If he wants to stay in purple, he'll keep Favre out of purple.


Brad Childress has done a good job with Minnesota since arriving in the 2006 season. During his time there, the Vikings have increased their win total by two each season (from six, to eight, to ten last year including a division title), and have become legitimate playoff and even Super Bowl contenders.

However, his handling of the Favre situation could kill not only his sustained success in Minnesota, but his job as the Vikings' head coach.

I thought the way he handled Favre during the period of "Favre Watch" and the permanent Hattiesburg, MI assignment of several ESPN field reporters was just fine. He was very vague with the media, which is good for a situation like that, and he threw all of his chips into the pot in an attempt to go after a Hall of Fame quarterback.

While it didn't work out, I think it shows his committment to winning and taking the Minnesota franchise to a place it has been been in several decades. He has Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels, but the only people in the country who think they're good enough to take the Vikings to the Super Bowl are themselves. Which is important, but misguided.

Unfortunately the Vikings and everyone else has realized that the quarterback position is a real weakness for the Vikings, as neither quarterback has had sustained success as a starter. Therefore, the pursuit of Favre makes perfect sense. Or rather, made perfect season.

Now, however, it's time to shut and deadbolt the door on a Favre return to Minnesota.

While Childress did a good job of staying noncommittal either way on the Favre story earlier, he has since said that beyond a shadow of a doubt the door for Favre to become a Viking is closed. When a head coach makes such a concrete statement, they have no choice but to stick with it or risk their credibility with the media, and most importantly, the team, being compromised.

I'm sure Childress didn't just make that statement to the media, but to his team and to the quarterbacks he's working with at the moment. I'm sure he gathered them all together either in the locker room or a meeting room and told them that Favre will not be a Viking and told Jackson and Rosenfels that the job will belong to one of them.

To go back on that now would be the very definition of career suicide.

In the world of pro football, all a head coach has to speak for him are his actions. He must always stick to his word with his players because if they do not trust him, the team will suffer on the field. There is no possible way for a team to be successful when the guys are not a cohesive, trusting unit which goes all the way to the head coach, GM, and the owner.

Lying to the media is one thing, and really, I don't have too much of a problem with it. The media will twist and distort most stories anyway, so in some instances they deserve it. For instance, a lot of people are still reporting that McNabb had no say in the Vick signing, when he has made it quite clear that he started the discussion. However, that's not a story like a McNabb-Vick fight.

Based on the comments of the Vikings players it's safe to assume that Childress has told them that the door for Favre is shut and that they're moving on. The quotes of anonymous players are really quite a flimsy source, and should be taken with a grain of salt, but if the quotes are really from players, Childress may already have lost that locker room.

If he wants any chance of keeping his job in Minnesota he must shut down any Favre talks in the locker room, and he must do that by sticking to his word that Favre will not be wearing purple in 2009. If he goes back on his word now, he will lose his job in Minnesota, and may never see a head coaching opportunity, at least in the NFL, ever again.