The Minnesota Vikings' Coaching Staff: An Offensive Profile

When Brad Childress took the reigns as Minnesota’s head coach in 2006, he shied away from the notion that he was the team’s savior.

“I'm just passing along what I've learned from great coaches over 30 years, ya know?" Childress told ESPN The Magazine during training camp that August. "This stuff is not revolutionary."

Even as a mere mortal, however, Childress has spent the last three years remaking the Vikings in his own image.

He swept out the easygoing ways of predecessor and “player’s coach” Mike Tice in favor of a discipline-oriented, sweat-the-little-things regime. He drafted a pet project at quarterback. And he assembled his cast of coordinators and assistants from the familiar pool of the coaching circles through which he’s traveled in his career.

Childresses’ fourth year on the job—his third straight campaign with the same offensive and defensive coordinators—will make or break the fiefdom he’s built in Minnesota. If the Vikings capture a second consecutive NFC North title, look good doing it, and put up a fight in the playoffs, he’ll be in line for an extension next winter. If the team stagnates or regresses, he’ll be polishing his resume.

We’ve already examined some of the roster issues that will impact Minnesota’s fortunes in 2009. Here, we’ll take a closer look at the coaching staff charged with coaxing the Vikings to the next level.

This is Part One of a two-part profile on the Minnesota Vikings coaching staff. This part covers head coach Brad Childress and the offensive staff. Part Two covers Minnesota’s coaching on defense and special teams and can be found here.

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Although his Vikings squads have hung their hats on stout defense, Childress cut his teeth on the other side of the ball.

Born and raised an hour west of Chicago in Aurora, Ill., Childress launched his career on the sidelines as a graduate assistant at the University of Illinois in 1978. Later, he worked as a running backs and wide receivers coach for the Illini.

Childress spent six years in Champaign before getting a crack as a quarterbacks coach with the Indianapolis Colts in 1985. It was a pro debut to forget: Colts’ passers completed a brutal 50.2 percent of their throws for 2,811 yards, 15 touchdowns and 20 picks on the year, en route to a 5-11 finish.

Childress was sent packing that offseason in a shakeup that wasn’t completed until midway through the following year, when head coach Rod Dowhower got the ax after an 0-13 start.
 
Childress’ next stop was Northern Arizona University, where he spent four years as an offensive coordinator. There, he first crossed paths with Andy Reid, who spent a year as NAU’s offensive line coach in 1986. Childress followed his NAU stint with a season as a receivers coach at Utah, and served eight years on Barry Alvarez’ staff at Wisconsin—three as a QB coach and five as offensive coordinator.

When Reid landed the Philadelphia Eagles’ head coaching gig in 1999, he brought Childress along as his quarterbacks coach.

This time, Childress stuck around. Philadelphia selected Donovan McNabb out of Syracuse as the second overall pick of the 1999 Draft, and while Eagles fans booed the pick, McNabb thrived under Childress. The quarterback made the first of five consecutive Pro Bowl appearances in his sophomore season – his first full year as an NFL starter.

In 2002, Childress got the nod as Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator, replacing none other than the retiring Rod Dowhower. That season was the first of three straight in which Philadelphia won 12-plus games, including a 2004 run to the Super Bowl. The Eagles scoring offense finished 4th, 11th and 8th during that stretch, and cracked the top 10 in yardage in two of those years.

Childress’ fourth year in the position—the season before he was tabbed as the head honcho in Minnesota—was a classic case of misfortune for a Super Bow loser. Injuries to McNabb and a season-long contract feud between the front office and Terrell Owens derailed Philadelphia’s season. The offense tumbled to No. 18 in scoring and No. 19 in yards, and the Eagles limped to a 6-10 finish.

The poor showing didn’t hurt Childress’ candidacy for head coaching openings, given that the Vikings hired him a week after the season ended.

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As Childress put together an offensive staff in Minnesota, he demonstrated a strong preference for candidates who reflected his own history and style.

His pick for offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell, suited up as a quarterback for Childress in college. Bevell was a red-shirt freshman at NAU during Childress’ tenure as offensive coordinator there, and later followed Childress to Wisconsin.

There, Bevell started at QB for four seasons—including a 1994 Rose Bowl win—and graduated as the school’s all-time leading passer. Bevell made a handful of college coaching stops before joining the Packers staff in 2000. He was named Green Bay’s quarterbacks coach in 2003, and filled that role for three seasons until Childress plucked him away from the Pack. Bevell’s ties to Brett Favre from those years have fueled ongoing Favre-to-Minnesota speculation.

Childress’ own ties to another Pro Bowl passer, meanwhile, led him to his choice for a quarterbacks coach, Kevin Rogers. Rogers and Childress got to know each other while Childress was scouting McNabb out of Syracuse for the Eagles. As the ‘Cuse offensive coordinator at the time, Rogers drew up the plays that helped make McNabb a first-team All-Big East selection for four straight seasons. At Virginia Tech, Rogers helped turn Marcus Vick into a first-team All-ACC pick in Vick’s only season as a full-time quarterback.

Rogers’ track record of mentoring quarterbacks must have crossed Childress mind when he brought another dual-threat passer into the fold at Minnesota: 2006 second-round pick Tarvaris Jackson.

Two other members of Minnesota’s offensive staff—assistant offensive line coach Jim Hueber and running backs coach Eric Bienemy—are on their second go-round with Childress. Hueber was a running backs and O-Line coach at Wisconsin during Childress’ stay with the Badgers, and Bienemy lined up as a running back for the Eagles in Childress’ first season in Philly.

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Neither Childress’ own offensive pedigree nor his habit of hiring familiar faces, however, have translated to a potent Vikings offense. In Childress’ first season as a head coach, the Vikings set franchise lows in first downs and touchdown passes, finishing 23rd in the league in yards gained and 26th in scoring.

After a brutal 104-yard, three first down-effort in a 9-7 loss to Green Bay that season, Childress stood firmly behind what he called “a kick-ass offense,” and said execution—not planning—was the problem.

The team has made progress since, clocking in at 15th and 12th in scoring in 2007 and 2008 respectively, and hovering around the middle of the pack in yardage. But in spite of a coaching staff that features a bevy of quarterback gurus, Minnesota has yet to develop an effective passing attack.

A pair of prolific Adrian Peterson-led rushing campaigns admittedly haven’t helped the Vikings’ pass rankings—No. 28 in 2007, No. 25 in 2008—but Minnesota’s quarterbacks also posted the No. 21 quarterback rating in the league in 2007, followed up by a No. 19 effort last year.

And while offensive line coach Pat Morris (whose multiple coaching stops include a year at NAU before Childress’ time there) deserves credit for orchestrating one of the league’s best run-blocking efforts, Minnesota’s 8.7 percent sack rate in 2008—the fifth-highest in the league—didn’t do Vikings passers any favors.

If Childress and Rogers envisioned Jackson as the second coming of McNabb, they’ve yet to work their magic in bringing the Mississippi State product along: In 19 career starts over three seasons, Jackson has 20 touchdowns and 18 picks, along with a 58.4 percent completion rate. Barring unforeseen circumstance, his shot at a starting job this season likely will be the last such chance he gets with Minnesota.

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Childress didn’t call plays in Philadelphia, but did so in his first two seasons in Minnesota. The team’s middling offensive performance in both years prompted him to yield play-calling duties to Bevell in ’08, but the impact was negligible: The Vikings score 14 more points under Bevell’s care, and accrued 91 fewer yards.

Given how closely Childress and Bevell have collaborated over the years, flipping headset responsibilities between the two is unlikely to produce drastically different on-field results. Then again, the same can be said of Childress and Rogers, both of whom have succeeded in the past with a style of quarterback play that they’ve been unable to recreate in Minnesota.

If the Vikings retain Childress past 2009 but want to shake up the offense, look for Bevell or Rogers to take the fall in favor of an outside hire who can push Childress with a fresh perspective.

The second part of this profile on Minnesota’s coaching staff—a looks at the team’s defensive and special teams coaches—can be found here.