Time for a Change

The NFL season opened last weekend and god is it good to watch football on Sundays again. I enjoyed wasting precious homework time in favor of tracking all my fantasy players. A couple things that stood out for me: 1. Tom Brady being injured sucks for all football fans, he's a great player who is good for the game. However, it is nice to see Bill Cheatacheck get whats coming to him. The man is a criminal and a slob as a coach, but he is smart I'll give him that. 2. The parity in the league has become obvious, with the Bears beating the Colts and numerous other close football games. 3. The Vikings need a new Quarterback.... and let the debate begin.

I for one backed Childress' selection and usage of Tarvaris Jackson up until Tuesday morning when I had time to cool down after watching the Vikings get beat by an inferior Green Bay Packers squad. The only position that the Vikings lack sufficient Super Bowl contending talent at is Quarterback. The O-Line is solid, the D-Line is the best in the league and the linebacking and secondary are capable of making plays. Adrian Peterson is the best RB in the NFL and Chester Taylor is the best backup in the NFL. To go along with the great running backs they also have great talent at the Wide Receiver position. Bernard Berrian and Sidney Rice are studs, while Bobby Wade is just a solid vet. TE is shaky with Shiancoe dropping anything thrown his way, but we got to see Garret Mills on Monday night and it is clear he has loads of potential.

So why can't T-Jack get it done with the plethora of talent the Vikings posses? One of two reasons: 1. It's only his 3rd year in the league and most QBs take at least that long to become solid contributers. Or 2. He just plain sucks. Right now I'm leaning towards #2 for a number of reasons. His mechanics are miserable, which leads him to throw balls to everyone on the field except guys in purple. I can't even count the number of times he missed guys open over the middle(which Green Bay left open the whole game) due to his inconsistent delivery and timing. The only real thing Jackson would have to do to win ball games is not turn the ball over and complete short and intermediate passes... but as of right now he is incapable of doing so. Which makes me wish Brad Childress would hand the keys to Gus Freotte. Gus isn't the most physically gifted player in the league but at least he can make reads and hit the check down recievers. With Gus we are a 10-6 playoff team that could shut people out in the playoffs to make a run at the Super Bowl. With T-Jack we are a 7-9 or 8-8 team that wins in spite of the QB play.

Childress needs to bite the bullet and admit he was wrong about T-Jack being an NFL caliber QB, and hopefully for the sake of Viking fans he bites the bullet soon.