Bob Sansevere: Will Bernard Berrian be a good catch or a costly...

You know what the best thing is about Bernard Berrian? He is used to substandard quarterbacking.

[40for60]

Do you know what the best thing is about Pioneer Press readers? They are used to substandard sports reporting. Sansevere has been stuck in the same mode for years, all the while displaying his loath for Childress with every written word. Will anyone at the PP in a management position send Sansevere to Jacksonville along with Troy? Anyone as anti Viking as Bob should be shown the door, and maybe they will have a more friendly and familiar reader base under Tice.

[C A Martin]

Time to empty out the desk, Bob. You obviously need to do something else.
Developing young players takes time, and you ENCOURAGE the young player when they show improvement...which TJack surely did. With TWill dropping bombs, Shiancoe dropping TD passes, and losing Rice for the stretch run...Tarvaris had a stupid amount on his plate last year.
He's the first major Vikings QB in over 20 years to NOT have godlike receivers around. He has no Rashad...Jones...A. Carter...C. Carter...Jake Reed...Randy Moss to give him good targets, just a slot receiver forced to play wideout and a rookie that was hurt the last 3-4 games.
Cut the kid some slack...or just switch to the "Gardening Trends" desk. You obviously can't write about sports.

[Huge Jazz]

This is my interpretation of what most columnists write: If the Vikes sign a free agent they pay too much for a stiff. If they don't sign someone they're cheap and stupid.

Nice gig if you can get it.

Oh, I also forgot, always bring up a lousy player who is leaving, as if that's significant.

Who cares about the player leaving? He coulnd't do the job here. If he does the job somewhere else, again, who cares? Has any recent player the Vikings let go, outside of Randy Moss, did anything significant after they left?

Likewise, like ALL other teams the Vikes have a hit and miss history on free agents. However they've shown they're not afraid to spend the money if they think the player can help them win.

You don't have to be a Sid Hartman homer but, geez.

[Fire Childress]

All you homers need to quit whining. Thank goodness for guys like Sansevere and the Strib's Jim Souhan for telling it like it is. If you want sugar-coated fantasy crap telling you how wonderful everything the Vikings do is – get a subscription to VikingUpdate or go visit the team's official Web site. Then you can have sweet dreams of the Viking's guaranteed Super Bowl run and life will be wonderful. This team has made a tremendous number of screw-ups and as a lifelong fan I appreciate the Sansevere's of the world calling the team out when they need calling out - and this group of idiots running the Vikings need a lot of calling out. Berrian was a desperation signing because Childress and Co. refused to address the receiver position over the past 2-plus seasons. The team drastically overpaid for an average (at best) number 2 quality receiver. They will try to pass him off (no pun intended) as a number 1 guy and it will not work - not with Childress' lousy offensive scheme and Jackson's complete lack of ability as an NFL caliber quarterback. Being a great fan does not mean you accept incompetence from the team you support. If you really want to see your beloved Vikings succeed, you better pray that Childress gets canned (that, of course, would also be the end of Jackson's stellar NFL career) sooner rather than later - especially before he wastes Peterson's career.

[buddy grant]

Fire Childress wrote:

All you homers need to quit whining. Thank goodness for guys like Sansevere and the Strib's Jim Souhan for telling it like it is. If you want sugar-coated fantasy crap telling you how wonderful everything the Vikings do is – get a subscription to VikingUpdate or go visit the team's official Web site. Then you can have sweet dreams of the Viking's guaranteed Super Bowl run and life will be wonderful. This team has made a tremendous number of screw-ups and as a lifelong fan I appreciate the Sansevere's of the world calling the team out when they need calling out - and this group of idiots running the Vikings need a lot of calling out. Berrian was a desperation signing because Childress and Co. refused to address the receiver position over the past 2-plus seasons. The team drastically overpaid for an average (at best) number 2 quality receiver. They will try to pass him off (no pun intended) as a number 1 guy and it will not work - not with Childress' lousy offensive scheme and Jackson's complete lack of ability as an NFL caliber quarterback. Being a great fan does not mean you accept incompetence from the team you support. If you really want to see your beloved Vikings succeed, you better pray that Childress gets canned (that, of course, would also be the end of Jackson's stellar NFL career) sooner rather than later - especially before he wastes Peterson's career.

Harsh words but I agree with the sentiment. Childress will either turn things around or he will be canned before the end of the season. It all rides on TJ's shoulders. If he doesn't get the team into the playoffs with at least a 10-6 record it will be a bad season.

Berrian is a #2 as is Rice . However unless TJ learns how to read defences and make accurate throws it wouldn't matter if he had Moss and T.O.

Still a lot of holes to be plugged at DE, OL, Wr and QB. The draft might help with two but its unlikely it will address all four. We are a better team now than two weeks ago but we still ahve a long way to go before we think Championship.

[Bain]

buddy grant wrote:

<quoted text>
Harsh words but I agree with the sentiment. Childress will either turn things around or he will be canned before the end of the season. It all rides on TJ's shoulders. If he doesn't get the team into the playoffs with at least a 10-6 record it will be a bad season.
Berrian is a #2 as is Rice . However unless TJ learns how to read defences and make accurate throws it wouldn't matter if he had Moss and T.O.
Still a lot of holes to be plugged at DE, OL, Wr and QB. The draft might help with two but its unlikely it will address all four. We are a better team now than two weeks ago but we still ahve a long way to go before we think Championship.

ya i would like to think champions this year but i don't think it will happen. but you never know i did not think we would have gone 8-8 but we did. if not champions we should make it to the playoffs and win are division only real threat is the lions

[Magnum Man]

The article was a bit negitive, but spoke what a lot of people are fearing. Berrian isn't a Chris Carter. He will probably not step into the role and bring instant fear of the passing game that Carter did. That said he is an improvement to what we had.

I liked the article and like writers that make me think of something other than waiving my Viking banner. I just hope he's wrong.

[JLee]

Yes, substandard sports reporting...
Troy Boy was also in the Mike Tice doghouse his rookie year as well, let's not forget that...Was Tice really all that friendly to him?? Let's not put the halo around Mike Tice's head guys...The dude went 32-32 in 4 seasons with one year of BACKING UP into the playoffs...Additionally, Tice worked wonders for Jermaine Wiggins too didn't he...Nope, they cut him after training camp...

[JLee]

All these people willing to give up on Jackson after a mere 14 starts is ridiculous...Plug in Ryan, Brennan, Woodson, Flacco, or anybody else in this draft and they wouldn't light it up in there first season as a starter either...

Jackson showed marked improvement from week 12 onward and displayed that he can play and deserves another season to grow in his role as quarterback...

You give up on Jackson now and you set the franchise back further, development takes times, there's no other way around it...Tarvaris is my QB and i'm sticking by him...GET OVER IT!

[M-Chmura]

Fire Childress wrote:

All you homers need to quit whining. Thank goodness for guys like Sansevere and the Strib's Jim Souhan for telling it like it is. If you want sugar-coated fantasy crap telling you how wonderful everything the Vikings do is – get a subscription to VikingUpdate or go visit the team's official Web site. Then you can have sweet dreams of the Viking's guaranteed Super Bowl run and life will be wonderful. This team has made a tremendous number of screw-ups and as a lifelong fan I appreciate the Sansevere's of the world calling the team out when they need calling out - and this group of idiots running the Vikings need a lot of calling out. Berrian was a desperation signing because Childress and Co. refused to address the receiver position over the past 2-plus seasons. The team drastically overpaid for an average (at best) number 2 quality receiver. They will try to pass him off (no pun intended) as a number 1 guy and it will not work - not with Childress' lousy offensive scheme and Jackson's complete lack of ability as an NFL caliber quarterback. Being a great fan does not mean you accept incompetence from the team you support. If you really want to see your beloved Vikings succeed, you better pray that Childress gets canned (that, of course, would also be the end of Jackson's stellar NFL career) sooner rather than later - especially before he wastes Peterson's career.

If Jackson, Childress, and Ziggy actually pulled this thing off and became a very good team next year, you sound like you would be extremely dissapointed. That puts you into a certain class of fan.

[purple faithful]

little-berries had about the same amount of drops as williamson. i guess we could all stick our head in the sand & pretend he's good, but it won't make it so.

chilly would have killed to have backed into the playoffs as tice did. let's not forget, tice did not have the free agent purse strings. You remember our o-lay defense during the tice years? tice would have done very well swapping moss for AD & swapping defenses. No way he has the same crap year chilly did. no way.

Hire cowher or if you have a budget, hire schottie. TJ looks over matched and unable to read the simplest of defenses. he runs about 3 pass plays & chilly thinks so little of his intelligence, he has no audibles. Now, denver maybe doesnt spend a lot of time preparing for the vikes since we play them twice a decade, but my guess is green bay, chicago, detroit & the like might be able to prepare for the little qb who couldn't.

I might be a little harsh on denver since it was a meaningless game.

wishing for the best isn't the same as preparing....

[purple faithful]

tice v. chilly teams:

defense: chilly, by a mile & as a complete unit position by position. DL, LB,CB, Nickle, dime, SS FS, all chilly.

Offense: o-line, rb, fb, wr2 - chilly
WR1, qb,- tice

TE, push.

special teams- Chilly (remember all those poor kick coverages? heck, i usually prayed for an INT or a kick out of bounds)

so chilly's team is vastly superior in every way but record. tice's record was better. Think about it.

I honestly believe mike tice is a superior head coach to chilly. i mean, his wr1 was burrelson his last year & he dang near made the playoffs without AD (i'd take sidney rice over burrelson any day.) Look at the results he got out of stiffs like wiggans? the same wiggans chilly released because ziggy has purse strings unlike red.

Tice was developing into a very good head coach. i do not believe chilly has the tools to do the same. guy has no personality. no leadership ability. no motivational skills. he will never be successful because no one wants to follow him even if he was capable of communicating where he wants to go.

[Todd]

Fire Childress wrote:

All you homers need to quit whining. Thank goodness for guys like Sansevere and the Strib's Jim Souhan for telling it like it is. If you want sugar-coated fantasy crap telling you how wonderful everything the Vikings do is – get a subscription to VikingUpdate or go visit the team's official Web site. Then you can have sweet dreams of the Viking's guaranteed Super Bowl run and life will be wonderful. This team has made a tremendous number of screw-ups and as a lifelong fan I appreciate the Sansevere's of the world calling the team out when they need calling out - and this group of idiots running the Vikings need a lot of calling out. Berrian was a desperation signing because Childress and Co. refused to address the receiver position over the past 2-plus seasons. The team drastically overpaid for an average (at best) number 2 quality receiver. They will try to pass him off (no pun intended) as a number 1 guy and it will not work - not with Childress' lousy offensive scheme and Jackson's complete lack of ability as an NFL caliber quarterback. Being a great fan does not mean you accept incompetence from the team you support. If you really want to see your beloved Vikings succeed, you better pray that Childress gets canned (that, of course, would also be the end of Jackson's stellar NFL career) sooner rather than later - especially before he wastes Peterson's career.

Fire Childress? You're an idiot. TJ, and the team as a whole, showed steady improvement over the course of last season. They turned around a dire-looking 2-4 start very nicely. Please explain to me, oh great football genius, the rationale behind your rant? Why would ANY owner fire a coach doing a good job?

Save your rant for the end of this coming season (unless, of course, you’re psychic). If the Vikings don't improve from 8-8, you're probably correct. Until then, shut the pie-hole. Thanks.

[Riley]

Doing a good job, I guess you didn't watch the Redskin game. The play calling was painful, and TJ's passes were awful. I would expect some improvement by week 14, which I didn't see.
They won 5 in a row against 5 terrible teams at the time. Which is what a good team should do, however the five wins weren't enough to overcome the bad start that Childress put them into. The division we play in is terible. If we don't make the playoffs next year there better be some changes. And it should start at the top.

[Todd]

Riley wrote:

Doing a good job, I guess you didn't watch the Redskin game. The play calling was painful, and TJ's passes were awful. I would expect some improvement by week 14, which I didn't see.
They won 5 in a row against 5 terrible teams at the time. Which is what a good team should do, however the five wins weren't enough to overcome the bad start that Childress put them into. The division we play in is terible. If we don't make the playoffs next year there better be some changes. And it should start at the top.

While I agree with you on the Redskins game, you've got to look at the entire season, not just one game. Shoot, even the near-immortal Favre can look pathetic at times (Pack vs Giants).

I agree that the verdict is still out on Chilly and TJ, but musical chairs at head coach and QB is not the answer – at least not so soon; gotta give em a chance. At least one more year IMO.

I seriously thought Chilly looked OVERWHELMED on the sidelines in his first year as HC. I couldn't help but notice a much more relaxed and confident Brad Childress - both on the field and in front of the media - last year. Same with TJ. Still very raw, but he had long streaks of constancy and good decision-making last year that gives me some hope.

Good example of great cut-n-run timing? Getting rid of Williamson. Hands of stone three straight seasons and, yes, time to part ways.

I'm optimistic for this coming season. As another poster indicated, anything short of the playoffs and a 10-6 record would be a serious disappointment. With Favre gone, the Vikes might even be a co-favorite along with Detroit to win the division.