Was Randy the Problem?

After this wonderful Friday afternoon, I know three things about Zygi Wilf. The first is that he has an awesome name. The second is that he owns the Minnesota Vikings. And the third thing is that he is irate with the actions of his head coach, Brad Childress.

Reports today have surfaced indicating that Childress never even conversed with Wilf prior to telling his team that they were releasing Randy Moss. The more notable side of the story, though, claims that Wilf gave strong consideration to holding on to Moss and cutting Childress loose -- right then and there. This alleged scenario explains why the Vikings took an extra day to officially place Moss on waivers after the initial report surfaced Monday morning. I know Minnesota ultimately still waived Moss, but I can't help but raise the question -- was Moss the problem, or has it been Childress all along?


I don't mean to place all of the blame on Childress, or even to say that he has made glaring mistakes to directly cost the Vikings games this year. My view, rather, is that Childress has developed a culture in that locker room which cannot be the formula for winning football. If I were in Zygi Wilf's shoes, I absolutely would have fired Childress by now. Minnesota has too many talented players to be 2-5. That's just the plain, simple truth. But Childress has handled every non-football situation in the worst way possible. The waiving of Randy Moss almost felt like a move that he made to protect himself. I mean, he's already opened the door for Brett Favre to undermine his authority. He's been doing that since day one.

Head coaches in the National Football League need to be the undisputed leaders of their football teams. There can't be any question. Nobody in the Patriots locker room questions Bill Belichick. Nobody in the Titans locker room questions Jeff Fisher. Nobody in the Saints locker room questions Sean Payton. Nobody in the Steelers locker room questions Mike Tomlin. Why don't I get the same feeling about the Vikings? Because everyone questions him. Nobody could figure out why Moss was waived. No one can truly tell who's controlling that offense. Favre does his own thing out there, and what price does he pay? I'm glad I'm not a Vikings fan. I could use plenty of words to describe their situation. None of them are good.