Well after only two games it looks like Tarvaris Jackson is no longer Brad Childress’s “guy”. The Vikings announced today that 15 year veteran Gus Frerotte will get the start Sunday against the surprising Carolina Panthers.

The move comes after repeated votes of confidence for Jackson from the head coach, and is definitely a surprise to many considering the way the coaching staff has approached the quarterback position over the past two years.

Frerotte has shown signs of success over his long career, including several nice games filling in as a backup for the Minnesota Vikings several years ago, however, he has never put together a great record as a long term starting quarterback.

My Two Cents

This Vikings fan thinks this must be one of the dumbest moves the Purple has made over the past several years. Considering how much “confidence” the coaching staff displayed throughout the offseason, pulling the plug on Jackson after only two games simply makes no sense. Looking at the facts, Jackson has not even had 15 first half pass attempts in both games this year combined. The coaching staff clearly has been hesitant to let him go and see what he can do. Playcalling this year has also seemed abysmal at times. Look at the 3rd and 5 last week in Colts territory when the coaching staff decided to pull Peterson out of the game and then hand the ball off to Chester Taylor who did not even get close to a first down. This would have been an ideal passing situation and argueably cost the Vikings the game. Playcalling like this is not uncommon for the Vikings under the Childress regime. His highly conservative playcalling has made it easy for opposing defenses to stack up the box against the run,  and the passing game has been basically non-existant for the past 3 years. Jackson actually had a nice second half in the Colts game, completing a solid percentage of his passes and racking up over 100 yards. His season totals for passing and rushing are ahead of many other quarterbacks around the league inclulding Carson Palmer, Jamarcus Russel, Derek Anderson and even Ben Rothlisberger. It seems like the coaches have really not presented Jackson a full opportunity to get into any kind of rythem, and they have also placed him under a huge amount of pressure to perform at the same time.

The real problem here is not necessarily benching Jackson, but what the Vikes didn’t do in the offseason. If they were going to bench Jackson this easily, after two close losses and a performance from Jackson that nobody could call terrible, then why on earth wouldn’t they add a little insurance by picking up a solid veteran QB capable of starting for a long term period of time. I have no problem with Gus Frerotte, but if anyone expects him to start the remaining 14 games of the season with great success and lead the Purple into the playoffs, they are crazy.  Frerotte is a great backup who can come in in the middle of a game and rally the team, and maybe even pickup a few wins in spot starts, but for a team with as much potential as the Vikings, he simply isn’t going to cut it.

The Vikings should have manned up and made the Packers an offer they couldn’t refuse for Favre when they had a chance. Green Bay would have had a hard time turning down a #1 pick in next year’s draft, and the Vikings likely go deep into the post season, giving them an opportunity to stick the Pack with a low 1st round pick. That option being down the tubes, there are still several great options available at quarterback. One is Jeff Garcia. Garcia would be a great fit for the Purple in our west cost offense, and could be attained relatively easily from Tampa Bay. Chris Simms, another former Buc, while somewhat unproven, has shown signs that he can play in the NFL and that he has the toughness needed by NFL quarterbacks. The best possible option, is unfortunatley very unlikely due to the hardheadedness of Brad Childress - Daunte Culpepper. Daunte has had plenty of time off since his knee surgery and was pursuing a starting job in the NFL hard before retiring a couple weeks ago. Daunte is still loved by many people in Minnesota, and at this point, I can’t imagine any Minnesota fans who wouldn’t like to see him get another shot.  Too bad Brad Childress burned that bridge immediately upon becoming the head coach, and the Vikings have suffered enormously at quarterback ever since.

Vikings - take a long hard look at bringing in a QB as soon as possible or risk another sorry losing season follwed by an almost certain coaching overhaul.

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