Anyways… back on topic…

The day has come for Vikings fans to rejoice – Brad Childress is no longer the head coach. After a horrible loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 11, which let’s be honest, could have been a lot closer of a game if the defense showed up or Favre could hit open receivers, Childress was canned yesterday by owner Zygi Wilf. Defensive coordinator Leslie Fraizer was named the interim head coach.

With the firing of Childress, it leaves the status of Hall-of-Fame and ultimate diva Quarterback Brett Favre up in the air. Now I’ve never been a Favre fan and unlike many even after last year I wasn’t drinking the Kool-Aid. In fact, I stayed as far away from it as possible and it baffled me as to how native Minnesotans like myself who grew up loathing Favre and everything he stood for could be so easily converted into Favre faithful. Sure he’s got the cannon arm, the “gunslinger” mentality, the Midwest personality, and he was replacing Tavaris Jackson… but the guy turned our arch rival into a dynasty and I’m not about to forget that anytime soon.

This move may win over the fans, but it also still leaves the entire state of the franchise up in the air… Vikings fans know that the team needs a new stadium and that L.A. would like a team back sooner than later. It’s a scary proposition – losing your hometown team that’s 50 years old to a city who also stole the Lakers (yes, they were the Minneapolis Lakers… do you really think there are lakes in L.A.?) and has squandered away 2 NFL franchises already.

But alas, this is a day for Vikings fans to celebrate and I would like to thank one man in particular for his part in making this special moment happen – Jason Garrett. Being a trapped fan here in Dallas, I know and can see the transformation of the Cowboys under Garrett. It was night and day. Wade Phillips was/is a lousy head coach, much like Childress, and probably overstayed his welcome even moreso than Chilly.

However both coaches were lousy in different ways – Wade was the senile uncle, the man who failed to understand the complexities of a gameplan, the concept of accountability, and lost his team by failing to command respect due to inaction. Childress, on the other hand, is the stickler grandpa who felt the need to micro-manage everything and everyone which resulted in alienated players and people second guessing his decisions. Lie, cheat, cut – it didn’t matter how Childress went about his day-to-day activities as long as he could control the message, control the team (trade for Moss, cut him, don’t tell the owner), and control the perception. Wade the uncle and Childress the stickler. Neither one belong in the NFL in the capacity they once were.

My father always said when you take over for someone who had done a horrible job that when you do a good job it only makes you look that much better. This is happening right now with Jason Garrett and is what aided Wilf in his decision to fire Childress. The Cowboys were beyond gone, their star QB injured and an awful record – then boom, a coaching change happens and back-to-back wins. Not only did the wins start to roll in, but a team that rolled over and played dead for Phillips looks like they could compete against anyone under Garrett. The Cowboys are completely rejuvenated and hopeful for next season.

You’d have to think Wilf has the same in mind with the Vikings under Fraizer, who has also been a candidate for head coaching positions around the league much like Garrett. People are quick to forget that the Vikings let Mike Tomlin get away under the Childress regime, something I personally cannot live down given Tomlin’s success as a coach and that the Vikings were stuck with Chilly for as long as they were (4.5 seasons).

Tony Dungy, Brian Billick, Mike Tomlin… what do they have in common? The first thing that comes to mind is Super Bowl winning coaches – but they were also all Vikings assistants. It’s the story of the franchise, let the true talent slip away while keeping around the Dennis Green, the Mike Tice, and the Brad Childress of the world.

Let’s hope Fraizer changes the mold.

Matthew Brown is a social media professional who runs a full-time soccer blog called The Trapped Fan which focuses on international soccer.  Also an avid Vikings and Minnesota sports fan, you can follow him on Twitter: @trappedfan

With Brett Favre now sporting a TD:INT ratio of 10:16, the obvious question on everyone’s mind is how long Brad Childress will stick with his quickly deteriorating legend. (And the same cand be said for how long owner Zygi Wilf will stick with Childress.)

I wondered to myself what would happen if Childress did decide to play Tarvaris Jackson next week in the desperate hopes of giving the team a spark. With Childress’ penchant for badly mishandling situations, however, I figured that it wouldn’t go very well.

And as this hidden-camera photo story shows, it doesn’t go well for Chilly. At all.

[Note: if for some reason the image above doesn't appear, view it here.]

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As you have undoubtedly already know by now, Favre looked completely despondent, defeated, injured, and oldduring his postgame interview. Meanwhile, his coach Brad Childress threw him under the bus for the aforementioned interceptions and said he considered benching the legendary QB at one point.

This is just the latest instance of things going wrong in Minnesota in 2010, and it provides yet another glimpse into one of the most dysfunctional player-coach relationships we’ve seen in sports in quite some time.

Other writers and bloggers will analyze the Favre/Childress dynamic today with words, insight, and coherent thoughts. We, on the other hand, will do it with funny pictures and large typeface.

Because just like Brett Favre throws bad interceptions and Brad Childress rocks the ‘stache, we like to play with pictures. So here you go:

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]]> http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2010/10/favre-and-chilly-the-brief-history-of-a-dysfunctional-player-coach-relationship/feed/ 1 http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2010/08/nfc-north-preview-minnesota-vikings-well-its-kind-of-a-preview/ http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2010/08/nfc-north-preview-minnesota-vikings-well-its-kind-of-a-preview/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 01:00:57 +0000 Griffin Gotta http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/?p=17887 With the preseason finally underway in the NFL, it seems as good a time as any to start previewing the upcoming season, mainly the division of most importance to me: the NFC North. This week is the Minnesota Vikings.

You can find the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears previews here and here.

Let me apologize right now; this is not a preview about football. Well, it’s not about football in the sense that I won’t be looking into the receiving corps or how I think the defensive line will hold up.

I don’t think about those things with this team because I really hate everything about the Minnesota Vikings.

Putting any thought into whether or not I think Adrian Peterson’s fumbling issues will continue would be a waste of brain space. I don’t want even the most rarely-used, most beer-soaked chemical synapse connection between the most minuscule neurons in my head to be invaded with the mention of the Minnesota Vikings.

So… I’m not going to try and pull the wool over your eyes and take a technical look at this team. I can’t do it; it wouldn’t be fair to you for me to try.

But what I can do is attempt to explain why this organization, if there is any sports justice – or the idea that eventually, teams and players will get what they deserve – will once again go down in purple and yellow flames of failure.

Because of my own affiliations, it could be easy to think that this is all about Brett Favre, but it isn’t. I would despise the Vikings just as much if Gus Frerotte were still starting at quarterback (which would probably put me in agreement with fans of teams Frerotte has started for).

Anyway, this dislike of the Vikings has been building on itself for years. The Packers and Vikings have been one-upping each other, challenging one another ,and playing intense and dramatic games that have shaped the NFC North continuously in my lifetime. They are always there, lurking…like cockroaches.

And that was before Brett Favre and his biggest obsession, Brett Favre, was oh-so-difficultly, by some miracle from the sky, coaxed to return to his reserved spot in the limelight.

He was the only ingredient that could have taken my already severe feelings about this franchise to another level. It is the perfect pairing of people and things, I take great pleasure in watching suffer – so in that sense, it’s wonderful I guess.

It should not have come as a surprise that he ended up in Minnesota, for many well-documented reasons, a big one being it remains one of the few places he knew he was still revered enough to get away with his whole schtick. Or in other words, he knew Brad Childress coached there.

Brad Childress has been willingly bent over the table in the basement so many times by Favre that if he does not yet own a gimp getup, it is probably only because it hasn’t arrived in the mail yet.

The most infuriating thing about him, and the organization as a whole, is that they still try and feign this sense of control, that they had it planned this way all along and things are going right according to schedule.

But when you hand the keys to the car over to an ego-maniacal quarterback, and have the NFL coaching community’s equivalent of Officer Barbrady, you are facilitating an unhealthy marriage, like it or not.

Yet all of the posturing from the Vikings while they were readily taking Favre’s every order wouldn’t have been so aggravating had the calamity we were all waiting for happened last year. They were, up to that point, really just embarrassing themselves.

Everything changed when they started winning on what seemed like a weekly basis, led by Favre, who was playing out of his mind, soul-crushingly amazing football. The severity of the situation got very real.

I waited and waited and hoped for the other shoe to finally drop until I realized it wouldn’t happen. There apparently was no such thing as sports justice or karma; those were just ideas that idiot fans like me held onto while the nightmares of the football world began to take shape in front of my eyes. But then, and I wrote about this at the time for my student newspaper, it all came crashing down (slightly NSFW).

It was the stuff with which happiness is made.

This brings us to this year and the notion of sports justice.

No franchise, no self-respecting coach that goes about business in such an openly desperate while still-trying-to-pat-themselves-on-the-back-at-the-same-time manner, deserves a championship. It’s why the Packers ultimately failed when they let Favre yank them around those last few seasons. The game doesn’t work this way.

It’s why the Vikings, the duo of Childress and Favre in particular, came thisclose before falling on their faces at the finish line last year.

And this offseason, it’s been business as usual. Childress is still acting as if he has a say in any of this, and Favre isn’t fooling anyone anymore, except the Vikings. No franchise should be rewarded for the sad behavior that Favre demands from his employers, and no team should be more than happy to check their testicles at the door. It’s a cliché, I know, but this is a team sport, right?

They have the talent and anxiety – if this year doesn’t end in a Super Bowl title, the current Vikings’ ship (pun intended) will be officially sunk – for a successful year, just like the last one. Problem is, they are still oblivious to how silly they look and where it should eventually lead…again, if there’s any sports justice.

I don’t think they deserve the glory. Not this year, not with these guys behind the wheel. And since they’ll always be the Vikings, not ever.

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* – Favre photo courtesy of Mike Roemer/Associated Press
* – Barbrady photo courtesy of oneanswer.tv
*  - Brad drawing courtesy of zackwallenfang.blogspot.com

Twitter: twitter.com/griffingotta Email: griffingotta@gmail.com

Now, with yet another sports superstar trying to make a similarly gargantuan decision, MSF has once again requested and received behind-the-scenes access to bring you the truth.

And the truth is this: after seeing the success that LeBron James’ ego had in executing his decision, Brett Favre’s ego decided it would be wise to seek The King’s counsel. We were on scene with a camera, plus a legal pad that we used to transcribe their discussion.

You won’t believe what happened…

For the record, I say he ends up playing. We’ll see.

I picked them to win here on MSF and also picked them in the NFL Playoffs pool that I’m doing with my family. We use confidence points to add an extra layer of intrigue to each pick, and I placed the maximum amount possible on the Vikings. That’s how confident I was that they would win, despite having to play on the road in the Superdome.

And you know what? They should have won.

Minnesota outgained the vaunted New Orleans offense 475-257. The Vikings were 7-12 on 3rd downs; New Orleans was 3-12. The Vikings had 31 first downs to the Saints’ 15. The Vikings held the ball for nearly 10:00 more than the Saints.

Add up all of the numbers and the Vikings should have won 31-17, rather than lose 31-28. But despite the numbers, none of us should be surprised that the Vikings lost…and here’s why.

1. The “…on the ground” motif created bad karma

After the Vikings beat Dallas in the divisional round, Brett Fun decided to have some favre in the locker room and led his teammates in singing a song that I have, to this point, refused to watch once. You know the one I’m talking about: “Pants on the Ground”.

Somehow, this song has become a worldwide sensation, but such is the power of American Idol. (By the way, I consider it a badge of honor that I’ve avoided even hearing one note of it, and now that it’s gone this far I am taking it as a personal challenge to never see it.)

The problem is that there is absolutely nothing redeeming from a football standpoint about anything being “on the ground.” In fact, from an offensive standpoint, being “on the ground” is the worst possible thing that could happen, whether we are talking about a knee, your quarterback, or the football. So you just aren’t galvanizing good karma when your quarterback is singing such a song in the locker room.

And unfortunately for the Vikings, that is exactly what happened.

They put the ball “on the ground” and lost it three times, part of a five turnover night when you include Favre’s two INTs. In total, the Vikings fumbled 119 times last night, but that is an unofficial count estimated by my impression watching the game. It might have been more.

In addition, while the Saints never were able to sack Brett Favre, they were able to put him and his 40-year old pants on the ground over and over again. Favre even had to hobble off with a temporary ankle malady at one point.

Simply put, the second the Vikings decided to sing that stupid song, they were tempting the fate of a motif that could not have been less appropriate for winning offensive football.

2. The “Brad Childress Factor” should not have been underestimated

I am really pissed off at myself for this one.

In the divisional round, I decided it would be a good idea to throw my prediction support behind the Cowboys and Chargers, two teams coached by men – Wade Phillips and Norv Turner – who have a history of producing underachievers come playoff time.

You’d think I would have learned my lesson and realized that Brad Childress and his apparently not-so-magic beard should not be trusted in such a key situation.

(His headset, on the other hand, should be trusted in a key situation…if the key situation is taking customer service calls from a cubicle on the 10th floor of a dilapidated office building. Otherwise, it really shouldn’t be trusted either.)

Sure enough, a coaching blunder (I assume) led to the Vikings squandering a chance to kick a game-winning field goal in the 4th quarter. There is absolutely no excuse for that “12 men in the huddle” penalty the Vikings were assessed, which then necessitated the Favre rollout that resulted in the now-infamous game-ending INT.

I don’t know if Childress is specifically to blame for trying to make asinine substitutions on that play, but he’s the head coach and he’s made plenty of asinine decisions in the past. The buck stops with him, so he gets the blame.

I’m chalking a major portion of the reason for this Vikings loss up to the “Brad Childress Factor” and punching myself in the arm for not accounting for that more in my pregame analysis.

3. The Saints have just sucked for a long time; the Vikings are actually cursed

This one is huge because there is a major difference between just sucking and actually being cursed.

A team that just sucks can lose and lose and lose over and over again for years, which is essentially what the Saints have done for their entire NFL existence. When you suck, it cannot really be chalked up to curses when you lose. It’s because you suck.

A team that is cursed loses games like the Vikings lost last night. To lose such an important game, in such a terrible way, when the stats suggest you should win by double the points your opponent scores, requires a curse.

Furthermore, in an effort to further illustrate how last night’s game simply follows in the footsteps of past cursed Vikings’ playoff losses, to be 15-1 and lose in the NFC Championship Game to Chris Chandler requires a curse. To make the Super Bowl four times and not ever come away with a victory requires a curse.

You see, cursed teams are good enough to develop legitimate hope that they might actually taste the sweet nectar of a championship. But then, somewhere along the way, that nectar is replaced by the poison of a crushing defeat and all hope is gracelessly snatched away, sometimes in ways that seem inexplicable.

For the Vikings to have everything set up to attempt a game-winning field goal, and then not even get to attempt it…that’s a curse. For a team that hadn’t turned the ball over more than three times in a single game all year to suddenly turn into a band of butterfinger bandits…that’s a curse.

It used to be that the Vikings’ curses took effect in the Super Bowl. Now that there are more playoff games before a team reaches the Super Bowl, I guess their playoff curse won’t even allow them to get that far.

The truth is that the Vikings never really had a chance in this game. Ask the Bills. When you’re cursed. dreams turn into nightmares. I doubt anyone associated the Vikings slept well last night.

(And speaking of curses, you know who else is cursed? Brett Favre.

Ever since he decided to make every NFL offseason his own personal will-he-or-won’t-he-retire melodrama, the football gods have decided to get his and team’s hopes up…then yank that seemingly magic carpet right out from under them.

In his last season with Green Bay, Favre threw a pick-6 to lose the NFC title game. Last year, he started out great and then got hurt and watched his team fade down the stretch. This year, Favre had his best statistical season, yet still ended the year with his last pass being an INT.

Update: As @thegnc pointed on Twitter, Favre’s last pass in Green Bay was an INT but was not a pick-6. The Giants ended up kicking a field goal. I was thinking about the infamous “we want the ball, and we’re gonna score” overtime game that was actually won on a pick-6 by the Packers.

All I’ll say to the Vikings or whoever else has Favre as their QB next year: watch out.)

Finally, the most important reason that no one should be surprised that the Vikings lost to the Saints last night…

4 – The city of New Orleans deserved this

In the end, whether the Vikings lost because of bad karma, bad coaching, or bad luck, the team and city that truly deserved to advance to the Super Bowl did advance to the Super Bowl.

I know, I know…the stats say that the Vikings “deserved” to win and all of that. But remove your spectacles of myopia for a second and take a broader view of the situation.

When was the last time that the Minneapolis-St. Paul area was completely devastated by a natural disaster? (And no, neither Johan Santana being traded nor the whole Clem Haskins debacle count.) We are less than four years removed from the entire city of New Orleans nearly being wiped off the map by Hurricane Katrina.

Don’t you think a city that has endured what New Orleans has endured deserves to have its icon of civic pride go all the way to the biggest single annual event in the world? I do, and I think a Saints appearance in the Super Bowl has been destined since Katrina hit and the team serendipitously acquired a franchise QB because Nick Saban and the Dolphins passed.

It’s just been a matter of timing.

Perhaps when the Saints made the NFC Championship a few years back against the Bears – when a win would have sent them to Miami to play the Colts, interestingly enough – the city of New Orleans wasn’t yet ready to truly enjoy a Super Bowl trip. With so many residents displaced or homeless, and the city still an absolute wreck, I’m sure it would have been uplifting for the Saints to make the big game, but so many people would have been too distracted or destitute to enjoy it.

Perhaps the gods of NFL fate decided it would be better to use that season’s Super Bowl to highlight and dispose of Rex Grossman’s ineptitude (a great service to all NFL fans) while saving New Orleans’ appearance for later…like this year, with the city now rebuilt enough for fans to give the Saints their undivided attention, love, and affection.

And perhaps I’m talking out of my ass here. Perhaps karma, destiny, and curses have nothing to do with who wins and loses football game. (Brad Childress, however, does have a lot to do with who wins and loses football games.)

All I know is this: had I actually sat down and considered that the Vikings would be facing more than a terrific offense and the best homefield advantage in the NFL – that karma, childress, curses, and destiny would also be opposing them – I might have rethought my doubled-down prediction of a Vikings victory.

The fact of the matter is that I should have known the Saints were going to win last night. We all should have known.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, they never really stood a chance.

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* – Brett Favre on the ground photo credit: Eed Jacobsohn/Getty Images via ESPN.com

* – Brad Childress photo credit: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images via ESPN.com

* – Vikings fan photo credit: TurfShowTimes.com

* – Saints fans photo credit: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky via ESPN.com

Hmm…yeah, about that…

I tell you this in an effort to be up front about the fact that while I was pretty accurate at predicting things during the regular season (57% against the spread), my radar has been way off for the playoffs (2-6 record).

Still, that is not going to stop me from trying, and I have already submitted my Conference Championship Sunday picks: Colts to win and cover, Vikings to cover and probably win. This would give us a Super Bowl matchup between the Colts and Vikings that would be quite compelling.

But how compelling would an Indy-Minnesota (aka Favre-Manning, let’s be honest) matchup be in relation to the other three possible Super Bowl matchups?

In this post, I have ranked the possible Super Bowl matchups 1-4, in my opinion, from most favorable to least favorable. At the end of this post, I’ve given you an opportunity to vote on which Super Bowl matchup you’d most like to see.  Please feel free to disagree. That’s why we’re here. I look forward to a healthy debate in the comment section.

#1 – Indianapolis Colts vs Minnesota Vikings

If these four potential Super Bowl matchups were South Park characters, Colts-Vikings would be Eric Cartman. Why? Because you simply have to respect the authoritah of the quarterback matchup this game would present:

• The only 4-time NFL MVP versus one of only two players (the other being Johnny U.) to win three NFL MVP awards.
• The most statistically accomplished passing quarterback in NFL history versus the guy who will most likely retire one day as the most statistically accomplished passing quarterback in NFL history.
• Two quarterbacks who are already in the discussion of the top 10 quarterbacks in the history of the NFL, and possibly already the top 5.

I am speaking, of course, about Curtis Painter and Tarvaris Jackson. Or…not.

No, I am, of course, talking about the incomparable Peyton Manning and the indomitable Brett Favre. Seeing these two men on the same field, playing at the absolute top of their games, with a Super Bowl title on the line, would just be unbelievable.

(The only drawback to this matchup, as you can see from the picture to the right, is the possibility that they could stare adoringly at eachother a little too long and spontaneously start making out during postgame handshake. But since it’s a pretty remote possibility, I won’t knock Colts-Vikings out of the top spot.)

In fact, because of the magnitude of a Manning-Favre meeting in the Super Bowl, you could pretty much throw away every other storyline this game could offer. Despite the other incredible players who would be on the field – Adrian Peterson, Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeny and Robert Mathis, Jared Allen and the Williams Wall, Brad Childress’ customer service headset, Jim Caldwell’s blank steely stares – this game would need nothing else.

The Favre-Manning matchup would imbue this Super Bowl with enough historical gravitas for five Super Bowls.

In a league that is renowned for being “all about the quarterback,” it is impossible to pass this game up as the #1 choice for Super Bowl Sunday.

#2 – Indianapolis Colts vs New Orleans Saints

You could probably go back in time, season by season, and be hard-pressed to find a more compelling quarterback matchup than what we’d see with Manning and Favre on the same field for a Super Bowl. So even though I’m sure a lot of Jets fans think the best of the potential Super Bowl matchups is New York versus Minnesota, with Brett Favre facing the team he played for last season, they probably still understood my reasoning for putting Colts-Vikings at #1.

But I bet most of the Jets fans are ready to click to another page after seeing that I don’t have Jets-Vikings at least in the #2 slot. (More on that game in a bit.)

I’ve chosen Indy-New Orleans as my #2 most desirable Super Bowl matchup because, again, it’s the better quarterback matchup. Nothing against Mark Sanchez, who is proving to be a man among poise, but Drew Brees is one of the most underrated and underappreciated football players of the last decade. Look at Brees’ career stats and his year-to-year consistency. It’s impressive, to say the least.

Drew Brees has been a terrific football player for a long time in the NFL despite constantly battling criticisms that he is too short or doesn’t have a strong enough arm. He will erase every negative that’s ever been said or thought about him and step into the pantheon of great, potential Hall of Fame quarterbacks with a Super Bowl victory.

Moreover, a win would mean that Brees and Saints head coach Sean Payton would have authored the most uplifting and exciting chapter in the post-Katrina reclamation project of one of the United States’ most historic and now downtrodden cities. Even the most heartless, cut-throat Jets, Colts, or Vikings fan would have to at least feel some tinge of satisfaction at seeing the city of New Orleans be able to celebrate a Super Bowl title.

So why Saints-Colts and not Saints-Jets? Well, the only natural storyline even worth mentioning if the Jets go to New Orleans is that they played earlier this year. Whoop-de-do.

If the Colts go to the Superdome, Peyton Manning goes back to the city where his dad was and still is a hero, a city where he and Eli grew up, and a city that they have also helped to rebuild. Drew Brees is obviously the #1 son of the city of New Orleans right now, but Peyton would be the city’s adopted favorite if the Saints falter in the NFC Championship Game.

Putting Manning and Brees on the same field, leading two explosive offensive attacks, would make for a scintillating Super Bowl in many more ways than one. So I’m sorry Jets fans, but your QB is too young, you don’t have enough star power, and there are no inherent ties to the city of New Orleans for you to get into the top 2.

But, remember, you have your chance to vote below; please do not hesitate to do so.

Now let’s move on to rank the 3rd and 4th most desirable games. Based on what I said earlier about Jets fans probably assuming that New York-Minnesota would at least be in the top 2 because of the Favre-Jets storyline, I may surprise you with my pick at #3.

#3 – New York Jets vs New Orleans Saints

#4 – New York Jets vs Minnesota Vikings

I know that I’ve spent this entire post fawning over the potential Manning-Favre or Manning-Brees QB battles in my top two choices. I’m a quarterback guy and love seeing great field generals going head-to-head. I understand if you disagree, but I come by that bias honestly as someone who dreamed of playing the position when I was a kid.

That said, don’t think for one second that I don’t appreciate what the Jets have done and how they play.

The Jets are old school in every positive sense of the word, right down to their vintage Super Bowl III uniforms. They have a coach who is entertaining, insightful, and accomplished. He is also the quintessential emotional leader who can make a good football team play great and can captivate fans and the media alike.

Simply put, Rex Ryan is the 2010 version of Mike Ditka.

The Jets also have an absolutely outstanding individual player in Darrelle Revis who has done his job every bit as well as Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, and Drew Brees have done theirs this season, if not better. Revis just happens to play a position that is not quite as important in the overall equation of winning as quarterback and that is far, far less visible. But watching Revis go up against Marques Colston and Sidney Rice would be very compelling.

New York, of course, also has Mark Sanchez. And while I think Sanchez is being propped up and made out to be playing better than he is while being the caretaker of a great running game and defense, you can’t fault the kid for doing what is asked of him. He’s not ready to win games yet for the Jets, but he has at least shown that he’s talented enough and mature enough not to lose them. For a rookie QB making his first foray into the playoffs, can you really ask for anything more?

So don’t view my ranking the games involving the Jets at #3 and #4 as a personal statement by me that I don’t appreciate what they’ve done to get this far. I do. But when it came down to ranking these potential Super Bowl matchups, one nagging possibility kept popping up: of the four teams left in the playoffs, the one with the greatest chance to be blown out and create a boring Super Bowl is the Jets.

Yes, their defense is great, but even great defenses can give up big plays here and there. If that were to happen, the Jets simply are not built to put up big point totals trying to come from behind. We’ve seen Mark Sanchez throw a lot of picks in a short period of time this season, and no Jets fan wants to see a situation in which Sanchez is forced to throw more than 20 times.

In a one game situation, things can snowball even on solid, conservative teams. I want excitement and drama in my Super Bowl, and the Jets are the team with the most glaring potential to steal that away from us all if their defense is not as great as it can be and their young QB can’t hang with the likes of Favre or Brees.

So why Jets-Saints over Saints-Vikings? It comes down to the annoyance factor.

All Super Bowls have annoying storylines that get old after a day or two, and then get really old after being dragged out for two weeks. If the Colts make it, we’ll get sick of hearing about how they gave up on a 14-0 season. If the Saints make it, we’ll probably get sick of hearing about the love affair between Drew Brees and the city of New Orleans. If the Jets make it, we’ll be fed an endless loop of a goofily smiling Mark Sanchez that will make us all long to punch him in the face. And if the Vikings make it, well, all we need to say is one word: Favre.

But if the Jets and Vikings end up playing in the Super Bowl, the Brett Favre overload will simply be unbearable. I’m not sure how many different ways the media can discuss Favre’s one year with the Jets and what it would mean that he’d be facing them in the Super Bowl, but I bet it’s in the thousands and I bet the media would report every single last one of them.

Additionally, the comparisons between Favre (he has fun!) and Sanchez (he has fun and gets chicks too!) will make us all hate both of them by the time kickoff comes around. We’ll all be secretly praying that they both sprain their ankles during the pregame so that we can see Kellen Clemens and Tarvaris Jackson and escape the Favre-Sanchez obsession.

Does it have the potential to be a great game? Sure. It would be a great contrast of styles and there would be lots of great individual matchups to watch. The problem is that this is also the one matchup that would create serious Brett Favre overload – far more than a Colts-Vikings matchup because of the Favre-Jets angle – and I’m just not sure any of us are ready to deal with that for two entire weeks.

So there are my rankings of the potential Super Bowl matchups. Now I want your opinion. Answer the poll question below so we can get a composite ranking of MSF readers, then chime in with a comment if you want to rank them 1-4.

And if, after reading this article, you are so jazzed about the Super Bowl that you’re ready to lay some money down on it, check out the Super Bowl XLIV odds and scratch your super bowl betting itch.

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* – Peyton Manning / Brett Favre photo credit: Matt Kryger, The Indianapolis Star

* – Drew Brees photo credit: Boston.com

* – Rex Ryan photo credit: AP via New York Post

* – Brett Favre w/ Jets photo credit: DavidTheiss.com

Midwest Sports Fans (MSF) Disclosure of Material Connection: MSF was compensated for using a link above. With that said, MSF only links to and endorses sites and services that we use ourselves. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Also, Charles Woodson is named AP DOY, why the best dunkers in college basketball seem to come from the small conferences, and a link to poll where you can choose the best Conan O’Brien lookalike.

NFL:

• Charles Woodson named AP Defensive Player of the Year — (Sports Untapped)
• A wonderful photographic retrospective of Braylon Edwards’ drops (warning: there are a LOT of pictures) — (Major League Jerk)
• How it happened: Brad Childress’ son’s DUI — (Style Points Blog)
• Jon Kitna, Troy Aikman endorse Mike Martz for Bears’ offensive coordinator — (Tremendous Upside Potential)
• Revis and Woodson do it their way — (i94 Sports)

NBA:

• Shaq kisses Daniel Baldwin (video) — (That NBA Lottery Pick)
• A whole lot has happened since the Pistons last won a game... — (Detroit 4 Lyfe)
• NBA Power Rankings Week 11 — (Docksquad Sports)
• T-Mac to Bulls not a terrible idea — (Not Qualified to Comment)

College Basketball:

• Kansas Jayhawks halfcourt madness — (Docksquad Sports)
• The SWAC is whack — (Rumors and Rants)
• Are the best dunkers at the small colleges? — (International Foul)

College Football:

• Mike Garrett (USC AD), do not F this up — (Thunder Treats)

MLB:

• 2010 New York Mets promo commercial: “Believe” (yeah right!) — (Outside the Box Score)
• Cubs make Andre Dawson an offer he can’t refuse — (Not Qualified to Comment)
• Talking electronics with Torii Hunter — (Blue Workhorse)
• Peter Gammons – Rock Star — (Josh Q. Public)
• Aroldis Chapman – The New Havana Red — (The Global Sports Fraternity)

MISC:

• Man steals $50, flees Wal-Mart on motorized shopping cart — (MoonDog)
• How to Be A: Snake Charmer — (Straight Pinkie)
• How to Comply with the FTC’s New Disclosure Guidelines for Bloggers — (How-to-Blog.tv)
• Top 5 Conan O’Brien Sports Figure Look-Alikes — (Steady Burn)

ESPN flashed a graphic up this morning that showed how Brett Favre’s stats have seriously deteriorated during the final month of the season for five straight seasons. All you need to do is look at his game logs to see the negative December trends.

He’s like the Dallas Cowboys, but personified as one man.

His collapse last season, whether due to injury, age, the weather, simple ineffectiveness, or a combination of all three, led to his ignominious departure from the Jets and a feeling that he really was probably done this time.

But then he came back, weaseling his way into Minnesota after skipping training camp, and then promptly entering the MVP discussion halfway through the season. Unfortunately for the Vikings and their fans, Favre’s old trend of faltering late in the season is manifesting itself once again.

Over his last three games, two of which were Vikings losses, Favre has thrown three TDs and four INTs. Making things worse is that two of the three games (the losses) have been in prime time and the Vikings have looked absolutely terrible in getting throttled by the Cardinals and Panthers.

And to make matters even worse, Favre and his coach are apparently engaged in a bit of a tiff right now, which Favre decided to go public with last night during his post-game press conference. As Adam Schefter said on ESPN this morning, you know what you are getting with Favre.

And all of the melodrama is a major part of it. Here is the latest, from Favre discussing last night’s benching controversy:

“There was a little heated discussion, I guess you would call it. We were up 7-6 at the time and  it’s no secret I was getting hit a little bit.” … “I think everyone in the building was like, ‘They’re not moving the ball, they’re not getting points.’ And so Brad wanted to go in a different direction and I wanted to stay in the game. You know, we were up 7-6. Yeah, it’s not 70-6, but we’re up 7-6. I said, ‘I’m staying in the game. I’m playing.’” … “We talked it out.”

A couple of things stick out to me immediately:

First, why the hell is Brett Favre discussing this in his post-game press conference? Keep it in the locker room. Yes, you’ve lost two straight games, but you’re still in the driver’s seat for the #2 seed in the NFC. Why go public with this kind of team stuff?

Second, if you’re Brad Childress, why would you attempt to bench Brett Favre when you’re up 7-6 in a pretty important game for your team? As Schefter also said this morning, when the Vikings got Brett Favre they went “all-in.” It is understandable to want to give him some rest, but how can you bench your starting QB when the game is still in doubt? I don’t blame Favre for balking, and I’d really like to know what the hell Brad Childress was thinking.

Third, what the hell happened to Adrian Peterson and the Vikings’ once dominant ground game? I know that this is somewhat off-subject, but it is no coincidence that Favre and the Vikings’ passing attack has struggled since Peterson and the ground game began struggling as well (last week’s win against Cincinnati notwithstanding).

Fourth, if you’re a Vikings fan, I bet that you are very worried right now. I know that I would be. There is an entire base of Jets fans that were ecstatic when their team was 8-3 last year and Brett Favre was being talked about as an MVP candidate. They weren’t so excited after the season completely collapsed.

It’s impossible to ignore the parallels. For Vikings fans, they better hope that something drastic changes over the next two weeks, or this season of promise could quickly turn into a tremendous disappointment.

Note: In the original posting there were a number of factual erros in this post. I complete forgot about the Cincinnati game sandwiched between the losses to Arizona and Carolina. Thanks to a commenter, I was able to fix the errors. My apologies for not being more careful before hitting publish.

I realized this morning that every day there is one blog post I look forward to more than any other: The Big Lead’s morning link roundups…which, coincidentally, has not been posted yet this morning.

WTF?

This unexpected void in my morning gave me the opportunity to participate in an exciting new morning activity: thinking. And what I got to thinking and wondering about is why I’m not putting together a similar post on a daily basis for you, our trusty MSF reader.

So I decided to start doing it. And if the old adage “imitation is the most sincere form of flattery” is true, then consider yourself flattered TBL. We’ll obviously put our own spin on things, but we’re not trying to hide the source of our inspiration.

Look for this new feature every morning, probably around 7-7:15 Central Time. And if you’re a blogger or an interested reader who likes sharing good stuff you read, send me tips.

And now, without further ado, onto this morning’s WYNTR (that stands for What You Need To Read), sponsored by birthday girl Kim Kardashian (who probably has a better chance of completing that pass than Derek Anderson…)

Hot Topics

Nothing is a hotter topic this morning than the breaking news of Steve Phillips’ affair with an ESPN production assistant. (Hat tip to TBL on this one.)

Our buddy MoonDog discusses the new political action committee that is taking on the BCS.

The LA Daily News discusses Manny Ramirez going back to his Manny ways by skipping the end of his team’s last game against the Phillies to shower.

Mark Cuban has opined about steroid use, and let’s just say that his thoughts on the issue are different than, well, 99% of people who have commented publicly on the issue. Could steroids actually be a good thing?

If you haven’t yet seen it, the always hilarious folks at Tirico Suave have produced a nice animated gif breakdown of ARod getting a nice handful of The Captain’s ass a couple days ago. Well done.

Midwest sports news

In Browns news, LB D’Qwell Jackson is out for the season with a shoulder injury while his coach, Eric Mangini, is being compared to the fat kid who floated away in Willy Wonka’s river of chocolate. Being a Browns fan is great, huh?

In Bears news, Jay Cutler got a contract extension at the same time that he and Chad Ochocinco were having a friendly Twitter conversation. As our friends at Tremendous Upside Potential point out, Jay Mariotti, of course, was not amused with Cutler’s willingness to take a few moments to himself away from the football field.

In Vikings news, there is a little bit of confusion regarding whether coach Brad Childress will be getting a contract extension soon or not.

In Buckeye news, despite a loss to Purdue, Jim Tressel is not planning a big changes.

Blogging, social media, and other stuff

Here are five reasons why Google’s new sidewiki feature will fail.

Mashable a few interesting posts:

• summary of a UCLA study that finds surfing the Internet stimulates your brain
• Twitter’s CEO says the world is big enough for Twitter AND Facebook
• Just how big a game-changer with the Motorola Droid be? Is it a serious challenger to the iPhone? One thing is for sure…from the pictures, it just may kill you, me, and everyone.

And a little something for the fellas

All Left Turns delivers a solid breakdown of the 25 hottest women in motorsports. Lewis Hamilton and Jimmie Johnson are fighting for pole position on this one.

Straight Pinkie delivers the good with a photo gallery of Eva Wyrwal.

Asylum.com brings you the 100 most search for hotties on the Internet.

Have a great Wednesday everyone. Remember to look for tomorrow’s WYNTR post a little earlier in the morning. The comment section is yours to discuss any and all topics.

During last night’s Vikings-Texans preseason game, Brett Favre – the 40 year old QB who claims to have a lingering arm injury and a potentially broken rib – was split out wide and throwing blocks when the Vikings went to their Wildcat formation.

Not only was Favre’s chop block totally wrong, but the decision to even have him in that position is totally wrong. I realize that this is probably a refrain that Vikings fans are sick of hearing, but what the hell is Brad Childress thinking?

Follow the links to StubHub for great deals on Minnesota Vikings 2009 Tickets and all 2009 NFL Tickets.

The video of Favre’s chop block on Eugene Wilson is below, courtesy of the good folks at Black Sports Online.

Brett Favre Dirty Illegal Crackback Block on Eugene Wilson Texans vs. Vikings from BlackSportsOnline on Vimeo.

Look, no one thinks that Brett Favre is a dirty player, but he has definitely never been accused of over-thinking on the football field. His role on this play is to block and help open up the left side of Percy Harvin. I am sure it was just instinct that led him to dive low in an effort to – at least in his own mind – protect himself. Without question, I think he’d do it differently if he could.

For that reason, I blame Chilly far more than I blame Brett. Favre is a QB, not a blocker.  And I realize the Vikings want to incorporate some Wildcat this year with the dynamic Percy Harvin on the roster, but why not do it with Brett Favre on the sideline? Or, at worst, tell him to run out wide and then stay as far the hell away from any defenders as possible.

If you want to do a play like this in a key situation in the regular season, and Favre wants to go all out to throw a block, fine. (Obviously he needs to use better, less dangerous technique next time.) But putting Favre in that position in the preseason is at best negligence, and at worst a sign of complete idiocy on the part of Brad Childress and the Vikings coaching staff.

I know that the Vikings offense, led by Adrian Peterson and steady play from Favre, looked good last night. But if the Vikings coaches continue to make idiotic decisions like they did last night, it will not spell success for the Vikes in 2009.

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* – Brad Childress photo credit: VikingsGab

An excerpt from the article:

Brett Favre won’t be joining the Vikings.

Vikings coach Brad Childress told the Star Tribune late this afternoon that the quarterback informed the team he has decided to remain retired. Childress cited the daily grind both mentally and physically as part of the reason why Favre remained retired.

“I just think it was a rare opportunity to explore a Hall of Fame quarterback who had background in the NFC and in this division,” Childress said. “He knows our system inside out … This doesn’t change anything about how I feel about our football team.”

Could this really, possibly be the last we hear of 40-year old Brett Favre? Surely not.

We’ll see though. There is still an entire season for him to be sitting on his tractor wishing he was playing again. At least for this year and maybe even next year, any time a QB gets injured Ed Werder will surely be scurrying to Hattiesburg to see what Favre is thinking and how he is feeling.

I have to admit, I was kind of hoping he’d come back and play, just for the sheer drama and theater of it all…especially on the two weekends when he’d be going up against the Packers. Even the most jaded Favre hater would have to admit that those games would be intriguing.

If this is it (and we’ll have to couch statements about Favre retiring with “if” until the end of time it seems) then congrats to Brett on a great career. Somehow, some way, I’m sure we’ll all find a way to survive without he and Madden.

Favre then proceeded to drop the following nugget of brilliance on viewers everywhere: “There’s time, but there’s not time, if that makes sense.”

Should I really answer whether that makes sense?

Obviously I could be a douche and point out the obvious contradiction of his words, but I’d rather do that for a statement that Favre made later, one that makes even less sense.

As to the time element, Favre is right. There is time before the season starts for him to get his arm strength back, but the Vikings need a decision soon. And as Favre said, just like he’s said for the last two (three? four?) offseasons, “I don’t know if I’m going to play or not.”

Great. Would it kill you to make up your mind before the speculation about you playing drags on for months? I suppose since he’s a former NFL MVP and the all-time leader in every QB stat imaginable, and I’m just a clown with a computer, Favre can do whatever the hell he wants and my judgments mean about as much as what Brad Childress instructs his punters to do on Sundays.

But he saved his most…humorous? ironic? ridiculous? nonsensical?…comment for the end of the brief on-field interview, and I have highlighted it below:

“When I’m done and I’m done, and you can’t go back.”

We will now pause for a seconds while it sinks in that Brett Favre said that.

Over the last half decade, if there is one thing we have learned it is this: Brett Favre is never done and the possibility will always exist now and seemingly until the end of time that he could go back.

Obviously he’s not going to be playing into his 50s, but do you really think that if he’s not on the Vikings roster on Opening Day, and their QBs struggle this season like they always do, that the rumor mill won’t continue to churn about a possible midseason gallop-in-on-the-white-horse by Favre? I’m sorry, maybe for a lot of players the “when I’m done I’m done” quote is apt, but history has clearly shown us that it is not for Favre.

And for the record, I like Favre and want him to come back. Sure the endless coverage about his comebacks get a little bit old, but I still find something compelling in the overall story. Certainly, watching Favre and Adrian Peterson in the same backfield would be exciting. If I didn’t feel like Favre just craved the offseason attention as much as he really is undecided, I wouldn’t feel the need to comment about quotes like the one mentioned above.

But at the end of the day I still think the NFL is more exciting with Brett Favre, and no amount of irony will make me want to not see him on the field in 2009. As to the actual possibility of seeing Favre play in 2009, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf recently said that the decision is Favre’s and that the legendary QB controls his own destiny. According to AP reports on ESPN.com:

Wilf told a group of very interested season ticket holders that the possibility of Favre playing for the Vikings next season hinges on Favre’s surgically repaired right arm.

“Right now, it’s all up to Brett Favre in terms of where his future is at,” Wilf told about 1,200 fans gathered at the State Theatre for a “State of the Vikings” event. “I’ll just leave it at that.”

The comments echoed Favre’s statement in an interview with HBO two days earlier. Favre said then that he is considering a return if his throwing arm will allow it and that the Vikings are the only team has has spoken to about a comeback.

This guy must be absolutely thrilled.

As fans, all that we can do is sit and wait and have the remote control ready when today’s Favre story comes on, because it either won’t be true (or at least disputed) or will be filled with information we already know — like this morning’s “latest.” The reality is that Favre will either be on the Vikings come the preseason or he won’t; either way, speculation about his future won’t stop.

Because despite his own quote, Brett Favre can always go back.

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* – Brett Favre photo above by Cory Hollenhorst found at The Purple Trojan blog at MVN.com