Favre but it’s hard to argue that he hasn’t been the NFL MVP thus far.
Although I fully expect the Vikings to continue their march deep into the NFL season, one does have to wonder what happens if they flop in the playoffs. Their remaining regular season schedule looks pretty easy on paper – home vs. SEA, CHI, CIN, NYG; road vs. AZ, CAR, CHI – so it’s entirely possible that they only lose one more game this year and finish at 14-2. But weren’t the Vikings Super Bowl favorites this pre-season? What to make of a coach that can’t win until he gets Brett Favre on his roster and still can’t win the big one?
I just want to know what the rush was to lock Childress up in mid-season. He had another year left on his deal so it’s not like he was going anywhere. If the Vikings finished the year as strongly as they’ve started it, sure, rewarding the coach would be a perfectly normal thing to do. But why now? Why hurry to make a decision when there is still room for things to go horribly, horribly wrong?
A career .500 head coach convinces a Hall of Fame quarterback to come out of retirement to save the team from another season of mediocrity and gets a contract extension? Wow, what a country.
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