Are They Reading This in Minnesota?

Events of this past week have made me wonder if IcebergCarwash is becoming more widely read. And influential. Particularly among the decision makers in the National Football League (NFL).

Here are the facts, in chronological order:

• On Sunday afternoon, the Minnesota Vikings lost to the Indianapolis Colts, and saw their record drop to 0-2.
• Despite another poor showing by quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, Vikings head coach Brad Childress indicated that he wasn't planning to make a change at that position. These comments were made to the assembled media shortly after the game, on Sunday afternoon.
• On Monday, in his weekly day-after-the-game briefing with the media, Childress reiterated his commitment to T-Jack as the Vikings' starting quarterback.
• Later on Monday, IcebergCarwash published its post ("That Slinky Won't Slink"), blaming the Vikings' anemic offense on Jackson, and questioning whether or not Jackson was capable of leading the team.
• On Tuesday, Childress appeared to change his tune, indicating that he still had some decisions to make regarding the quarterback position. It represented the first time that the coach had publicly wavered in his support for Tarvaris Jackson.
• Finally, on Wednesday, Childress surprised many observers by definitively benching Tarvaris Jackson and naming Gus Frerotte as the Vikings' starter, for the remainder of the season (or until he gets hurt, whichever comes first).

Why the sudden change of heart, Coach Childress? Could it be that you were swayed by a certain blog? Actually, a certain brother of MBB suggested that this might be the case.

Whatever the motivation, I think that it was the right move at this point. While I continue to believe that T-Jack possesses significant upside as a player, he's clearly not there yet. At this stage, he's hurting the team, as the coaches seem afraid to open up the offense with him at the helm. FBB has noted that the Vikings need to throw the ball deeper downfield with greater frequency. For that reason alone, I think that the switch to Frerotte will be beneficial.

I wouldn't get too excited about the Gus Frerotte regime, however. He's a career backup, who has never thrown more than 18 touchdown passes in a season. He's bounced around the league, having played for 7 different teams (this is his second tour of duty with the Vikings; he played in Minnesota in 2003-04), and has never held a starting job for long. He's 37 years old, making him one of the oldest quarterbacks in the league. Since the Vikings signed him as a backup this offseason, we keep hearing about his still-strong arm. That's like when they tell you a 90 year-old person still has most of his faculties. Sure it's impressive, and the guy might be the envy of the nursing home, but if need be, you could probably win a wrestling match against him. Especially if it was a first-one-to-three-pins match. In a first-pin wins situation, anything could happen. Sure the guy is old, but he might be pretty slippery.

If that weren't enough, consider that to this day, Gus Frerotte is best known as the guy who hurt himself by slamming his head into a wall celebrating a touchdown. I'm serious. You could look that up.

My point is, although there's no telling whether or not the Vikings will see an upgrade at the quarterback position, this was a move that had to be made.

So, does the coaching staff of the Minnesota Vikings read this blog? I'm not really sure. But, just in case they do...

...Hey guys, how about winning this Sunday for a change?