Afterthoughts - Vikings vs. Titans

I'll get this out of the way: The Tennessee Titans are NOT a better football team than the Minnesota Vikings. However, the Titans ARE a FAR better COACHED team than the Vikings.

I hope Brad Childress had a notebook and a pen to take notes during this game, because Jeff Fisher just showed him PRECISELY how to run a team like the one he's got in this game. Severely outcoached and outperformed. I loved everything Jeff Fisher did in running his team, which is basically a carbon copy of the Vikes.

Brad Childress got a week off from my bashing due to the dominance of Carolina last week, but the same things I said after the Indy game apply even moreso now. Brad Childress sucks at playcalling(3rd and 1 and we throw it 30 yards downfield, R-TARDED with this team). Brad Childress sucks at managing a game (timeouts anyone? oh wait, were out already...). Brad Childress sucks at motivating players (I don't think this team buys into him). Brad Childress sucks at making adjustments (evidenced by losing games when team was ahead, and never coming back to win). Plain and Simple:

BRAD CHILDRESS SUCKS as an NFL head coach. Period.

This game was painful to watch, and I was screaming at my TV on several occassions for the crap happening on the field per Childress' direction:

3rd and 1 - lets throw it 30 yards downfield when we suck at passing and are almost guarenteed to gain at least a yard on the ground. Brilliant.

Lets blow 2 timeouts to look at a challenge (that I feel we should have won though, and the receiver fumbled). Both halves were far from over by the time we had 0 timeouts left. Good Work.

Lets watch RB Chris Johnson line up in the backfield instead of LenDale White, and still expect the Titans to go up the middle. I saw both C. Johnsons TD's coming the second the teams lined up because the LB and S were way out of position for an outside run which I'm pretty sure you should expect Johnson to run. Bam, walks into the endzone untouched twice. Not so proud of the goal line defense like I had been after this one. Unacceptable.

I could go on and on and on and on and on and on and on, but for your sake I'll leave it with those, I'm sure anyone else has other points in the game they could point out.

OFFENSE
The offense actually was able to move the ball effectively, outgaining the Titans 333 yards to 275 yards of offense, but killed themselves with turnovers and penalties. Nice to see AD smell the endzone again and bust a nice TD scamper in the process(helped one of my fantasy teams dominate this week!). Not much else to say. This unit is handcuffed by terribly predictable and often times extremely POOR playcalling and no imagination under the direction of Brad Childress and Darrell Bevell.

-The Good: AD scores twice on the ground.
-The Bad: Penalties and Turnovers.
-The Ugly: Playcalling and coaching from Childress and Co. (I'll give Frazier leeway on this one)

DEFENSE
Was put in some tough spots by turnovers and was unable to hold, giving up 3 rushing TD's to Chris Johnson(2) and LenDale White(1) in goal line situations. Did hold another QB to under 200 yards passing(barely, aiming low for any positives) and Titans also rushed for only 77 yards as a team, which can be somewhat encouraging. Or not. Pass rush was AWOL again this week, I hope the Jekyll and Hyde act doesn't continue.

note: E.J. Henderson went down with what initially looked like a serious injury (crossing fingers) but did return for some time before finally bowing out completely. Get better E.J., we need ya!

-The Good: Run defense still limited a tough running attack.
-The Bad: Goal line failures, misallignments, lack of common sense in relation to other teams personnel.
-The Ugly: 3 rushing TD's given up. The last time this occurred against the Vikings was the '06 season finale against the Rams' Steven Jackson. In between these 2 games(19 of them), the most rushing TD's the Vikes gave up to a team in a single game was 1. End of a good run.

You'll hear this after every game for the rest of the season until it happens Zygi, FIRE BRAD CHILDRESS! NOW! Look at Tennessee, run by a fantastic coach in Jeff Fisher, and see exactly what your team should be playing like. Too bad the reality is it isn't, and Brad Childress is the prime reason why.

'Til next time...