Minnesota Vikings and Leslie Frazier: He's No Harbaugh, but What Is He?

"We're in the business of winning." 

So said Billy Bob Thornton, portraying a high school football coach in the 2004 movie, "Friday Night Lights." Thornton's line is true for coaches everywhere, especially in the NFL, which, according to former Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons coach Jerry Glanville, can stand for "not for long," if you aren't winning or playing well.

The 2011 Minnesota Vikings, under first year head coach Leslie Frazier, aren't winning or playing well.

Now nobody would argue that six games is a fair amount to judge someone's coaching acumen—but the truth of the matter is that the Vikings, under Frazier, have shown too many characteristics of a team that isn't being coached very well.

Winning on game day in the NFL is predicated on numerous things. But from a coaching standpoint it comes down to two things: exploiting matchups and making in-game adjustments. On these two fronts Frazier, albeit in only six games, has been an abject failure.  

What else is there to say about a coach whose team has a dominant +47 point differential in the first half of its games and follows that up with a mind-boggling -71 point differential after halftime? It seems the only adjustments being made in the locker room are by whomever happens to be playing the Vikings on any given week. 

Minnesota games have had similar scripts for most of the year. Other than the easy win over the Arizona Cardinals and the blowout loss to the Bears on Sunday night—the Vikings have run Adrian Peterson early and often in the first half. Then when defenses have loaded up the box to stop Peterson in the second half, the Vikings have looked as befuddled and out of step as Clint Eastwood on the set of "Glee."

It's certainly not helping Frazier's cause that fellow first year coach Jim Harbaugh (hired just four days after Frazier, back in January) has completely flipped the losing culture in San Francisco and has the 49ers off to a 5-1 start. Harbaugh is well on his way to Coach of the Year and has certainly dented the old theory that a coach is "only as good as his players," as Harbaugh is basically using the same personnel that got Mike Singletary fired last season. (Singletary is now the Vikings linebackers coach.)

Harbaugh is an interesting comparison to Frazier on many levels. Both are in their first year as the head man of an NFL team, but that's pretty much where the similarities end.  While Frazier follows in the footsteps of mentor Tony Dungy, with a thoughtful, more genteel approach, Harbaugh brings a more old school, in-your-face style that is clearly working in San Francisco.

Frazier tied much of his first year fate to the signing of Donovan McNabb in the offseason (a move not entirely supported by Vikings VP of Player Personnel Rick Spielman). Frazier knew the Vikings best player was Adrian Peterson and figured McNabb had enough veteran savvy to give the Purple what they needed from the QB spot. Where Frazier miscalculated was that it doesn't matter how good your running back is, your quarterback will almost always be the most important player when it comes to winning and losing games.

In his defense, Leslie Frazier inherited a team that was full of holes. Most preseason prognosticators called the Vikings a team with talent all over the field, and that just wasn't the case. The team has six or seven exceptional players and the rest of the roster is below average. Having said that, Jim Harbaugh took on a very similar team in terms of talent. It just might be that rosters such as those are far more in need of the animated coaching style of Harbaugh, rather than the laconic style offered by Frazier.

What Frazier has brought to the table as a first year coach is an impeccable football background and across the board respect from the football world. Vikings and Frazier fans alike can be heartened by the early records of some coaching icons: Jimmy Johnson was 1-15 in his first year in Dallas and went on to win two Super Bowls. Chuck Noll was 1-13 in his first year in Pittsburgh before winning four Super Bowls. Bill Belichick had four losing seasons in Cleveland and was 5-11 in his first year in New England before winning three Super Bowls.

Unfortunately, for Frazier, only history will be able to compare his record to the coaching legends above. For now, Vikings fans are more interested in comparing him to the guy hired the same week as he was.

And he's a head football coach—in the business of winning.